How Do They Get That Tone: Blues Legends

Tone junkies often wonder how great blues players get their tone. Many of us have tried to duplicate our favorite guitarist but never seem to nail it. Here are some very notable guitarists that I get questions about all the time. Now it's time for you take this information and start achieving the tone you want play.


Stevie Ray Vaughan is considered one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived. This legendary artist is known for his massive tone. Vaughan created his tone with his favorite guitar called "Number One," which was a 1959 Fender Stratocaster with a left-handed vibrato tailpiece, rosewood fingerboard, and stock pickups. Vaughan's main pedals were a Vox Wah-wah pedal and an Ibanez Tube Screamer. And one of his favorite amps was a Fender Bassman.  The combination of a great Fender guitar and left-handed vibrato, a vintage Fender Bassman, and heavier strings are what makes his amazing tone.


Robert Johnson is a blues legend known for his Mississippi Delta blues. A lot has been written about this talented artist, but not much is known about how he got his tone. It's reported that Johnson’s haunting recordings were the result of him recording into the corner of a wall, which helped him capture the sound and emotion with which he played with. Johnson played an early 1930's Kalamazoo acoustic guitar. He was famous for playing a variety of styles - from raw country slide guitar to jazz and pop licks - and well known as a flamboyant performer. Some of Johnson’s biggest fans are such greats as Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.



Joe Bonamassa is a terrific young guitarist who can play the blues with the best of them. Bonamassa’s tone comes from his Custom Shop ’59 Les Pauls with classic PAF humbuckers and a combination of Marshall amplifiers. His tone is accentuated with a ton of effects such as a Vox Wah-Wah pedal, a Fuzz-Face, a Gas Pedal clean boost, and a Tube Screamer. The result is Bonamassa’s famous tone, which is very aggressive and one of brilliance.


Duane Allman is best known as one of the most influential guitar players of all time. His tone came from a combination of ’59 Gibson Les Pauls and a Cherry SG that he played through a 50-watt head, atop a matching 4x12 cabinet. He spent years hunting and experimenting, both live and in the studio to capture his warm buttery tone. In order for Allman to create his tone, legend has it that he’d only use run-down batteries to power his pedal, believing the low voltage yielded a warmer tone.


John Lee Hooker is a giant of the blues and the father of the boogie. Hooker introduced the world to the persistent, chugging rhythm of boogie music, a form of country blues he learned back home in Mississippi. He is renowned for the gruff voice and his intense guitar playing. Hooker recorded with a Gibson ES model and he enjoyed great success playing the coffeehouse circuit of the late fifties and early Sixties. Hooker is a prominent figure in the blues and his tone is legendary.


Johnny Winter is known as the elder statesman of the blues. He was heavily influenced by such blues greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Blind Lemon Johnson. He is famous for playing a ’60s Gibson Firebird cranked through several different Fender amps, such as a Bassman, Twin Reverb, and Super reverbs as well as a various combination of Marshall and Ampegs. Winter’s stinging tone – which he attributes to “everything on all the way, and all treble and no bass,” makes his style one of a kind.


Freddie King is a giant of the blues world. Best known for his 1960 instrumentals, switching easily between styles, King created his tone by lowering volumes and adding a little compression to ‘squash’ the dynamics and give maximum sustain for the vibrato moments. His guitar of choice was a semi-hollow body Gibson ES-335 with classic PAF humbuckers. Much of his work has been covered by greats like Mick Taylor, Peter Green, and Eric Clapton.


Albert King is truly one of the "Three Kings" of the Blues guitar; He was a master of the single-string solo and could bend strings to produce a particularly tormented blues sound that set his style apart from his contemporaries. The likes of Stevie ray Vaughan to jimmy Hendrix adored king who was a major influence on them. King’s massive tone was totally unique which made him one the greatest blues players ever.



T-Bone Walker pioneered the electric guitar sound that helped create the blues and thus influenced all popular music that followed. He played one of the first electric guitars in the mid-‘30s, recording with it in 1939. His “T-Bone Blues,” recorded as a member of Les Hite’s Cotton Club Orchestra, and “Stormy Monday” both became blues classics, demonstrating his jazz-based blues style. His single-string solos influenced blues players like B.B. King and such rockers as Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.


Otis Rush is one of the greatest guitarists to ever grace the planet. He is a master of unpredictable runs packed with difficult bends, which create an air of the unknown. Rush originally played a Gibson ES-335 early in his career, but later switched to a Fender Stratocaster. He is the one guitar slinger alive today who can say he influenced Clapton, Beck, Hendrix, Santana, and a handful more of greats – that’s Otis Rush.