Blues Guitar?

Question

I have a fender strat, and I was interested in getting that old blues sound. I have messed around with the tone, but I was wondering how to get it to sound like B.B. King. Im open to suggestions too. :) Thanks Andy

Answer 1

BB King's guitar is actually an ES 355. It differs from the ES 335 -it is a stereo guitar and doesn't have sound holes like the ES 335 (I have a 335). These guitars have humbucker pickups which are much louder and more powerful than fender single coils. However, BB's sound comes from his hands, fingers and heart than guitar or amp and he would sound like BB no matter what guitar he is playing.

Answer 2

I'm a blues-rock guitar player with numerous guitars and amplifiers - some are "world class". There really is no specific "blues tone" - a Stratocaster sounds very different from a Les Paul or a Gretsch or a Rickenbacker, and a Gibson Les Paul doesn't sound the same as a Gibson ES-335, etc. As long as you have the tone that YOU like, you are doing fine. One thing that you should be sure to do is have a good quality tube amplifier. As you already have a Fender, the Fender amps work great with Fender guitars. For a clean sound, Strats are probably unbeatable, but you can run them into an overdriven amplifier or use a foot pedal to get "that sound". The good news is you have plenty of great choices - we are living in a golden age of guitar technology.

Answer 3

Tone usually depends more on the guitar and amp than style. As mentioned above King had that big red hollowbody known as "Lucille". It has a different tone than a Strat. The Strat sound is what you often hear when you hear Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, or Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. The fender Stratocaster is their main guitar. (I also play a Fender Stratocaster.)
Tone also depends on the pickup settings. That trademark strat sound is usually when the setting is between pickups.
Another factor is where you hold the pick, close to the bridge for a trebly sound or further away from the bridge for a bassier sound.
The gauge of the pick also affects the sound. I prefer medium gauge.
Then theres the string gauge.

Answer 4

B.B uses a Gibson 335 with humbucking pickups....which have a fatter sound than a strat.
You might consider a humbucker installed in your strat....or look around for a cheap SG, or Les Paul or 335
Good luck

Answer 5

You wont get the sound you want with a Fender
what you need is a Gibson semi hollow body or a Gretch
Its the only way you can get that sound .

Answer 6

The most common musical form of blues is the 12-bar blues and is
simply a I - IV - V chord progression. The reason it's called the '12 Bar Blues' is because it is played over 12 bars, or measures, used to express the theme of a typical blues song.

A 12-bar blues is divided into three four-bar segments. A standard blues progression, or sequence of notes, typically features three chords based on the first (written as I), fourth (IV), and fifth (V) notes of an eight-note scale. The I chord dominates the first four bars; the IV chord typically appears in the second four bars and the V chord is played in the third four bars.

The lyrics of a 12-bar blues song often follow what's known as an AAB pattern. "A" refers to the first and second four-bar verse, and "B" is the third four-bar verse. In a 12-bar blues, the first and second lines are repeated, and the third line is a response to them - often with a twist.

Answer 7

I have several musicians that I work with that LOVE the Gibson Nighthawk (solid body) and Blueshawk (hollowbody). They are no longer in production, but are relatiely inexpensive on Ebay.
Steve Allen
Detroit Blues Society