I've been playing fingerstyle blues for about 20 years and have for the last year or so really started researching resonators as well as practicing slide more consistently. I've been buying a decent number of tabs from Justin Johnson because I love a lot of the pieces but I've noticed a good bit of the music takes place in the upper register at the 14th fret. On my guitar I've struggled to position the slide comfortably. This has led me to look at a cutaway resonator once I finally take the plunge and buy one. There don't seem to be many options but I really like the National Guitar Reso-rocket WB.
My question is do country blues slide guitar have a lot of music at the 12th and above and am I crazy to be looking for a cutaway that gives me more comfortable positioning of a slide over the 14th fret?
I dunno….look at what John Hammond does with a non-cutaway (and many others).
Not sure it’s necessary at all IMO.
Hey - if you come across a cutaway resonator that gets you excited about playing, go for it.
As far Justin Johnson playing a lot above the 14th fret I'll take your word for it. He is an outstanding player but I haven't listened to him that all that much.
Country blues on a roundneck, whether in low bass G, Open D or Open E - one of the things that makes the resonator guitar family of instruments appealing to a lot of people is the characteristic "growl" on the lower strings in the first several frets.
The name of the prominent blues man escapes me at the moment, and I don't know if they even still produce the model, but there was a signature flattop from Santa Cruz Guitars that had no frets above the 12th - because the celebrity blues player thought there weren't any good notes up there for his style of music.
Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 02/19/2023 14:23:03
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