The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Two words: "Visual volume."

    Most bandleaders perceive your volume based on the size, complexity and pointiness of your gear.

    If your amp is a 25W Mesa Subway Rocket it should sound right.
    If it's a Mesa 5:25 with 12 knobs and five sliders, "Back it down, will ya?"

    Similarly, if your guitar is an ES-xx5 you will be heard.
    If it's an SG it's too loud even though it's 100% mahogany and rosewood.

    For better or worse this is a thing, and you can't give people a personality transplant.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    In my universe the answer to "X or Telecaster?" is invariably "Telecaster" unless "X"= "Stratocaster" so then it's a coin toss or a question of color; the Tele is a dignified sunburst, the Strat a rather forward green (Thanks again, Hammertone!).
    Last edited by citizenk74; 01-10-2022 at 06:43 PM.

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
    For better or worse this is a thing, and you can't give people a personality transplant.
    I don't know why not. It'd be easy on many of the leaders for whom I've played. There's nothing to remove - the space is empty and ready to be filled. Big Band gig..Tele or Archtop-smiley_winking-gif

    I shouldn't complain - the two leaders for whom I worked the most and the longest were fine people and wonderful musicians, although many of their colleagues were all hat and no cattle. All 200+ sidemen on the office roster were serious players with top equipment, and I don't recall ever hearing that any of the leaders criticized anyone's instrument.....except for my amplifier. But it wasn't visual volume - I wasn't loud enough!

    I played a 175 through an Ampeg B15 from high school through college and into graduate school. By 1970, rock and pop had become at least as important as dance music for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs etc. As I played the most important instrument and was the youngest band member (not to mention the best looking), I was given most of the rock tunes to sing and front. But the B15 was hardly a great amp for rock. So I bought an ElectroHarmonix LPB-1 (Linear Power Booster - a decent and fairly clean little overdrive) and thought I was rockin' out with the best of 'em until the leader sheepishly asked me if I'd please get a more suitable amp. He even offered to lend me the money if I couldn't afford one. I bought a Kustom 150 covered in rolled and pleated black naugahyde, and I was loud enough. But then, feedback from the 175 was a problem. So I started bringing my orange Mustang to the gigs too, and we all lived happily ever after. And I haven't been told that I wasn't loud enough by anybody since then!

    I'm sure we all have enough stories to fill a long, sticky thread.

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
    Recording your gigs really helps you understand how you sound and how to get better. Neither I nor the band sounds the same to me when playing as I/we do when hearing it from the audience's perpective.

    I've started recording as many of my gigs as I can, and it's been eye opening! I bought a small TASCAM digital recorder with built in stereo mics (DR40x) and stick it on a music stand or mount it on a mic stand. Thursday night, I tried putting it on a large mic boom positioned it high above center stage - the capture was really good and sound quality is quite fine. My playing, however, turns out not to be so fine. Now that I know what's not up to snuff, I can work to improve it. I bought the DR40 because it has external inputs for 2 mics or instruments - so I can record 4 tracks at once using the mics plus external jacks. But even the $100 recorders from TASCAM, Zoom etc make fine stereo recordings very easily.

    Nothing tells you how you sound like actually hearing how you sound. Once I got past the upset of hearing my faults, I found this to be a wonderful tool for improvement, including choice of guitar / amp / strings etc as well as settings.
    I have a Yamaha Pocketrak which I use regularly. The big band generates enough sound that nuances are lost even in the recordings, or so it seems to me.

    There doesn't seem to be a point where the difference in attack and sustain between my Strat copy and my GCS-1 makes an audible difference for comping. I can hear the overall EQ of the instrument and I prefer the thinner sound for comping in that situation. That's a Lil 59 on the Strat copy and it's the coil split on the GCS. I already have the bass knob on the amp rolled all the way off.

  6. #30

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    Bringing the wrong gear at a gig can sometimes cost you the gig, and the more high profile a gig is, the more the chances of that happening. Many times you just have to use what's expected, and the sound is the least of the issues..

    Can't comment on trumpet players harassing the guitarist, haha i always tell them it's a scandal that they only carry so little. My favorite is when they bring the piccolo trumpet, as if the regular trumpet wasn't light enough..!

  7. #31
    OK, so I did a gig last night with the big band. Brought the Tele. It covered all the bases, from Ellington, to "Mustang Sally". Band leader announced "best guitar solo I've heard in this band" to the audience. Believe me it wasn't that good. But this will be the axe from now on. Thanks again guys.

  8. #32

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    Awesome!!!

    Don't forget- Eldon Shamblin played a STRAT with Bob Wills' big band (western swing is usually a slightly brighter guitar tone than the Freddie Green/Charlie Christian thing, but that's where the tele's neck pickup HELPS.)

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    Bringing the wrong gear at a gig can sometimes cost you the gig, and the more high profile a gig is, the more the chances of that happening. Many times you just have to use what's expected, and the sound is the least of the issues..

    Can't comment on trumpet players harassing the guitarist, haha i always tell them it's a scandal that they only carry so little. My favorite is when they bring the piccolo trumpet, as if the regular trumpet wasn't light enough..!
    My first self-formed band was The Martians, with two of my friends from Jr. Hi Band.* Two trumpets and a clarinet (the instrument of choice for My Dad, brother, and sister). My trumpet obsession began with seeing Louis Armstrong on Ed Sullivan's show and thinking "that's who I want to be when I grow up." We played at Bible School and a PTA meeting and sometimes on the school bus, though that didn't last long. Hymns, Spirituals, and "Swinging Shepherd Blues" and a few other tunes from a book i blew my life savings on. The die was cast.

    * We had a bunch of trumpets and clarinets, at least a dozen each. Many, including myself, were recruited to play other woodwinds and horns, so we had quite a large and varied ensemble. It was a wonderful experience.