Cheap gear and the blues.

[mistermullens]

Those old blues did it back in the day, why can't we?

[tboy]

Who says we can't?

[Paul G.]

It's just reverse snobbery.

I used to use cheesy guitars--very impressive-looking and built in "cool factor".

If you can play, you show up at a jam with a vintage piece of junk, and sound great and everybody thinks you're just so heavy.

You show up at your gig with a hat and a Harmony and play the part.

In the end, I've decided that I'm too old to be playing crappy instruments. It is such a pleasure to play something that feels and sounds great--you end up concentrating on the music, not fighting the guitar, or honing your image.

Of course, do what you like--plenty of Kay, Harmony, Danelectro, etc. sound pretty good.

P.

[toadman]

maybe back in the day tele's and deluxes were cheap!

[Fatmanstratman]

Not QUITE pure "Blues", but you gotta dig this dude with his 3 string guitar and "Mississippi Drum Machine".....

[jhundt]

almost any guitar can do what needs to be done. These days we have a whole lot of choices and (frequently) more money than we know what to do with.

You go down to the next session with a Telecaster and a Champ - you'll do fine. Don't worry about the hat - that's just a "Blues Brothers" artifact.

Just plug a guitar into an amp and play. That's all it takes...

[TeeBird]

If you use a cheap guitar and amp...

then that good old lonesome sound is comin' from you, not the gear.

[newtwanger]

I got the
can't-afford-a-custom-shop-so-I'll-play-my-fake-esquire-in-A-minor-pentatonic-blues.
Ohhh yeahh....
I spell it C..A..N...T.....
ev'body now...

[6942]

Now days..........................I can only afford the hat?

Steve

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Fatmanstratman

Not QUITE pure "Blues", but you gotta dig this dude with his 3 string guitar and "Mississippi Drum Machine"...

Yeah, great! I enjoyed that a lot when I saw the original broadcast. Also note the traditional, down-home southern fried vintage Roland Cube 60...

[bilpfeiffer]

I dig the three string sound, Thanks! and all these years people tellin me it took six. I'ze bin buying three strings what turn out to be nothing but decoration for 35 years. Man, the fool I bin; mama wuz rite: I ain't got no sense. Bil

[ajgus]

Sung...I ain't never had me nuthin' but no cheap gear. And I been playin' damn near 20 years. Never had no CS Strats, never had me no Marshall stacks. Never had no e-fect racks & I sho ain't never wore no hats. And Lord knows I still got them blues!

[three barrel]

Here is a link to Another Night to Cry by Lonnie Johnson. He is playing what appears to be a Kay guitar. I like his singing and the sound of the Kay. Both clean and simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDAsJHgIRqI

[mad dog]

Who says we don't? I go by tone, not price tag. In that department, my cheapest guitar (Dearmond M-75T) gives nothing away to my most valuable. That particular one has a slide sound I can't get anywhere else, any price, so it's worth way more to me than whatever I paid.

[stephwills]

Cheap? Robert Johnson played a Gibson L-1 Flat top. Do you have any idea how much that guitar costs?

[ToadLC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK0xQ-oMA_o

Yep, no need for fancy. ;-)

[D.K. Buchanon]

my good friend Hambone

[charlie chitlin]

LOVE playin' the blues on them cheap geetars!

[Capel]

Couple of years ago we had Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges play our town for New Years.... apparently the airline wouldn't let him bring his ES-335 as hand luggage (never quite established with him whether or not it was Freddie King's one or not) so he shows up at my shop to do a TV interview before the gig, opens his guitar case and pulls out a Monterey strat rip-off (for those not in Australia it a strat copy about the same price & specs as the Squier Bullet), basically stock except for SD cool rail pups in the neck & middle position.... the other music store in town used to tell anyone who'd listen how sh*te the Montereys we sell were, Eugene got three spots on local TV playing his, including one magic shot where you could read the Monterey badge off the headstock.

If I can get the video to attach, here's Eugene playing in the shop, cheep guitar thru a hotrod deluxe... the sound on the video isn't great (recorded on my phone) but in real life it was pretty darn good!

Edit: can't get the file to upload

[Colt W. Knight]

Those old guys didnt necessarily buy what was cheap, they bought what was available.

[Charlie Bernstein]

My friend Tom, a pro guitarist and teacher, has given me some pointers. One day he had his D-28 out and was teaching me damping. He entitled the lesson "How to Make Your Million-dollar Martin Sound like a Twenty-five Dollar Guitar."

Any time you think your fancy guitar isn't soulful enough, remember that Gary Davis played an SJ-200. If he can drive a Cadillac, so can you!

[Joe Chaney]

jack white plays on budget plastic guitars
and as posted above seasick steve only has 3 strings, and he's so cool, dog house music is an absolutely great album
who says we can't still do that? i know who, money grabbing guitar manufacturers

[superchicken_VI]

There's no need for high-end gear to play anything. It's just whatever makes you most comfortable and allows you to play your best. If you feel more like a "bluesman" playing on a beater no-name POS, go for it. If you feel more like a player with a Custom Shop something-or-other, go for it. It's about what you say with the guitar, not what the guitar looks like or would sell for.

[TeeBird]

I have an old Harmony archtop acoustic with a 15 dollar stuck in piezo pickup and play it through a champ. It sounds awesome for slide.

I think trashcan lid sounds work great for blues.

[Flat357]

Didn't realise the blues was about equipment .
Here was me thinking all along it was about expressing an emotional state of mind
I guess if you gave a blues artist a £3 grand guitar , he wouldn't have the Blues no more huh ?

[Joisey]

Originally Posted by Flat357

I guess if you gave a blues artist a £3 grand guitar , he wouldn't have the Blues no more huh ?

He still would have holes in his shoes and therefor still blue.

[Colt W. Knight]

If you give my a 3000$ guitar, I promise I will be happy! I won't moan the blues at all.