Joe Bonamassa Names Best Guitars for Playing Blues: ‘Those Are the Quintessential Three’

JoBo also named two axes from his collection that he thinks of as “Les Paul killers.”

Joe Bonamassa named the Fender Stratocaster, and Gibson’s Les Paul and ES-335 as the best guitars to play blues on, also naming two specific 335s he considers to be “Les Paul killers.”

Although nearly any guitar can be used to play any kind of music if there’s a desire to do so — as the Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett recently demonstrated when he shared his fondness of using Les Pauls for country licks — there are still some types of guitars that are conventionally associated with specific genres or playing traditions.

Blues is very much one of those genres where some axes are considered more appropriate for the job than others, and in a new interview with Total Guitar, the proven guitar connoisseur, named his three picks. The first two that came to Joe’s mind don’t come as much of a surprise:

“A Strat and a [Gibson] ES-335. To me, those are blues machines. A Strat can do so much, kinda like [how] Buddy Guy [used one]. And the 335 is like the classic instrument that a guy like Freddie King used.”

Then, there’s the Les Pauls, which has a proud history of being used by many of the British greats, as well as JoBo himself (who is not British, even though people used to think so back in the day):

“I’d have to include a Les Paul, too. The British guys, like Jeff Beck, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, took the classic Les Paul ‘Bursts from ’59 and used them as weapons for the blues.”

“Those ‘Bursts plugged into a Marshall became a common denominator. So, the Strat, 335, and the Les Paul – those are the quintessential three.”

When asked to name his favorite axes from each category, Bonamassa revealed he’s got two 335s he considers to be “Les Paul killers”:

“Oh, God. The ’55 hardtail ‘Bonnie’ Strat is the best one for me. As for the 335, there’s a couple of ’62s that I play live – they’re Les Paul killers.”

“And with Les Pauls, it depends on what I’m playing. It’s hard to name a favorite as it depends on the job. You’ve got a Goldtop with P-90s, and then there’s ‘Bursts with PAFs, so it all depends.”

Ultimately, however, the choice of an ax will always be less important than the player who wields it. A while back, JoBo made the same point by naming the example of B.B. King. He said:

“And B.B. King would sit down, pick up a Lucille that Gibson had given to him, the same thing you’re gonna buy off the rack. Maybe he had his name on the fingerboard something custom for him.”

“He hit one note, and guess what it sounded like? B.B. King. If I played his guitar, it sounds like me. It’s the driver.”