Artists Who Play Taylor Guitars
Published on 17 September 2024
Everybody knows that Taylor are one of the biggest and best acoustic guitar makers on the planet. We also understand that for live use, they are the first choice for many a player, whether aspiring or a seasoned pro.
With that in mind, I feel like it’s worth checking out a few famous players who take to the stage with a Taylor. It’s always interesting to see who uses what, and this particular bunch of musos are pretty diverse! In no particular order then, let me show you some artists who use Taylor guitars…
The Artists at a Glance
Taylor Swift
She’s the biggest artist in the world, and therefore can play whatever she likes. Whatever she does choose to use, therefore, will have an unbelievable amount of exposure and reach. She’s a good advert, basically, and whilst she does often use a Gibson jumbo, Swift also makes use of a selection of Taylor acoustics, often adorned with diamante and other decorations.
Not only that, she has long since endorsed a Taylor Swift Baby Taylor, a downsized travel guitar that is perfect for Swifties on the move!
Jacob Collier
Astonishing multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier is proficient on a number of instruments (well, a master actually) and part of his act is to launch around the stage from guitar to piano to percussion, all whilst singing and involving the crowd in his music creation. It’s a vibe for sure.
Given his penchant for the unusual, it will come as no surprise to learn that Jacob uses non-standard acoustic guitars. Indeed, Taylor head-honcho Andy Powers has worked directly with Jacob to produce a one-off 5 string guitar (a mix of an American Dream model and a Ukulele) and a ten string Taylor!
John Fogerty
With Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty wrote songs that have become American classics: Bad Moon Rising, Fortunate Son and many more. CCR are easily one of America’s most influential bands, and frontman John Fogerty continues to perform with his own band. For these performances, John prefers a Taylor 510ce for an arena-filling sound.
Joel Miller
This is a sight curveball but hey, he’s a Taylor player! Joel Miller is a character in the hugely popular video game The Last of Us. In this survival horror, Joel and his daughter Ellie fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic America. Their relationship is the central focus of the narrative, and at one point, Joel quietly serenades his daughter with a cover of Pearl Jam’s Future Days, played on a tobacco sunburst 314ce. A special edition of this guitar (known as Ellie’s Guitar) was put into production in extremely limited numbers. Good luck sourcing one!
John Petrucci
Dream Theater’s chief fretboard wizard is a long-time Ernie Ball Music Man endorsee for his electric guitars, but for acoustic, he’s a Taylor man. He’s used a variety of models over the years, including a particularly lovely Artist’s Choice 916ce model. It’s champagne for John, and rightly so!
Zac Brown
Zac Brown is one of today’s biggest country stars, with three grammy awards to his name and multiple platinum record sales under his belt. You often see him playing a Taylor nylon string classical guitar (not so unusual for country music when you consider Willie Nelson), but he’s most often seen with one of his top-end Taylor steel string guitars. He favours a 910 and a 914ce.
Madonna
Madonna is clearly one of the most influential performers ever, and has held onto that title for 40 years, which is kind of unheard of.
For the past 20 years, Madge has taken guitar lessons (excellently, from Ministry/Prong guitarist Monte Pittman), performing more and more live with a guitar. She seems to be a Les Paul fan, and can often also be seen playing a Taylor Grand Auditorium.
Jewel
90s icon Jewel Kilcher created one of the most successful debut albums of all time (Pieces of You went 12 times platinum), and basically carved up the US singer-songwriter scene alongside Alanis Morrisette.
A staggering vocalist, she is also an adept fingerstyle guitarist, and has favoured Taylor acoustics throughout her career. Jewel is most often seen with a 914 or 912ce.
Dave Matthews
Whilst Jewel and ALanis were tearing it up in the 90s, the Dave Matthews Band were growing quietly massive, offering a more polite, acoustic-heavy brand of post-grunge. Never huge in the UK, Matthews and his band were major stars in the US, selling over 38 million records. For the DMB, live performance is their key selling point, where they intentionally change up the sounds and structures of their own songs. Dave is, as you may have guessed, a big Taylor aficionado, and his preference is for a beautiful 914ce.
Star Power
As you’ll have noted, this is a fairly diverse list of talent! There’s no ‘house-style’ here, even though Taylor have a very distinctive look and sound. Each artist has their own sound, preferences and requirements, and they all choose Taylor to answer those needs.
In such a retro-centric market, it is both interesting and inspiring to see a ‘modern’ brand (they are a mere 50 years old) become a natural choice for the world’s top performing artists.
It’s also interesting to note that many of today’s musicians are choosing the top end 900 series models. I suppose that when you can choose to use anything, why not go to the top?
As you ponder all of this, do make sure you click the link below and check out our fantastic selection of Taylor guitars!
