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Post subject: Using a Strat for Jazz?
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:40 am
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I am just learning Jazz and I have a Strat. What is the best way to get a good Jazz sound out of a Strat? If this is impossible what Fender guitar is better for Jazz? Thanks!


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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:12 am
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A Strat should work fine. Your amp/amp settings/fx will also have a lot to do with getting the right tone.

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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:23 am
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CAFeathers wrote:
A Strat should work fine. Your amp/amp settings/fx will also have a lot to do with getting the right tone.


+1

Also, stringing your strat or any other with flat wounds will help as well. But remember you need to re-setup your guitar because flat wounds are thicker and have higher tension than round wounds.


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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:09 pm
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Stratocasters are good for for ANYTHING. 8)

Also, setting it through a clean channel would be a start...but since my dad went cheap and got me my first amp which had no EQ settings, I don't think I could tell you much else. :(


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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:22 pm
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Mike Stern used a Strat for Jazz (well, jazz fusion with Miles Davis in the early '80s):

Image

His tone then (like now with his use of tele-like guitars) is not like the usual electric-guitar-jazz-tone you hear, however.

You should be able to get whatever tone you want through judicious setting of pickups/tone/amplifier controls. Good Luck.

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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:05 am
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With good amp is possible :wink: (Scott Henderson for example)

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Post subject: jazz tone
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:14 am
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Start with a good clean tone on your amp . The rest is in your hands and your heart.

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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:29 am
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You can get a decent tone by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone way back. One difference between a strat and the more traditional jazz guitars is that the strat will sustain a lot more, but you can definately do it.

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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:25 pm
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bluesgrass wrote:
You can get a decent tone by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone way back.

Bingo. Using the Neck pickup or the Neck and middle pickup can get you a very nice warm Jazz sound.

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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:47 pm
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bluesgrass wrote:
You can get a decent tone by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone way back. One difference between a strat and the more traditional jazz guitars is that the strat will sustain a lot more, but you can definately do it.


Exactly there's your answer. Get your amp not to overdrive at all and get a good clean tone. Turn on your neck pickup and roll all the treble all the near all the or all the way off. That will give you a nice clean mellow tone for jazz.

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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:13 am
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Agreed to all of the above.

Adding a slight Chorus effect along with punching up the lower-mids with some parametric eq can also help give you a rich fat clean jazzy tone. The best pup position is (as stated above) the neck pickup alone. Going into neck/mid, you will get some more Strat-type tones (which is not necessarily bad, though). Also, experimenting with rolling off on the the Tone knob -- also stated above -- is completely right.

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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:04 am
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Here's my two cents:

If you are playing fusion or smooth jazz a Strat is great. It's sound will cut thru any mix and sound dead on.

However, if you are playing classical jazz, e.g., one note samba, all blues, etc, a solid body usually won't do. But the best solid body for jazz is the Telecaster, and the thinline Tele (semi-hollow) is better.

Oh BTW, Mike Stern almost always uses a Tele or variant brand version of the Tele. :!:

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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:26 am
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qblue,
Don't Fret.... You can play anything on a strat. I play rhythm with a serious jazz guy and usually played my Les Paul copy. I picked up a MIM strat last year and never looked back. What I do is get a nice deep clean tone on my Fender super 60 or my Custom 5E3, then use the neck pick up and roll off the tone knob. Works out quite nice, because I'm a better guitar player on the Strat.


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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:41 pm
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Strat, neck pup(tone rolled off), any good amp with lot's of clean headroom (Twin Reverb, Roland JC). To me that the best solidbody jazz tone you can get without a prescription.

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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:44 am
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bluesgrass wrote:
You can get a decent tone by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone way back. One difference between a strat and the more traditional jazz guitars is that the strat will sustain a lot more, but you can definately do it.


I actually play a little jazz using this exact set up

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