RockBlues1960s
Jimi Hendrix
Bright Strat neck pickup into a cranked Marshall Plexi — thick fuzz, expressive wah and controlled feedback. The most influential electric guitar tone ever recorded.
£500 rig from ~£448
Blues Guitar Tone
Blues is the root language of rock guitar — developed by Black American musicians in the Mississippi Delta and Chicago, built on call-and-response phrasing, string bends, and vibrato that spoke with a human voice. Every rock and metal guitarist alive learned from this tradition. 32 blues guitarists in the ToneStakr library — explore their gear, rigs, and tone at every budget from £200 to £2,500.
32 guitarists · Rig guides from £200 to £2,500
The best Blues guitarists include Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Peter Green. Blues guitar is characterised by call-and-response phrasing, string bends to quarter and half notes, slow vibrato with the finger rather than the wrist, and heavy use of dynamics — playing quietly before releasing a loud bent note is central to the idiom.
Technique
Call-and-response phrasing, string bends to quarter and half notes, slow vibrato with the finger rather than the wrist, and heavy use of dynamics — playing quietly before releasing a loud bent note is central to the idiom.
Defining Gear
Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster through a valve amp (Fender Twin or Bassman) with a light overdrive pedal (Tube Screamer). Single-coil pickups are almost non-negotiable in traditional blues.
Essential Listening
♪ Texas Flood — Stevie Ray Vaughan
The definitive modern electric blues recording — heavy strings, pick attack, natural amp breakup.
Buying Guides
Best Gear for Blues
Tone Library
Blues Guitarists
BluesBlues-Rock1980s
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Heavy .013 strings on a Strat through a loud Fender Vibroverb with a Tube Screamer as a clean boost. SRV's physical attack was the real magic — the gear just had to keep up.
£500 rig from ~£547
Blues-RockBlues1960s
Eric Clapton
From Cream's saturated Marshall tones to his later Strat-through-Fender warmth, Clapton defined the British blues-rock vocabulary with precise string bends and a singing neck-pickup voice.
£500 rig from ~£497
RockLatin Rock1960s
Carlos Santana
Warm, sustaining Mesa Boogie lead tone with a PRS or Gibson SG — Santana's singing sustain comes from feedback-on-the-edge amp settings and a smooth, controlled pick attack.
£500 rig from ~£643
BluesBlues-Rock1960s
Peter Green
1959 Les Paul with a reversed neck pickup through a Marshall — Green's distinctive out-of-phase tone has never been fully replicated: warm, slightly hollow, and intense with vibrato.
£500 rig from ~£548
Blues-RockBlues1970s
Rory Gallagher
Beaten 1961 Fender Stratocaster through a Vox AC30 with a treble booster — Gallagher's battered Strat produced one of rock's most honest, unprocessed tones. Pure guitar truth.
£500 rig from ~£517
Blues-RockSouthern Rock1960s
Duane Allman
Gibson SG with a Coricidin bottle slide, into Marshall or Fender amps — Duane's slide tone defined Southern rock with singing sustain, fluid legato phrasing and deep blues feeling.
£500 rig from ~£530
Blues1950s
BB King
Gibson ES-335 "Lucille" through a Lab Series amp — BB's signature was note restraint and vibrato precision. Every bend was expressive and perfectly placed, saying more with less.
£500 rig from ~£517
Blues1960s
Albert King
Flying V played upside down in an unconventional tuning, through a vintage amp — Albert's behind-the-nut string bends created a razor-sharp blues voice that influenced SRV deeply.
£500 rig from ~£448
BluesBlues-Rock1960s
Freddie King
Gibson ES-355 into tweed Fender amps — Freddie's thick, beefy tone bridged Texas blues and British rock, directly influencing Eric Clapton, Peter Green and a generation of blues-rock players.
£500 rig from ~£517
BluesBlues-Rock2010s
Gary Clark Jr
Epiphone Casino and Strat into cranked Fender amps — Clark's modern blues moves from crystal-clean Hendrix-esque funk to howling feedback sustain. The most exciting blues voice of his generation.
£500 rig from ~£498
Blues-RockBlues2000s
Joe Bonamassa
Multiple vintage Les Pauls and Strats through rare vintage amps — Bonamassa obsesses over premium vintage tone with a heavy pick attack that wrings every nuance from classic gear.
£500 rig from ~£478
BluesRock1990s
Derek Trucks
Open E tuned Gibson SG through a Fender Princeton with no effects — Trucks' slide tone is warm, vocal and deeply expressive. A heavy glass slide and the amp's natural reverb do all the work.
£500 rig from ~£510
Rock and RollBlues1950s
Chuck Berry
Gibson ES-350T semi-hollow through a Twin Reverb — Berry invented the rock guitar riff vocabulary with his signature double-stop licks, boogie patterns and showmanship.
£500 rig from ~£517
BluesChicago Blues1960s
Buddy Guy
Polka-dot Strat through a Fender amp cranked to the edge — Guy's aggressive, feedback-heavy Chicago blues tone was decades ahead of its time. Jimi Hendrix credited him as a primary influence.
£500 rig from ~£517
BluesChicago Blues1950s
Muddy Waters
Telecaster through a small amplifier — Waters electrified Delta slide blues for Chicago audiences. His raw, commanding slide tone and hard stop-time rhythms laid the foundation for rock and roll.
£500 rig from ~£438
BluesDelta Blues1930s
Robert Johnson
Acoustic slide guitar with open tunings — Johnson's haunting Delta blues phrasing and rhythmically sophisticated guitar parts influenced every blues and rock guitarist who came after him.
£500 rig from ~£448
BluesElectric Blues1950s
John Lee Hooker
Semi-hollow Gibson through a small amp — Hooker's hypnotic one-chord boogie and trance-like rhythmic feel created a unique blues style that defied convention and influenced countless players.
£500 rig from ~£498
BluesJazz Blues1940s
T-Bone Walker
Gibson ES-5 through a clean amplifier — Walker invented the modern electric blues guitar vocabulary in the 1940s. His smooth single-note runs and jazz-inflected phrasing influenced BB King directly.
£500 rig from ~£498
BluesDelta Blues1930s
Son House
Acoustic slide guitar with a powerful, raw intensity — House's Delta blues slide playing was among the most emotionally raw ever recorded, directly influencing Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
£500 rig from ~£490
BluesElectric Blues1950s
Elmore James
Resonator guitar with a glass slide through an amplifier — James' stinging electric slide playing and the iconic rolling riff of "Dust My Broom" defined Chicago electric blues slide guitar.
£500 rig from ~£485
BluesBlues-Rock1970s
Roy Buchanan
A vintage Fender Telecaster played with profound emotional depth — Buchanan's pinch harmonics, controlled feedback and deeply expressive phrasing earned him the title "the best unknown guitarist in the world."
£500 rig from ~£438
BluesBlues-Rock2000s
Matt Schofield
Fender Telecaster and ES-335 through a vintage Dumble-style amp — Schofield's sophisticated British blues voice blends American blues vocabulary with a harmonic richness reminiscent of Larry Carlton.
£500 rig from ~£507
BluesBlues-Rock1990s
Eric Gales
Upside-down right-handed Strat (played left-handed) through cranked amps — Gales combines Hendrix-level Strat expressiveness with raw energy and a deep-rooted blues vocabulary.
£500 rig from ~£448
BluesBlues-Rock1960s
Mike Bloomfield
Gibson Les Paul Standard through a Fender amp — Bloomfield brought Chicago electric blues to white rock audiences and appeared on Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," helping define 1960s electric blues-rock.
£500 rig from ~£547
BluesJazz1970s
Robben Ford
Custom guitars through a Dumble amplifier — Ford's refined, sophisticated jazz-blues hybrid tone is warm and articulate, blending advanced jazz harmony with authentic blues feeling.
£500 rig from ~£598
BluesSlide Guitar1980s
Sonny Landreth
Fender Stratocaster with fretting-hand embellishments behind the slide — Landreth's unique technique of fretting notes behind the slide creates impossible chord voicings unavailable to other slide players.
£500 rig from ~£477
Blues-RockHard Rock1970s
Gary Moore
1959 Les Paul Standard through a Dumble or Marshall — Moore's tone was both operatically beautiful on slow blues and devastatingly aggressive on hard rock. Few guitarists matched his range.
£500 rig from ~£523
JazzFusion1980s
Mike Stern
Fender Telecaster through a Mesa Boogie — Stern's electric jazz-rock fusion combines Coltrane-influenced harmonic vocabulary with a bluesy, rock-inflected tone drawn from years with Miles Davis.
£500 rig from ~£547
FusionBlues1980s
Scott Henderson
Custom guitars through a Soldano or Mesa Boogie — Henderson's Tribal Tech fusion fuses savage blues aggression with advanced jazz harmony. His oblique string bending and raw energy are instantly recognisable.
£500 rig from ~£507
Rock and RollBlues1950s
Bo Diddley
Rectangular custom guitar through tremolo-heavy amplifiers — Diddley's signature syncopated "Bo Diddley beat" and tremolo-saturated guitar style influenced the Stones, Hendrix and generations of rhythm guitar players.
£500 rig from ~£498
RockBlues1970s
Jerry Garcia
Custom guitars through a McIntosh PA rig — Garcia's melodic, spacious improvising combined blues, country, and jazz into a uniquely American lead voice. Every Grateful Dead concert was different; his tone reflected that restless creative spirit.
£500 rig from ~£448
Budget Tiers
Blues Rigs by Budget
FAQ
Blues Guitar — Common Questions
Among the most celebrated Blues guitarists are Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Peter Green. Each brings a distinct approach — explore their full tone and gear guides below.
Call-and-response phrasing, string bends to quarter and half notes, slow vibrato with the finger rather than the wrist, and heavy use of dynamics — playing quietly before releasing a loud bent note is central to the idiom.
Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster through a valve amp (Fender Twin or Bassman) with a light overdrive pedal (Tube Screamer). Single-coil pickups are almost non-negotiable in traditional blues.
Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan is a definitive reference: The definitive modern electric blues recording — heavy strings, pick attack, natural amp breakup.
A functional Blues rig starts from around £200 for the essentials. The £500 tier covers a real tube amp and the right guitar — enough for authentic blues tone. Explore the rigs below to see exactly what each budget gets you.
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