Playing a guitar out of context and/or what it was designed for

stickyfiddle

Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr both use Jazzmasters. I'm not sure exactly how I'd describe those sounds but it ain't jazz....! 

slacker

I read somewhere that sonic youth got jazzmasters because they were cheap, at the time.

skullfunkerry

He doesn't seem to use it anymore, but Wes Borland's signature Yamaha hollowbody always struck me as an odd thing to play in Limp Bizkit.

When I bought my Charvel Spectrum the guy I bought it from told me there was a jazz guitarist near him who used an orange one with flatwounds

Ooh, just thought of another one: Derek Miller from Sleigh Bells and his Jackson Soloists.

guitars4you

willo said:

I would go with either Bill Frisell or Julian Lage and a Telecaster.

Not so sure about that - Jim Mullen, Ted Greene and our own Adrian Ingram all play jazz based styles on a Tele - Quite a regular feature - Plus Mike Stern and Jim Campilongo and I believe Howard Roberts in his studio days

guitars4you

timmypix said:

Emily Werstler shredding melodic death metal on PRS hollow bodies

And Incubus - Mike Einziger on a PRS Hollowbody 

guitars4you

OilCityPickups said:

Both Albert King and Lonnie Mack played Vs, while Poppa Chubby actually had a signature V ... and you could count Bonamassa with Vs and Explorers and John 5 with Telecasters.

I was a big fan of Nugent in his early days, I felt that using that Byrdland gave an 'on the edge' feel to his playing which I loved ... sadly, as I don't think one can separate the politics from the musician, I won't even give him a listen today ... 

This conversation about playing guitars out of context, came up yesterday at the guitar show in Northampton - And as I said above, Ted Nugent quickly came up - Then immediately one of the guys I was chatting to said exactly the same thing 

punchesjudy

Guy Picciotto of Fugazi plays Rickenbackers. 

TheBigDipper

There's always Steve Howe of Yes with his ES-175 (and an L-5, too, I believe). You wouldn't guess the guitar from the playing and the music. 

 But, TBH, I don't think guitars are designed for anything except to be playable and usable in some musical context or other. It's our preconceptions that puts them into boxes. 

IIRC, one of the people in Syd Arthur (a great Brighton-based band that I haven't seen about in a while) used to play a tenor electric guitar at times. That was unusal but worked.

Neil

slacker said:

I read somewhere that sonic youth got jazzmasters because they were cheap, at the time.

Indeed they did because nobody wanted them and because J.Mascis came up short on his lawn mowing money and couldn't afford the Strat he wanted he had to settle for a JM too.

Tannin

Yes, and it's Nugent's Byrdland for the win. Not only a semi-acoustic in a seriously loud hard rock setting, but that ridiculous neck small enough to make a Rickenbacker feel like a six string bass. 

Shame he turned into such a poxhead.

lustycourtier

LionAquaLooper said:

John mayer and his neon pink Jackson

Came to say this, or Ed Sheeran playing his Crapton Crash strats

Bennyboy-UK

I always like to post a shot of Super Chikan for this kind of thread.

Delta Blues played on bolt on BC Rich's  

 

Litterick

Ed Bickert's Telecaster.

blobb

Does this count (in small amounts)?

merlin

Rules are meant to be broken. 'Nuff said. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

stickyfiddle said:

Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr both use Jazzmasters. I'm not sure exactly how I'd describe those sounds but it ain't jazz....! 

I would say it'd be more 'out if context' to see an actual jazz guitarist using a Jazzmaster than it would be to see an Indie rocker using one! 

slacker

Les paul was a jazz guitar as well. 

I think most guitars can be used for most things. I personally like using the right guitar at home. Live  I'll pick the best two for the gig.

I was briefly in a band that did some Beatles covers made sense to take a rickenbacker. However as the beatles used a lot of guitars it doesn't really matter. 

Flanging_Fred

skullfunkerry said:

He doesn't seem to use it anymore, but Wes Borland's signature Yamaha hollowbody always struck me as an odd thing to play in Limp Bizkit.

When I bought my Charvel Spectrum the guy I bought it from told me there was a jazz guitarist near him who used an orange one with flatwounds

Ooh, just thought of another one: Derek Miller from Sleigh Bells and his Jackson Soloists.

I used my Charvel Spectrum and 375 deluxe at a jazz/blues jam/workshop very frequently. It sounded perfect fine to me and others commented that it sounded good as well. 

randella

Tannin said:

Yes, and it's Nugent's Byrdland for the win. Not only a semi-acoustic in a seriously loud hard rock setting, but that ridiculous neck small enough to make a Rickenbacker feel like a six string bass. 

Shame he turned into such a poxhead.

Yeah I was just thinking Izzy Stradlin (Guns and Roses) and Billy Duffy (The Cult) for the same thing. Nugent predates them both, quite possibly gave them the idea too.

Then there's Malcolm Young...

Offset