Jazz is a unique music genre and it needs a unique guitar too. A hollow-bodied guitar such as Epiphone Casino can be the best guitar to play jazz music. A hollow-bodied guitar produces a rich tone that suits the mood of jazz music.
I have been playing jazz music for many years. I have tried guitar variants, like hollow body guitar, telecaster, Stratocaster, and even a classical guitar to play jazz music. To me, a hollow-body guitar like Epiphone Casino produces the best tone for jazz music.
In this article, I am going to rank a few popular guitars that I have used for playing jazz. I will also discuss why they are suitable or not suitable for playing jazz. I can assure you that all your confusion will end about the best guitars to play jazz after reading this article.
Also Read: 4 Factors That Affect Guitar Intonation: Tips For Best Tone
Ranking The Best Guitars To Play Jazz
| Strat | Tele | Les Paul | Custom 24 | Casino | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good for Jazz | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Body | Alder | Maple | Mahagony | Mahagony | 5-ply Maple Wood |
| Neck | Maple | Maple | Maple | Maple | Rose Wood |
| No. Frets | 22 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 22 |
| Pickups | 3x Single Coil | 2x Single Coil | 2x Burstbucker | 2x Humbucker | 2x P-90 pickups |
| Brand | Fender | Fender | Gibson | PRS | Epiphone |
| Cost | $500 – $600 | $80 – $90 | $190 – $200 | $100-$110 | $100-$110 |
1. Epiphone Casino
The guitar is a hollow bodied guitar that is perfectly suitable for playing jazz music
Epiphone Casino is the best choice for those who are looking for the best guitars to play jazz. This guitar is a hollow bodied guitar that is perfectly suitable for playing jazz music.
I have been using this guitar for years to play jazz. Surprisingly, it delivers the desired perfect tone on stage as well as in the studio.
Epiphone Casino is equipped with two P-90s pickups. This perfectly delivers the vibration of the strings to the amplifier. It creates an amazing tone for a jazz player. This guitar is made of maple wood to enrich the quality of the sound.
It also comes with a 12-inch fretboard radius to play higher octaves without any hesitation. These features with the surprising melodious tone of the guitar make it the best guitar to play jazz music.
This guitar is widely used for playing jazz. Still, some famous musicians or bands like The Beatles, have used it too for some other genres.
2. Fender Telecaster
The Fender telecaster is a versatile guitar and it also allows you to play jazz and blues
I am ranking Fender Telecaster in the second position in this list of the best guitars to play jazz music.
Well, this is my favorite guitar. The Fender Telecaster is a versatile guitar. It allows you to play jazz, blues, and even metal with a few minor changes in the tone.
The Fender Telecaster is a solid body guitar made of maple wood. It enhances the quality of the tone of the strings. Its fretboard comes with 19 frets. It helps a jazz player to play higher octaves without facing any problems.
It is also equipped with two humbucking pickups. Hope you know the performance of humbucking pickups. Well, they are the most popular pick-up for stages and studios. It is because they deliver rich and amazing tones.
Fender Telecaster can be a great choice for jazz players. It is also great for other genres’ guitar players like rock n roll, blues, country, etc. I used to carry this guitar for recording. It helps to get tuned for any genre within a minute.
3. Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most best and popular guitar around the world
The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most popular guitars around the world. This guitar is good enough for almost all types of music genres such as jazz, blues, rock n roll, and country.
I have used this guitar a few times on stage. From my experience, I rank this guitar third in the list of the best guitars to play jazz.
The Fender Stratocaster is a solid-body electric guitar, equipped with three pickups. These pickups deliver the string vibration to the amplifier perfectly. It helps to create an amazing tone.
The maple wood body also contributes to the quality of the sound. Also, the tone of this guitar perfectly suits jazz music. Its tremolo and 9.5-inch fretboard radius also allow a bunch of experiments. You know, it is the key to jazz music.
Consider these features of the Fender Stratocaster. You will find it a good choice for playing jazz. However, this guitar is quite expensive. It costs around $500 – $600.
This is why I would not recommend it to beginners. However, if you are a professional jazz guitar player, you may opt for this for amazing jazz solos. Here is the link for this guitar:
4. Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has a rich tone and it has also a very high quality electronics and versatility
The Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has been one of the most popular guitars for over 7 decades. It has a rich tone, high-quality electronics, and versatility. These make it a good choice for almost all types of music genres.
I am lucky to get the chance to play a Gibson Les Paul Electric Guitar several times from my friend. It is a solid-body electric guitar. Its body is made of mahogany wood and the neck is made of maple.
In addition, it is equipped with two61T Burstbucker pickups (Zebra). These provide a rich tone while being plugged into an amplifier. However, for some reason, I would not recommend this one for dedicated jazz players.
Gibson Les Paul is handy to play any type of music. However, I have felt that this guitar is more suitable for metal and rock n roll genres than jazz music. This can be the best guitar for you if you shuffle between many genres.
Gibson Les Paul (base model) can be a good and cheaper replacement for Fender Stratocaster. It is because both are made for playing almost all types of music genres. This variant of guitar costs around $190 to $200. Here is the link for this guitar:
5. PRS Custom 24
This guitar produces a punchy and sustained tone that appears mind blowing
PRS Custom 24 is another guitar that I have played a few times. This guitar produces a punchy and sustained tone that appears mind blowing. However, I have ranked it at the end of the list of the best guitars to play jazz music.
PRS Custom 24 is one of the famous guitars that come with two humbucking pickups. This is the key secret behind the rich tone of this guitar.
Its body is made of mahogany wood that helps in producing a punchy and sustained tone. The long fretboard allows guitarists to play solos in higher octaves, easily.
The PRS Custom 24 is famous for its punchy and sustained tone. However, I feel that this guitar is more suitable for metal or heavy metal genres. That does not mean that this guitar is not for jazz players.
You can play melodious jazz solos with this guitar too. However, I do not really recommend this guitar for playing jazz music.
Also Read: 5 Hardest Music Genres For Guitar: Jazz Vs Metal Vs Classic
Best Guitar For Jazz: Recommendation
Here I have shared my experiences of playing jazz music on different guitars. You may be confused, aren’t you? Let me help you, choose the best guitar to play jazz music.
If you are a dedicated jazz player, I will recommend the Epiphone Casino.
Epiphone Casino is a hollow-bodied electric guitar that produces a rich tone that suits jazz music best. I have been using this guitar for several years for playing jazz music.
It also comes with two P-90s pickups that deliver the best sound while playing jazz not only in studios but also on the stages. The versatility, rich tone, and affordable price make it the best guitar for jazz.
FAQs
Q: Can You Play Jazz on a Solid Body Guitar?
You can play jazz on a solid-body guitar. It is better to play jazz on a hollow-bodied guitar such as Epiphone Casino. However, according to my experience Fender Telecaster is also a good guitar for jazz. It is a solid-body guitar.
Q: Can You Play Jazz on a Classical Guitar?
Well, it is hard to play jazz on a classical guitar. Jazz is a different genre than classical. The rhythm, plucking, finger patterns, and arpeggios are different in jazz. That is why the classical guitar is not a good option for playing jazz.
Q: Are Fender Guitars Good for Jazz?
Fender guitars are good guitars for playing jazz. Fender Telecaster and Fender Stratocaster electric guitars are two versatile guitars to play any genre of music. These Fender guitars are quite good for playing jazz.
Q: Can Any Electric Guitar Play Jazz?
Well, jazz can be played on any electric guitar. Jazz is a type of music that can be played on any electric guitar. However, I would recommend playing jazz on a hollow-bodied guitar can be best for you as they are the best suitable for jazz music.
