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Saw these articles on jazzguitartoday.com:
What Jazz Pianists Want To Tell Guitarists - Part 1
What Jazz Pianists Want To Tell Guitarists, Part 2
The above were written by a pianist to us guitarists. But what do we guitarists wanna tell pianists?Last edited by brent.h; 01-07-2026 at 11:43 AM.
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01-07-2026 10:38 AM
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I deleted my post because I'm an idiot and thought the article name was "What Jazz Guitarists want to tell Pianists" written by a pianist.
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Ok yeah i renamed the thread to prevent confusion.
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Good articles, I liked how he had insight on times when the guitar leads instead of focusing on staying out of the pianos way. I've played with guys like that, where guitar is reduced to a horn. If the piano player is from the 10 fingers means 10 notes school, comping on guitar just adds muck to the sound. Best to lay out.
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I wanna ask pianists if they earn more money when they add more notes to their chords lol
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Besides telling a pianist that he/she doesn't have to use all 10 fingers all the time, I would also tell them the following:
Every chord does not need to be altered; and
Put the chart away and try using your ears.
There is an old joke that goes like this:
Q: How do you get a guitarist to turn down?
A: Put a chart in front of him
That joke has a variation, to wit:
Q: How do you get a keyboardist to turn down?
A: Take his chart away.
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Oh, this is just delicious! Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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The guy who first got me to play in public with others was a very accomplished bar/variety-band veteran who also enjoyed jazz, and I recall him grumbling about a local keyboardist who always filled all the space available, leaving the guitar with no place to fit in. A few years later at the swing camp I attended, one very accomplished and experienced guitar instructor remarked what a pleasure it was to play with the resident keyboard teacher, who always made room for the guitar. Once that was pointed out, I could hear it when the staff band played for dancing. (FWIW, that pianist is Robert Redd, brother of Chuck of recent public interest. Lovely guy and a terrific musician.)
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"The solution, play the 3rd and 7th only until you figure out the pianist’s concept of that chord in that moment. Which could change, by the way, each chorus."
Read that again... for the pianist's chord of the moment (the chord he just played), the guitarist should only play 3rd and 7th. The guitarist may play something else if he figures out the pianist's conception of that chord... but that conception is not only past but the next chord conception is arriving, and recurrence of same functioning chords may have changed conceptions, so really, just stick to 3rd and 7th.
"This concept works both ways..."
The example of the pianist deferring to the guitarists was one of the most profoundly exceptional of guitarists... suggesting works both ways not so often.
"Keep in mind that piano is more suited for comping..."
So says the pianist!
They learn to play with lesson music that is all piano, all the time, all parts, everything... for years they conceive the whole song is the piano and the piano is the whole song.
Later, however; when they come to join other musicians to play music, the transition to doing so is a massive change to the way they have learned over the years to conceive their role. Within a band, their previous conceived role must diminish, reduce, restrict... and a lot of deliberate thought and musical judgement needs to develop to learn participatory musical self control, even more so in Jazz perhaps than other styles.
WHAT DO I WANNA TELL PIANISTS?
Stay away from my trio!
For others' bands
- keep your hands together
- don't always use both hands
- don't always be playing somethingLast edited by pauln; 01-08-2026 at 11:56 PM.
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Last time I played with a Pianist, he told me: let’s take turns comping.
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What I usually tell pianists is: "Can you play Spain?" (just for fun!)
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Pianist here.
For the record I do none of my playing using charts.
No, not all chords need to be altered, but the harmony shouldn't be all lame either. :P
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Done it several times, not a bad idea: "I'll comp the sax solo and you comp the trumpet solo". You can see it as "arranging" (and we don't step on eachother's toes)... Originally Posted by docsteve
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I want to tell that to every member of the band, regardless of what instrument they play! Originally Posted by pauln
Since I am primarily a bassist, I often want to tell keyboard players (and often have) "Stay out of that lowest octave."
As a guitarist it's not so much telling pianists to do something specific, just that I want to have an understanding -- preferably explicit, but if it comes about implicitly that's pure gravy -- about how we are going to execute the chords if/when we are doing so simultaneously.
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^ Bass was also my 1st instrument but now piano is my longest tenured instrument. I agree that was so annoying how clueless some pianists are that they can't be slamming around in the bass register as if they're propelling themselves solo.
Ultimately, you'd probably have to just do this:
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So, joking aside... this is what I like to do too. I like trios, so I'll tell him to comp the bass solo, then I'm basically a horn and lightly comping over his piano solo. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Originally Posted by frabarmus
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I really enjoy comping more than soloing in the right situation. If there is a piano in the group, we simply have a take turns playing. Comping can be most fun in small groups and I just love to make little shapes on the fingerboard with chords. It is much less stress for me than soloing. I like to solo too but I just don't what to do many choruses of solo stuff because I get to my limit quickly. Comping is a whole different ballgame. You can repeat and no issues at all.
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True Story: In 1985-86 I played bass in a funk/rock band where ultimately I wound up putting a strip of black gaffers tape across the bottom octave of the keyboard player's two synthesizers. Didn't need to write anything on it, because he knew who put it there and why I'd done it...he just couldn't help himself otherwise! Originally Posted by Strat-itis
^ Bass was also my 1st instrument but now piano is my longest tenured instrument. I agree that was so annoying how clueless some pianists are that they can't be slamming around in the bass register as if they're propelling themselves solo.
Ultimately, you'd probably have to just do this:
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^ Lmao! Yeah, they will not listen to you. You have to take more drastic measures.
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There's not much that comes to mind that I want to tell pianists. Most of the pianists I play with are good band citizens. They leave space, occasionally drop out for a chorus and so forth. At least, most of the time. But, in some situations, I have to simply defer and then try to find some space for a sparse guitar part.
I've never liked taking turns comping. I like it as an occasional bit of spice, not as an every other solo thing. I've always heard taking turns as kind of jarring. At least, if the band sound suddenly changes dramatically with no transitional statement.
When the pianist does stop, one thing I'd like them to do is to warn me, so I know I'm going to be the only comping instrument. I'm likely to turn up a bit and play a fuller chord.
I have had the experience of playing with a pianist who does busy, unpredictable, stick-and-jab comping, sometimes with on-the-fly, different-every-chorus reharm which I can't follow. So, the guitar isn't left with a clear way to contribute. I wonder if saying somethign really would help. Maybe.
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I agree that taking turns is kind of corny. It's not that tough to have 1 instrument play time and the other play melodically. One instance I think is cool to have a single instrument comp is for bass solos. If I were playing piano, I would totally lay out and have the guitarist comp for it. It's easier to sound quiet and it's the same timbre as the bass so it creates a more appropriate bed for it. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
Yeah, if being intuitive isn't working then you should collaborate.I have had the experience of playing with a pianist who does busy, unpredictable, stick-and-jab comping, sometimes with on-the-fly, different-every-chorus reharm which I can't follow. So, the guitar isn't left with a clear way to contribute. I wonder if saying somethign really would help. Maybe.
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What if I told said you can repeat in a solo and there also wouldn’t be any issues? Originally Posted by deacon Mark
I think we put too much weight on spontaneity and not enough on sounding good.
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Personally, my feeling about this is pretty straightforward. How can I possibly either comp or solo with another player who might at any time decide to insert some sort of altered substitution? We're going to clash. And, of course, vice versa.
So the only thing I can think of is rehearse, make sure that's not going to happen. If the piano player says he likes to put in a flat sub at a certain point, take it on board and act accordingly. Otherwise, especially in front of an audience, you're not going to look very clever, are you?
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The best experience I've had with piano and guitar comping for a bass solo is this. Both the pianist and I had the goal to make one comp from two instruments. So, for example, one instrument would focus on the first half of each bar and the other instrument would focus on the the rest - not rigidly, but mostly. Maybe it's a good idea for all p+g comping, but it's easiest during the bass solos maybe because everything gets quieter. Other pianists didn't seem comfortable with it. Originally Posted by Strat-itis
One instrument laying out also works well. I might note that bassists of my acquaintance have uniformly preferred comping, even though there's a alternative viewpoint that the comping stops for the bass solo. I've played for one band leader that thought that -- and the bassists didn't like it.
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Use your ears. Originally Posted by ragman1
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