Jazz tones from a jazz guitar

[rpguitar]

...in many places we play, none of the nicer nuances will even be heard.

When discussing gear on the net, guitarists always talk about what can or can't be heard by the audience. But I've always strongly disagreed with that premise. The nuances we obsess over are usually lost to a listener, and are even unimportant. But they are crucial to the player - to the feel and response of the instrument in his hands. That's what matters.

I did a YouTube video a while back where I noodle on a progression with a bunch of humbucker equipped semi-hollow guitars, edited so that the clips are back to back. After all of the recording and then the compressing by YouTube, the guitars sound almost the same. I was very surprised! To me, the player, they are all very different and the nuances are not that subtle.

So in that regard, the choice of instrument matters a great deal to the guitarist, and it's the reason why some of us poor souls wander forever through the haze of GAS. (yuck )

[Anandbhat]

Quote: post by backliner:

A guy like Tal farlow didn't need/want much sustain (I have heard).
I can see how that could mess with your phrasing.

Sustain seems to be so desirable for slow melodic phrases,but at a faster tempo the notes seem to get in each others way. Case in point would be my Gibson ES339 with the classic 57's.

[backliner]

...
Sustain seems to be so desirable for slow melodic phrases,but at a faster tempo the notes seem to get in each others way. Case in point would be my Gibson ES339 with the classic 57's.

I eventually get used to about anything.

We play a couple places where we really don't have much security for stuff getting knocked into/over when we're on break. So I started using a bolt-neck solidbody rather than hassling my nice archtop and storing it its case.

The first thing that threw me was not getting any response through my chest, and not hearing my guitar until the sound came out of my amp -on another plane. So I re-located my amp in response.

Then I noticed I was struggling with my phrasing, perhaps because of the extra sustain. I have since just gotten used to it, but my archtop gets a better sound, despite the nuances not being heard unless it's a very intimate setting.

[riovine]

If you want to hear JP playing a real carved archtop (in my estimation), check out the second album he did for the Joe & Ella Duos (Joe and Ella, "Again"). That whole album is entirely acoustic, you can really hear that big body boy he is playing (not sure what guitar he used on that). Listen to how the chords just bloom on a tune like "Tis Autumn", wonderful tone (and of course playing & singing)