Ever since I bought my CL, I noticed that I can hardy find an Electric Blues players who use a Les Paul... why? Most of them use a Strat. Some use a ES-355 or even a Tele to play their Blues lead...

The ES-335, to me is very different to a Strat, one being very warm while the Strat being loud and focused. And they both being used frequently... why aren't those Blues players use the Les Paul as well?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ed,

Ed. It wasn't always so. Listen to John Mayall w/ Eric Clapton & the Bluesbreakers, and Paul Butterfield Band w/ Eric Bloomfield ( after the 1st album where he played a Telecaster) These are the guys who created the rush for the Les Paul flametops!!!

It could have something to do with weight as well. I have a Clapton signature model Strat and a LP standard and it's just a lot more comfortable to play the Strat.

For Gibson's, when you hear the resonance of B.B.'s "Live at the Regal" or "Blues is King" it kinda answers the 335 questions. With Strats, seems like everyone plays one, especially post-SRV.

Luther Allison got a great Les Paul through Bassman sound. Lately, I heard Robben Ford on u-tube playing with Larry Carlton. Robben's Les Paul sounded great.

Les Paul's have a midrange presence that makes it a bit harder to clean up. However, if you play with both pickups on and play with both volumes and both tones, you can get some great sounds. Of course, nothing does milkshake like a Les Paul. I love'em.

A Paul is a one-trick pony in a lot of ways, but it's a helluva trick. Gary Moore, early Eric, as cited, Bloomfield post-66, Page post-67. When I was cutting my blues teeth, 67/68, most of the cats who were laying it down were doing it on Gibsons. Kings, Albert, BB, Freddy, and the british blues invasion dudes- Peter Green, and a host of other, were humbucking their way to stardom. No doubt, a great strat is more versitile, but for one song it's pretty hard to beat a vintage Paul through a JTM45. Listen to the "Beano" album, as I did just two night ago to refresh my memory about "Hideaway", and you'll hear it. Have mercy!

And Sonoman, let's not forget the classic Les Paul blues tandem of Duane Allman and Richard ("Dickey") Betts!

And in between Clapton and Green in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers was Mick Taylor playing his. And then of course there's Keith playing that black Les Paul Custom.

But for me, it all goes back to Clapton playing that Les Paul on the Bluesbreakers' album you mention. That was my initiation to the Les Paul sound.

I believe Bloomfield is the one who should be credited with bringing the Les Paul to the blues, followed by all the great players mentioned. As far as the Strat, Hendrix is the obvious player who helped boost the popularity of that guitar, but I think Clapton's switch from Les Paul to Strat for Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, his first solo album and, of course, Layla is responsible for many players giving up the Les Paul. It has never regained the position it held in the late '60s.

Randy, I think you nailed it. While Hendrix will always be the first musician many (including myself) associate with the Strat, it was Clapton's switch to the Strat that made lots of folks feel comfortable making the switch themselves. It was shortly after Layla came out that I bought my first Strat (pre-CBS) at a midtown pawn shop on the West Side in NYC. If only I had kept that baby; the price it would now fetch! I can still remember playing around with the position switch to get that out of phase sound.....

I have a '56/'57 Strat (not a reissue) and I still have three-position switch in it. It has been rewired a bit so all three pickups have tone adjustment, but I just can't go to the five-position switch. I usually leave it positioned between the neck and middle pickup. Maybe one of these days I'll put in a 5-way but I'm just too lazy. I also have a real problem leaving the guitar out of my sight as I don't want a repair person to be tempted to change something. I hit the roof once when MandoBros, of all places, did some extra work on an acoustic that I didn't ask for; boy, was I pissed.

Tom F., you mentioned your introduction to the Les Paul sound by Clapton. Mine was sitting 4 feet from Bloomfield (many times) at the Café Au Go Go and The Bitter End on Bleeker Street and being blown away when he held a sustaining note on his 'Burst and TUNED THE STRING with his right hand. I was a novice at the time and I was really impressed with that move. Yeah, yeah, all his playing was righteous, but to tune, mid-note. That got me. Somehow, it's just not the same when I do it now.

I wonder if maybe the music has changed a bit in a direction more suited to a Strat? Around these parts I'd say its about a 50/50 split although the guys using Strats are often playing more rock than blues and visa versa. Its also just a personal taste thing. I love the Gibson sound and always will.

Robert Cray, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray, etc. seem to prefer Strat-style for blues. I don't see many Les Pauls in the NJ area; mostly Strats. I wish I still had my black Les Paul Special but tuning was a nightmare. I can swing my way out of bar fight with the Strat and it's still in tune!!

Maybe higher gain amps and the pedal proliferation had something to do with it; a strat can be relatively thin- sweet but thin- through a straight clean amp. As far as Clapton following Bloomfield, maybe but I doubt it. Eric was deep into the old delta stuff and the Chicago south side (as was Butterfield and his boys), and he pretty much charted his own course. With the Yardbirds, he had a Tele for a while (65) but went to the Paul through a JTM45 when he moved to Mayall. Speaking of tuning tricks, I saw Eric sitting in with Buddy Guy, and he broke a B string, I think it was, in the first or second song of the set. He was over from SF where Cream had debuted in the US at the Fillmore (I was there). Clapton played the rest of the set with five string, and you couldn't tell his leads from his regular- which is to say astounding- playing. Still fries my mind, or what remains of it. Great days for blues; I was always kinda partial to Albert King, that Flying V and the ultimate no-nonsense stone cold blues.Listen to Stevie Ray and you'll hear more Albert than you will Jimi. I'll save my Albert/Jimi story for another thread rather than (further) wear out my welcome! thanks tom