Chords for The Best Guitar for Each Genre (Is NOT What You Think)

[Am] I want to talk about this ongoing, never-ending trend that I see in the guitar community.
I think it's mainly among the beginning to intermediate crowd,
but I think generally everybody is a little interested in what others have to say on the subject of
what guitar do [Dm] I need for a great blues tone?
Or what guitar do I need for a nice crispy funk tone?
Or a
smooth jazz tone?
Or an epic metal tone?
[G] What guitar do I need?
And the answers are
exactly what you expect.
Well, you [Em] need a Telecaster for country.
You need a Strat or Les Paul for blues.
[F] You need a hollow body for jazz.
And generally, I think those are
[Am] smart answers if you're looking for status quo, but I also think they can be limiting [Abm] answers.
So [A] here's my hot take.
_ No guitar
equals genre.
And I'm gonna [Ab] prove that to you.
[Dbm] The musical genre is not based on [D] a guitar tone [A] or a
drum tone or anything like that.
It's [Abm] based on [Cm] the actual [Dbm] musical structure.
You can plug in anything [A] you want to the [Dbm] formula.
If the musical structure is correct, then the tools will simply be
alternative colors than maybe the listener is used to, but you will no doubt be able to [Am] identify
[Dbm] the genre in question.
[Ebm] And a perfect example would be a genre that I've already alluded to, [Abm] the genre of country.
[Ebm] Everyone's gonna tell you you need a Telecaster for country.
And as somebody who lives in Nashville,
it is kind of blasphemous to say, [Abm] no, you [Ebm] don't need a Telecaster for country.
Just what is it about the Telecaster that makes it so
[Dbm] country-friendly, so conducive to those spanky twangy tones?
Well, when you think about it, it's the pickups.
It's the T-style, maybe the way the neck and the body work [A] together.
You know, sometimes Telecasters have thinner necks and have that [Ab] kind of sharper, [Dbm] snappier sound that is very conducive to
chicken picking, whatever other country slang you want to use.
But you can accomplish that same feel with
the exact opposite guitar.
Now, what guitar would that be?
What [Ab] is the last guitar
[Dbm] anyone would recommend for country? _
_ _ _ _ Gibson SG? _
[Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _
[C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ So _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ as you heard there, I accomplished Tele-things.
Picking closer to the bridge to have a bit more snappier sound,
I actually turned the treble up on the amplifier that I was using, [D] which was a Fender Princeton Reverb.
And I also just had a little bit of slapback delay on my tone.
In general,
I played [Cm] country licks.
I used the bending of the body and the neck to bow out and create that vibrato bar sound at the [C] end there.
I [Dm] used the Jimmy Page
vibrato on the outside of the nut to move the G-strings, sort of like a G-bender, if you will.
If you were just
listening to that music and [Cm] not seeing what guitar I was playing, did [G] you really care that it wasn't a Tele?
I don't know [Am] if the layperson would.
I think our experiment is proving to be useful.
Let's move on to a different genre.
Sorry, I'm like [Ab] hunched down.
I feel like [G] I'm in Frankenstein's laboratory [B] conducting experiments.
I need to have better posture.
[E] Moving on, we are [D] gonna talk about metal.
_ _ This is sort of the music that is conducive to [G] humbuckers.
Everybody's gonna say, well, you need a big fat [E] sound.
You need something that [D] is hot and aggressive.
But you know what the hottest aggressive sound that I can think [Bb] of is?
It's not humbuckers.
[D] Humbuckers are warm and round and, you know, they can be aggressive if you have the right style of pick attack.
[E] But a much harsher sound, in a good way if you do it correctly, [C] is the sound of a single coil.
The last guitar that somebody would recommend for metal is [Eb] probably a Strat [C] style guitar.
And you know a really famous Strat style guitar and one that is not known for being [N] used for metal?
A Silver Sky.
[D] _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [Gbm] _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [G] _ _
[E] _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [F] _ [Ab] _
[Em] _ _ I [C] _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ mean, that's epic.
Tone that cuts.
But there was a raunchiness to the tone and that had to do with the single coils that was just so clear and
aggressive sounding.
It necessarily didn't have the low end of humbuckers.
But I would much [D] rather have a bit more clarity than a bit more low end, especially in [Cm] a mix like that.
That's what we're kind of talking about here.
The overall context is the context of a recording.
These guitars are interchangeable.
There is no right or wrong answer.
[Dm] And I think we have once again proven that by using a single coil
style guitar with a genre that usually calls for [Cm] humbuckers.
And just the same [Ab] again, going back to the Telecaster.
That guitar is notorious for being awesome for metal because it actually has a lower end bump and there are multiple signature
Telecasters that I can think of that are used by players in the metal and rock genres.
So moving on to another genre that has a very specific kind of [Bb] guitar that is associated with it.
[Gm] Jazz.
[Fm] You like [Ab] jazz?
I like jazz.
And when you think about jazz again,
we're framing this from the perspective of maybe a beginner or intermediate guitar player.
[Bb] They're gonna think big
hollow [Ab] body guitar.
[C] Something along those lines.
A guitar [Eb] that would make sense to be seen in a picture from
1939.
[Ab] And I love the sound of big hollow body guitars.
They are very specific and
nostalgic [Eb] sound I would say.
So [Fm] let's take the exact [Cm] opposite approach.
Let's take the most [Eb] modern sounding [Bb] and modern [Fm] looking guitar
that I [Cm] have.
A PRS Custom 24 with a Floyd Rose bridge and
pickups that would make your mother [Em] cry.
_ [G] _ [Ab] _ [C] _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ [C] _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ _ [Db] _ [C] _ _ [B] _ [Dm] _
[Em] _ [D] _ [Eb] _ [Gb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
[Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _
[Am] _ _ _ [C] _ [B] _ [Bb] _ [E] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So that example I think is the reason you shouldn't limit yourself to what the traditional guitar for a genre is being called for.
Because any hollow body guitar, you're not gonna have a whammy bar to [E] create maybe a new sound.
You don't necessarily have to be constricted.
And I'm not saying you shouldn't.
Seek out a new sound.
Find a new sound.
Find a new sound.
So you can pick out these [Ab] classic guitars and just have the sound for whatever genre you're going for.
But I'm also saying don't be [Cm] afraid to experiment and don't ever feel like you have [Dm] to do something
to get a sound.
Because in the end, tone is in the fingers and you know, all the effects that surround it to enhance
what it [Cm] is you're going for.
So I think we've finished the experiment.
I think we've proven the hypothesis that
guitar does not equal genre.
Let me know in the comments what you think about this whole subject.
Thank you for watching and until next time. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Dm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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