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Hello,
I just listened recently to the Eric Skye cd "Acoustic Jazz Guitar Solos" very good and different tone. He uses for the most part a Taylor 712C acoustic and a classical guitar on other tunes. I'm sure some of you, of course, of heard of him and probably heard him live. This cd and Skye is new to me...very talented fellow.
Any particular acoustic guitars (not classical guitars, ala Charlie Byrd, Jobim) but flattops, dreadnaughts, etc. that might get a jazzy sound.
Yeah, I heard of the Ovations (seen Emily Remler play one) acoustic ones used (Pat Martino might have used them).
Theses guitars are not traditionally used for jazz but Django had his Maccaferri or Selmer acoustic type of guitar and Oscar Aleman used a steel body guitar with an acoustic resonator from that period of time.
But in reality one can play jazz on any type of guitar electric or acoustic of any type because of the music mechanics...it's there. But we all look for the best tone (I keep hearing about Holy Grails in rock equipment tones). Plus you notice guitarist...just like a kid with toys they get tired of them and look for newer ones...(please, I'm not calling guitarist -kids...it's the interest in things). A guitar player will over a time look for another guitar to play or change...WHY NOT! if you can...we all do. (Tho Barney Kessel had that guitar with the Charlie Christian pickup all the time if I notice right).
But feedback of acoustic-steel guitars for jazz playing. I know the strings are notorious for the finger noise unless maybe you use acoustic flatwounds.
Thanks for the feedback,
JamesBDean55
Last edited by cisco kid; 06-25-2010 at 11:52 AM.
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06-25-2010 11:47 AM
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It is generally unusual, mainly because of feedback issues I would think.
Gabor Szabo seemed to make it work though!
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Check out Jamie Findlay...He uses a flat top a lot.
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Of course, over on some folk guitar forum right now, someone is writing about how beautiful and jangly their flattop is, and why would anyone wan to ruin that with flatwounds!
Originally Posted by jamesbdean55
Sound is subjective. What sounds good to one person may sound awful to another. And there are no jazz police. Play jazz on anything you want. If someone looks down their nose at you, they'd probably find something wrong with what you were doing if you were playing an L-5 through a Polytone.
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06-25-2010, 12:54 PM #5jeffstocksmusic Guest
I play my Taylor 810 almost exclusively when I practice. If I could get away with it, I would sell all of my electric gear and just play acoustic. Unfortunately, the settings in which I play call for electric so I have to keep one around. If I were completely honest, I actually do not like electric guitars. Most of the reasons are superficial (the ego involved, the weight of history, the way they feel, the search for 'tone', etc). I absolutely believe that the acoustic guitar is 'home'. I become a different player when I play one. My teacher, Matt Otto, noted almost immediately the difference when I happened to bring my Taylor and not my tele. Hard to describe, but I feel much freer on the instrument.
I'll note that Julian Lage plays a Martin D-18 a ton on his recording. Almost all of the youtube vids that he posts have him playing various flat-tops.
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That's the thing in the equipment why do you have to play an archtop electric to play jazz. I read years ago in Guitar Player Magazine that some acoustic engineers thought a solid body electric was soundwise better for jazz player. But it's all about preference.
Jazz players like flatwounds strings but in the early 60s (pre-Ernie Ball strings), 50s, 40s and so on... that's basically what there was pure nickel medium to heavy gauge strings. The rockers had to replace some of the strings with banjo strings at that time and if you wanted to cop the sound you had to buy exactly the right stuff they had available at that time.
Flatwounds make less noise especially for the jazz chords. But some think they are too dull or dark ... Chet Atkins didn't care for them.
I like the fact that some jazz players use solid body guitars to play.
No real feedback or F-holes to cover on those solid bodies. But jazz players traditionally like the sound of electric archtops.
Play what you will even flattops for jazz.
Last edited by cisco kid; 06-25-2010 at 01:15 PM.
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Pat Metheny uses a flattop sometimes. Most recently I would guess by Linda Manzer, if his Dali like instrument with all the sympathetic strings in any indication. I do remember seeing pictures of him a long time ago playing a Guild F-50, blonde I think.
Brad
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Acoustically, I prefer the smaller flat tops to the Dreadnoughts.
I own a Collings OM-1 which is very balanced tonally and a Bourgeois JOMC that I won at Winfield that's a bit richer in the low mids. I actually used the Bourgeois a couple of times to play rhythm in a "small" big band.
Regards,
monkLast edited by monk; 06-26-2010 at 06:47 PM.
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John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell got along quite nicely playing Ovations. McLaughlin later used a Wechter which are quite nice. Those guys can make anything with strings sound wonderful.
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I read that John McLaughlin has been using a Godin (chest swells with pride!) Originally Posted by mongrel
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Eric is a great player and a great guy. We interviewed him a couple of months ago on our podcast. He talked about his new CD, Slow Moving Dog and why he made the transition from electrics to steel string. He prefers mics and PAs to amps and uses no effects. Right now, he plays exclusively Santa Cruz guitars. He also teaches in Portland, as well as gives online lessons. I've taken a few with him and they were very useful. All around great guy and great asset. Originally Posted by jamesbdean55
I have two steel strings that are both great instruments for chord melodies. I have an OM made by Patrick James Eggle and the equivalent of an OO by Lowden. They are really balanced and sound great. I did get them set up, however, for lower action, but not too much. I love acoustic jazz guitar. Now, if only I could play...
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There are plenty of guys playing jazz on flat tops. Freddy Bryant is an amazing player and does some great stuff on a 12, as did Lenny Breau. I have seen Frank Vignola rip it up on a flat top. Johh Jorgensen, Chet Atkins, and a host of others can/have played wonderful jazz on flat tops.
Like Monk, I prefer the balanced sound of an OM. The drednaught was designed to keep up with banjos and fiddles in a bluegrass setting and are too boomy to my ears for jazz.
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You won at Winfield? When was this? Wow! Originally Posted by monk
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My D-18 works just fine for jazz. Kenny Burrell played a flat-top quite a bit and there are a few youtube clips of him doing so.
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Fingerpicking. 1995. 3rd place. Originally Posted by derek
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Very impressive. Originally Posted by monk
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Cool! More than likely I saw you. Originally Posted by monk
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This guy, Liberty Ellman, was playing a Collings flat top with a soundhole pickup (a humbucker ?) in Henry Threadgill's Zooid at the Chicago Jazz Festival. It was a very percussive, interesting tone.
(Collings @ 2:22)
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Originally Posted by medblues
Good call, I really like him (and Threadgill even more).
Hasse Poulsen is another talented player who uses an acoustic flat top for everything, including for electric duties:
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We play a lot of wallpaper dinner-jazz around town. Some places are so quiet (and want us to be too) that my dread will suffice, un-mic'd.
Our bass player really prefers me that way because a lot of times we are sans drummer, so I become a snare drum of sorts.
My solos start to go kind of Django-ish sometimes. I've been thinking of adding a mic on a volume pedal, or a magnetic soundhole pickup with a vol pot. 'Course it's easier just to grab an electric at some point, and I do when I know the bar could get loud. I mean if I know I'll need an amp at some point, it's a lot easier than mic'ing up an acoustic.
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