The fun part is finding out which you like best. Your classic Gibson Les Paul has a deeper tone, offers easier string bending for blues - even with heavier strings - but can suffer from tuning issues. The extra tension of the 25.5" scale is also good news for tuning stability.
What's the difference? Well, Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters have a tightly defined 'twang' in the bottom strings. This is the distance between the guitar's bridge and its top nut, the slotted slice of bone or plastic near the first fret. Want a Strat? These are the best Stratocasters for every budget.Explore the best Fender Telecasters you can buy.That's what they were originally designed for. They also suffer from less background noise than single coils. While Gibson-style humbucking pickups can sound a tad muddier when exposed to a lot of distortion, the upside is a fatter tone. Check out Jimi Hendrix' tone on Little Wing for the ultimate single coil blues sound. They also sound exceptionally sweet through an amp's clean channel. At the very least you'll want to compare guitars with single coil and humbucking pickups.Īs a general rule of thumb, Fender-style single coil pickups offer excellent note clarity no matter how much overdrive or distortion you kick in. The second approach is to explore a bunch of guitars to find out what you like.
He may have passed away in 1990 but SRV's single coil pickup-fuelled hot Strat sound is still as popular as it gets in contemporary electric blues. If you love Texas blues behemoth Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound you're probably going to end up with a Fender Stratocaster. First, get your hands on what your hero plays. There are two ways to approach buying a guitar for blues. Best blues guitars: buy the right one for you