can ibanez play blues?

Question

Liev Kanganis · Answer

Published on 08 March 2022

What comes to mind when you think ’Ibanez guitars’?

Sleek shred machines? Pointy metal axes? Elegant hollowbody jazzers?

In truth, all of these are valid. Ibanez, pretty much the world’s third biggest guitar brand, have a very diverse range of guitars in their ever-changing catalogue. Interestingly, they are highly regarded in each of those areas we mentioned, where most brands tend to excel in one particular style.

Definitely modernistic in their approach, Ibanez have cut a quite singular path through the market since the 80s, when their original designs took precedence in the minds of a new generation of guitar player. Certainly, the ‘gunslinging’ connotations will be ever present for a brand who’ve retained Vai, Satch and Gilbert as endorsees for decades, but even a cursory glance at other Ibanez artists reveals a much greater truth: they are loved by musicians from all quarters.

Today, we’ll take a stroll through some of Ibanez’s cornucopia of delicious guitars and pick out models that we feel are great choices for different styles. Which Ibanez guitar is best for Blues? Which Ibanez would we pick for Metal? Indeed, what type of metal would that be? We’ll address all of these questions and more, whilst offering tips and opinions to help you select the correct Ibanez guitar for the music you play. Sound good? Let’s go!

Why not begin with Ibanez’ ‘hometown’ of rock music? Now, there are endless permutations of just what ‘rock’ is, so we’ll diversify and suggest examples as we go. To begin with, let’s look at an Ibanez that will suit most styles of rock, both classic and contemporary.

Classy but still hard rockin’, the Ibanez AZ47P1QM is a fantastically versatile guitar with tones to match the looks! This is from the Ibanez Premium line, which is a cut above standard models but just below the high end Prestige instruments. Premium guitars are built in a select Indonesian factory to high standards and feature special attention to the treatment of the fret edges, ensuring that your hand is always met with a comfortable playing surface.

The Ibanez AZ4P1QM is a classy looking beast. We love the quilted maple top and Black Ice Burst finish here, and feel that it would look at home in any rock setting, as well as that on any ‘session’ situation, where a classy, professional vibe is required in addition to a diverse palette of tones.

This Ibanez scores well here, with an HSH pickup layout composed of top-drawer DiMarzio units delivering everything from funk ‘quack’ to galactically heavy riffs. DiMarzio and Ibanez are like strawberries and cream, and this tasty package is made even sweeter by the addition of Gotoh hardware, well known as one of the most reliable brands on the market. The tremolo unit will behave well under duress, even though it’s a non-locking unit. This is something today’s guitarists seem to want and it’s good to see Ibanez offering them.

Another welcome design choice here lies in the quite beautiful neck. Ibanez have opted for an Oval C profile, so this is not a skinny shred neck at all. This decision puts the guitar firmly into the hands of a great many more players, especially when you then consider that the neck itself is made of roasted maple, and that it features stainless steel frets on an ebony fingerboard! The spec on this guitar could not possibly be better! If you need one quality instrument to cover all of your rock bases, it will be a tough and thankless task to find a better choice than this.

If there’s one defining image of a blues guitar, it’s a Cherry red semi–acoustic. Fat humbucker tones, sweetened by the hollow sections of the body, are what’s needed for authentic blues rhythms and solos. Is there an Ibanez blues guitar that can supply such tones, in a package that looks the part?

Sure is! Let us present the Ibanez AS93 in Trans Cherry Red. From the characteristic silhouette to the gold hardware on Cherry colour scheme, this thing has the soul of the Delta within its gorgeous curves!

Rather than offer an outright copy of its famous inspiration, Ibanez have decided to ‘quote’ elements from various historical models and blend them together within the parameters of their own style. In other words, it evokes the blues in its own characteristic manner: there are block inlays and f-holes, but there is also a flamed maple veneer on the top and a relocated input jack (amazing idea) as well as lots of other details.

PAF-style pickups are what every self-respecting blues mystic requires, and Ibanez’s Super 58 pickups supply that magic convincingly, whilst an ‘Expressionist’ neck carve means that this will feel like an old friend from the moment you first hold it.

Are you searching for a partner in crime for your blues journey? Look no more.

Contemporary metal has a whole different language and set of requirements compared with metal of, say, the 80s. Today’s cutting edge player likes a highly tuned instrument with a particular aesthetic. Oftentimes, they’ll be tuned lower than standard, and so the proliferation of baritone 7 and 8 string guitars is a normal occurrence.

Given that Ibanez were the creators of the first mass-produced 7 string electric guitar, you’d expect them to be on top of this new breed of heavy players. Indeed they are, with a huge number of standard, Premium, Prestige and Iron Label instruments to suit players of a more power-hungry persuasion.

Our choice today reflects many of the features such guitarists in this world are looking for. We’ve opted for the Ibanez Prestige RGDR4427FX. The Prestige range is the top of the tree for production level Ibanez guitars, so this is absolutely the best you can buy before reaching the nosebleed heights of the fabled J Custom instruments.

This tasty Prestige RGD model has a slightly longer neck in order to more happily accommodate that 7th string. It therefore has a 26.5” scale length, an inch longer than standard, but it doesn’t feel particularly longer at all, and the neck profile is a Wizard 7, so it's still built for speed! We see a set of lovely DiMarzio humbuckers on this model too: a pair of Fusion Edge 7s, which are versatile units, yes, but can entirely bring about armageddon too. As most current Metal and Prog players tend to prefer a hard tail over a whammy bar, this RGD is equipped with a Mono Rail bridge, befitting the simple and elegant design work shown elsewhere on this instrument.

Truly, this is an area in which Ibanez excels, so there’s a huge amount of choice available. If this guitar is close to meeting your requirements but you need something else (active pickups, tremolo, fanned frets, a different finish etc), just explore our other available guitars from Ibanez’s exhaustive catalogue: you’re sure to find a guitar that hits the brutal bullseye for you!

It’s back to Ibanez’s other speciality now. As mentioned before, there are not many companies out there as equally revered for their hollow bodies as they are for their high octane rock monsters, but Ibanez straddles the two worlds with remarkable confidence. This next choice is ample proof.

There’s always something mesmerising about a grand hollow body guitar and this Ibanez George Benson GB10SEFM signature is no exception. As one of the greatest living Jazz practitioners, Benson’s choice in guitar says a lot, so his long-time endorsement of Ibanez speaks volumes to their quality. It increases their reputation, certainly, but only because the instruments themselves are deemed good enough to use by world-class musicians such as Benson.

The Ibanez GB10SEFM is a stunning proposition, with its flame maple top,back and sides. The body is fully hollow, as you’d expect for a ‘proper’ jazzer, and there are some lovely details to enjoy on this particular model. Check out that tailpiece for a start: it’s designed to aid tuning and intonation, but it doesn't hurt that it ups the beauty quotient, too! Then glance at the nut and you’ll see it’s made out of a very innovative (and uncommon) combination of half bone and half brass, perfect for both tone and sustain.

Talking of tone, George has his own GB Special pickups supplied with this guitar. They both ‘float’, in the sense that they sit above the body itself, which helps to eliminate feedback. The pickup themselves are warm and expressive, delivering a luxurious selection of prime jazz tones. That luxury extends to the fingerboard, which is a lovely slice of bound ebony, inlaid with acrylic and abalone blocks. For smooth jazz and other more adventurous trips around the fretboard, why not follow the example of one of the greats and choose an Ibanez George Benson model?

Now, this last sub genre is one which could be filled with a great many Ibanez guitars! This is real home turf stuff for them: they are undoubtedly leaders of the high-performance shred-style guitars, and so correspondingly offer an enormous range of instruments.

Since we’ve already seen modern, cutting edge performance guitars already, let us return to the source, as it were, for this shred choice. Ibanez’s artist roster contains a number of the most loved and respected guitar virtuosos in existence, including the one who arguably put Ibanez on the map for gunslingers: Steve Vai.

Steve’s JEM is now a classic, of course, and inspired the phenomenally popular RG range (yes, the JEM came first) along the way. Therefore, it seems to us only correct to have one of his game-changing JEM guitars represented here as the ultimate Ibanez Shred guitar. There’s always a nice selection of JEMs (yes, it needs to be in capitals) available from Ibanez, so we’ve picked this stunning blue Floral JEM77P model for inclusion today. Why?

Well, the whole ‘floral JEM’ idea is a ‘thing’ in itself: there have been a few different floral JEMs since the late 80s, and original examples are now tear-inducingly expensive, so there’s something of the magical talisman about them. This blue one pays tribute to an earlier model but uses a fresh floral pattern (original examples used actual curtain material, believe it or not) and updates the pickups to a pair of DiMarzio Gravity Storm humbuckers (less overpoweringly ‘on’ than the Evolutions) and the customary single coil from the Evolution set. This is another Ibanez Premium guitar, so the build quality is impressive and the fretwork is excellent. Moreover, this is a guitar designed, assigned and built for incredible level sof technique, so it’ll handle everything you could possibly hope to throw at it. Plus, there’s the fun elements - the monkey grip, the Lion’s Claw body routing, the Tree of Life inlay etc - that make this guitar both an eccentric classic and a powerhouse performer.

The examples we’ve used today all represent what we believe are high watermarks in each genre of instrument. We believe that if you buy any of these for their intended purpose, you enjoy a stellar guitar that performs to an excellently high standard. In truth, Ibanez offers a wealth of comparable instruments that match the quality, sound and performance, so please take our recommendations as a prime starting point for your own research, applying personal taste and requirements when necessary.

What’s beyond obvious, though, is that Ibanez are easily able to offer world class guitars that meet the needs of a very diverse range of players. Their ‘house style’, then, is one of quality and consistency (along with a good sense of adventure) over any particular aesthetic adherence. Whatever styles you like to play, having Ibanez on your headstock is an assurance that your music is in good hands.

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Henrik Sheiner · Answer

All I play is blues/rock, my Ibanez suits it fine. Orianthi fanboy. If it helps, before my Carvin, my Ibanez S was my primary guitar, and I play a lot of blues as well as Jazz. So yes, it can do blues, it also does rock very well.

Chirantan G.G.Mavekar · Answer

We have chosen to focus solely on more advanced electric guitars in this guide. So, you won't find any entry-level six-strings here. Instead, we have made sure to select guitars that are giggable and of a certain quality.

So, no matter if you are influenced by the retro blues stylings of the three Kings and Muddy Waters, or the rocking blues of Billy Gibbons and Bonamassa, you'll be sure to find a guitar on this list to help you play away the blues and you won't need to take a trip down to the crossroads, and sell your soul to Beelzebub, to get it.

The list of players who have used an ES-335 to devastating effect is as long as your arm, and it's easy to see why. The rich, complex, bell-like tone has a sound that just inspires you to play away the blues.

There have been many, many versions of the 335 over the years. Still, the current iteration offered by Gibson stays pretty true to the 60s era of this gorgeous semi-hollow guitar. Featuring an insanely playable hand-rolled, rounded C profile neck, sweet-sounding Calibrated T-Type humbucking pickups, hand-wired control assembly, and beautiful glass-like nitro finish.

The Gibson ES-335 has its feet so firmly in the blues, it's hard to separate them. So, if you are looking for one of the best blues guitars around, then you can do far worse than this timeless instrument.

Well, after 50 years of being made in various factories - and countries - the Casino has finally come home to the USA, and we couldn't be more excited about it. So many great players have opted for the deep, hearty tone of the Casino, such as the unstoppable Keith Richards, the late great John Lennon, and modern blues master Gary Clark Jr, to name a few.

Although this guitar may look similar to its brethren above, it's a somewhat different animal. The Casino forgoes the maple center block in favor of fully hollow construction, resulting in a slightly warmer, woodier tone. This, coupled with the P-90 pickup, means this Epiphone has its own sonic identity, perfect for not only the blues but also as a jazz guitar and even rock - just be careful with your volume, as they do like to squeal.

Okay, this might not be a real vintage Casino, but frankly it's as close as you will get, and with the constant rise in vintage guitar prices, the most cost-effective purchase you can make - if you want an American-made Epiphone.

It seems like the humble Fender Stratocaster has always been the weapon of choice for the trailblazer. The incredibly versatile nature of the Strat has meant that guitar innovators such as Hendrix, Clapton, or SRV were able to bend the Fender classic to their will, resulting in some of the most remarkable guitar tones of all time.

We could've picked several Stratocasters for this guide, but we succumbed to the vintage charms of the American Original '50s. This retro-inspired axe features a plethora of period-correct specifications, such as an ash body with a lacquer finish, three Pure Vintage '59 single-coil pickups, and chunky 50s style soft V neck with a 9.5" radius fingerboard.

So, suppose you are looking for the vintage sound and feel of a golden age Fender, with a few modern features. In that case, the American Original series is most definitely for you.

It's hard to deny the sheer beauty of the D'Angelico Excel SS. This 15-inch-wide single-cutaway hollow body has quickly become the flagship model of the re-invented D'Angelico range, and for good reason.

Although this guitar wouldn't look out of place in a smokey blues club in a New York City back alley, it is concealing a few modern features among its retro stylings. The Seymour Duncan 59 humbuckers provide a full, fat tone, while the inclusion of coil-tapping push/pull tone knobs offers a crystal-clear clean tone. In addition, the modern slim C neck is a joy to play and will most certainly fit the majority of player's hands.

So if you are looking for your new guitar to be dripping with vintage mojo, and seek some mod cons, then this is most certainly the instrument for you.

There are a handful of guitars out there that have taken on a whole legend of their own and become, in some ways, more famous than the players who wielded them. Peter Green's "Greeny" has to be one of those guitars. This mythological '59 Les Paul is responsible for some of the most replicated guitar sounds of all time - and the reason modern LPs have an out-of-phase setting!

Now, it's doubtful that we will ever get our hands on an original burst, and even if we did, it's even more unlikely that we'll have enough dough to make it ours. So, in that case, it's better to stick to the Gibson reissues. For us, Gibson is making the best recreations of these priceless guitars they ever have done - and although they may be expensive, they are a damn sight cheaper than an original.

Gibson has used state-of-the-art technology to capture every little detail - from laser-scanning the necks to get the exact profile to recreating the plastics down to a molecular level. If you are chasing the tone of the blues rock greats, such as Peter Green, Gary Moore, and Billy Gibbons, then you're going to need your very own '59 Les Paul.

Suppose you fancy channeling your inner Albert Collins or Muddy Waters. In that case, you're going to need to rely on the simplistic beauty of the Fender Telecaster. For our money, one of the best Telecasters on the market right now has to be the Fender Vintera '60s Telecaster Modified.

The Telecaster has a tone that stands on its own. It's spikier than a Strat, brighter than a Les Paul, and has a focused treble that cuts through a mix like a hot knife through butter.

The Vintera manages to perfectly blend the classically handsome looks of a vintage Telecaster with the modern features we have all come to rely on. The hotter single-coil pickups are designed to push your amp, delivering a punchy attack. At the same time, the sophisticated modern wiring allows you to broaden the tonal possibilities of this twang machine.

The Duesenberg Starplayer is a unique take on a tried and true formula. We have a semi-hollow guitar with a feedback-busting center block. Still, unlike the ES-335, they have swapped the laminated maple top for spruce, keeping the maple on the rear of the instrument. Duesenberg has opted for a one-piece maple neck rather than the mahogany, typically found on a Gibson guitar.

At the heart of the exemplary instrument is Duesemburg's proprietary pickups. In the bridge position, we have the GrandVintage Humbucker. As the name suggests, it delivers all the creamy retro tones you'd want out of a blues guitar. In the neck position, we have the Domino P90, a genuinely outstanding pickup and easily one of the best P90s on the market.

So, if you are looking for something a little different from your next blues guitar, then the Starplayer TV has to be on your list of instruments to check out - you will not be disappointed!

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that we would feature a Yamaha guitar in a list of best blues guitars, with legends such as Carlos Santana favoring the old school Yamaha SG back in the day. Now, while the SG is still available, we have decided to include its younger - and equally cool - little brother, the Yamaha Revstar RS502TFM.

The new Revstar series hit the ground running when they were released back in 2015, with the likes of up-and-coming blues player Chris Buck using his Gold Top variation to absolutely slay modern blues licks on YouTube.

These guitars are undoubtedly reminiscent of the now vintage SGs, featuring a maple and mahogany body, distinctive horned cutaways, a 3-piece mahogany neck, and killer P-90 pickups.

PRS makes some of the most versatile guitars in the world - and not to mention the most beautiful, so it was only natural that we would include one on this list, but which one do we choose?

Our first instinct was to go straight for the PRS Silver Sky, the signature model of pop megastar and blues fanatic John Mayer. The problem is, we already have a bunch of those tones covered with the Strat above. So instead, we decided to go with the SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow. This rocking guitar covers a lot of the same ground as the Les Paul, but with the added benefit of being semi-hollow, adding an extra layer of resonance, and depth to the tone.

As you'd expect from PRS guitars, this model features an incredibly comfortable neck that begs to be played. In addition, the dual 85/15 S pickups with push/pull tone controls mean you can achieve - literally - any tone imaginable.

When it comes to Gretsch guitars, it's hard to look past the Electromatic series. They're reliable, sturdy, sound fantastic, and even look the part - what's not to love?

Like the Strat above, we had quite the choice when selecting a Gretsch guitar for this list. In the end, we ended up going for the classic large, fully hollow body of the G5420T. The dual Black Top Filter'Tron humbucking pickups are surprisingly versatile, delivering a bright, crisp tone, perfect for cleaner leads. The massive body balances the bright attack of the pickups with plenty of low-end.

Now, you can't have a Gretsch guitar without a Bigsby - that's the law - and here we have the ever-popular Bigsby B60. This is a fantastic vibrato system and, used correctly, can add a whole extra level of expression to your playing.

The reality is, just about any guitar you can think of makes a great blues guitar - well, maybe not a Floyd Rose loaded Ibanez Jem, but you get the point. The truth is most of the blues greats didn't think about what guitar they were playing - or even the tone for that matter - it was all about what they could get their hands on. Most of the influential players of yesteryear got their signature axe by default. Whether that was by grabbing the first guitar they could afford or even simply playing a hand-me-down guitar, no one sought out a "blues guitar," so to speak.

Today things are a little different. Guitars are more affordable and accessible than ever before, and many players are looking to recreate the sound of their heroes. So, where do you start when looking for the ultimate blues machine?

For us, the obvious place to start is with the classics. Whether that's a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, or ES-335, you can't go wrong with an iconic guitar. These special instruments offer not only fantastic playability but also invoke a particular response from the player, and ultimately that's what the blues is about.

It's essential that whatever guitar you choose is highly playable. At the end of the day, you don't want your guitar to get in the way of your playing. Your new guitar should feel like an extension of your hands and be a vehicle for your creativity.

This isn't a question solely asked by blues players, but the entire guitar community - what is better, single coils or humbuckers?

Well, unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to this question. It all boils down to the individual player and the tone they are chasing. If you are looking to recreate the soaring lead sound of Stevie Ray Vaughan, then you're going to need single coils - as well as bags of talent, a crazy loud tube amp, and you should probably throw in a Tube Screamer for good measure. On the other hand, perhaps you're looking for a warmer, rounder attack with extra sustain. Well, in that case, you're looking at humbuckers. Now, which guitars those pickups are attached to is entirely up to you - experiment!

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Fabrice Vito · Answer