Unaccompanied jazz acoustic guitar

[4thstuning]

I've been trying to develop an solo guitar style such that I can play standards unaccompanied. The objective is to both improvise and include enough harmonic information that a listener can hear a melody and follow the changes. I have found that this exercise is also useful in trios where the guitar is asked to simultaneously provide both melodic and harmonic content.

Links are provided below. The playing is raw acoustic archtop with no reverb or other standard effects. Mistakes are evident but it represents my abilities fairly. I'm also new to sound recording and video editing and did encounter some problems in those areas, but nothing too bad.

I'm interested in critiques to help me improve so feel free to express yourself.

YouTube - Improv over "Embraceable You" changes
YouTube - Acoustic improv over "All the Things You Are" changes
YouTube - Old Folks - solo acoustic guitar improvisation

Thanks

[bako]

My main criticism is that it sounds too much like an exercise. The rhythmic feel comes across as someone who is thinking too hard.
That said as an exercise and a player I enjoy the sparse approach that you took.

It is easier said than done but when playing multi part music on solo guitar, each part should have a musical life of it's own.
Try and listen to just the accompaniment portion of what you played as if it were a 2nd player and see what you like and also how you might play it differently.
I would like to hear more rhythmic variety and more of a story line.

Good stuff, keep at it.

[4thstuning]

Fair points. There's no doubt that I'm struggling. As this is unrehearsed improvisation and not arrangements, at my level at least it's hard to spontaneously arrange the parts - just maintaining the form, hitting consonant notes, and not being a measure or more off are significant accomplishments...when it happens that is.

I like your idea of adding more rhythmic variation which shouldn't be too hard and it would certainly make the listening experience more tolerable. Of course it'd be nice to have a solid rhythm to vary

Thanks for your feedback bako.

[Steve Cat]

I'm about where you are so I'm probably the last person who should be giving advice, BUT you are really close and obviously are pretty good. I like your acoustic sound , nice guitar. You seem more relaxed on Old Folks, my favorite of the three. Here is some really dubious advice. Your down up down may be inhibiting your emotion. When you strum a chord you could try to follow that up with some down stroke single notes, hard and then soft. You could also try to vary your pick grip while playing to vary the tone, kinda like pinch harmonics but not quite that much, and or varying where you pick more between neck and bridge. Good luck and stick with it, just a little more emotion. Your timing is much better than mine, I like your general approach

[Reg]

Great stuff... You need to breath......Try seeing or hearing the tune as a form, with different sections. Your 8th note patterns start to ware on the ears. I know it may be hard to do, but try and play longer phrases with space... Would really be nice to let anything ring and actually imply harmonic areas. With out playing..... look at the charts and come up with arrangements. For example "All the things" is AABA, kind of. Any way 1st section, A or 1st 8 bars; simple melody with simple harmonic treatment, have a target spot or high point, mayby bars 5 and 6 of that section. Build to the high point and wind down and on to next section. The entire arrangement could have same approach. What I have done over the years is develop a ton of styles, samba, bossa etc.. single lines, double stops, line cliches, Re-harmonizations, change time signatures. All mine or others I've borrowed and also have "form" formulas or pre-arranged ways of using techniques to play solo guitar. And just like you improvise while you solo, I improvise the way I play chord solos. I played an outdoor solo gig on Sunday for three hours... I have no memorized chord solos... and depending on context of gig... I play tunes different... almost every time. It works well and it's still jazz. So rather than just play... have a plan of the shape of your chord solo and how your going to play over it. You sound great and have plenty to say. Looking forward to hearing more... Best Reg

[4thstuning]

bako, Steve Cat, and Reg,

Thanks for your inputs. Reviewing your different critiques, one message comes through loud and clear, make the performance more varied so as to develop a stronger and more compelling story. Each of you has suggested different ways to get there and I'll be exploring each of them as my abilities permit.

I don't think I would have realized this on my own. Thanks!

[KB_Blues]

I enjoyed those - great playing!

I'm curious...you say that you are new to recording but you seem to have got a really good sound. What equipment are you using? I thought I could see a mic at the bottom of the screen. What is it?

[4thstuning]

Thank you. There were two sound recording systems.

The first was a old camera mounted mic called a Rode SVM seen here.
RØDE Microphones - StereoVideoMic. The camera and mic were about 5 feet in front of me.

The second was an old Zoom H2 that was mounted on a mic stand and it is visible in some or all of the videos. It was always about a foot away but at differing angles because I hadn't figured out the best position yet. It was set for the front mic only.
H2 Handy Recorder

Both sound recordings were uploaded into Sony Vegas Pro 9 which has a very good sound editor as well as a superlative video editor.

I ended up using no eq, effects, or compression in Vegas but I suspect the camera and H2 had some built in. I haven't figured it all out yet.

The whole system has a learning curve since the sound sometimes was too hot or too cold. Bottom line is I invested little time as a sound engineer or video editor as that's not what I want to do.

The sound heard on YouTube is not what the guitar sounds like which is brighter, more alive, and less compressed.

There is another improvisation seen in the link below that was recorded around the same time but using a flat top guitar. The guitar itself has a very nice traditional sound similar to the classic old Martin sound. If you have that sound in your head you can reference it against the sound in the recording to get a sense of how the recording changes the sound. This recording wasn't announced it because I was tired when it was created and it's my least favorite - but so was Old Folks which some seem to like.
YouTube - Acoustic improv over "Rhapsody" changes


I've a long way to go to get the sound right but I'm grateful you enjoyed it. Thanks again.

[steve_carm]

I love your playing. I am really just starting jazz after many yrs of playing guitar. It feels like you are right on the edge of making a major break thru. I think playing a chord and then single notes like you are accompanying your self is the key. The last two videos you are doing this more and it sounds more fluid.

This is still way above my ability but it gives my hope that people actually get better and sound great. I find the videos exciting and inspiring. Sometimes watching the professionals I find discouraging because they seem unattainable. It great to see someone evolve into a real jazz guitarist.

[Smelodies]

I like it. You got a nice tone, beautiful guitar.

[lindydanny]

Great playing! I enjoyed listening.

My only critique would be that I couldn't hear the original song. I'm no master at jazz guitar, but the stuff I have heard soloed in the style you are going for usually hints more to the original melody rather than just the chord progression (at least at first).

Technique wise, I think you've got it. Just play a little more of the melody to set the scene for the listener.

~DB

[mr. beaumont]

I think he was just improvising over the changes and not intendeding to do an actual chord melody. That of course, is important, my guess is he decided not to do the melody of the tunes to cut down on the time of his videos and get at what he was cocerned with--the improvising in this style.

To the OP, I think you sound pretty great. The only thing is, and this is nitpicky--sometimes it gets a little stiff and doesn't swing. Part of what leads to that is that you're leaving very little space (mind you, you're not overplaying, it's just there's little in the way of silence)

What kind of guitar is that, btw? Looks lovely.

[4thstuning]

The guitar is a hybrid. It was originally hand crafted by Tom Devoe out of Florida but I replaced the neck with one made to my specs by Mark Cigainero in Texas. It has a flatter radius, 25.5" length, and is 1 13/16" wide at the nut. Right now the tone circuit isn't working, probably a loose cap, so I'm not playing it amplified but its acoustic tone is very nice and quite loud.

I left out the heads simply because of time reasons and because they weren't relevant to my purpose of getting feedback about the style.

The space and swing critiques are spot on and consistent with the responses from others in this thread. The question is how to improve those aspects but surely improved time and more competence improvising through the changes will go a long way in that direction.

Again, thanks to all for the opinions and constructive feedback.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by 4thstuning

The question is how to improve those aspects but surely improved time and more competence improvising through the changes will go a long way in that direction.

yeah, it's a cop out answer, but that is the best advice--just keep at it.

It takes a while for your ear to get accustomed to silence in a solo setting...I've been doing all solo guitar gigs for about 4 years now, and when I listen back to some recordings I made when I first started out, I always remark at how "busy" they are.

I'll still catch myself getting too busy if I play a song I don't know well enough yet.

[KB_Blues]

Thanks for the recording gear info!

Quote: "The whole system has a learning curve since the sound sometimes was too hot or too cold. Bottom line is I invested little time as a sound engineer or video editor as that's not what I want to do."

This is probably a very good idea. I have become preoccupied with recording in the last couple of years to the detriment of my playing. It's a slippery slope!
Anyway, your recording sounds great.

[4thstuning]

A local university offers a bachelor's degree in sound recording of all things. Clearly it's too involved for a rube like me.

Thanks again for your generous comments.