Amazing playing and jazz tone on a solid body guitar

**mrcee** · 11-12-2015, 11:04 AM

Someone once said that a tempo of 140 (not slow by any means) moved the audience the most. Any thoughts on that?

**targuit** · 11-12-2015, 11:15 AM

Just for fun, perhaps DutchBopper could give us a short list of his favorite up-tempo tunes?

I appreciate your expertise, my friend, as well as your playing.

**mrcee** · 11-12-2015, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Jeez, it's a guy burning over a backing track. Some of you all are acting like this is a recording from an album being touted as "the greatest guitar record of our time" and that you feel the need to debunk it. Petty.

If I've learned one thing about guitar players, it's that the ones who speak up the loudest to criticize fast playing usually can't play fast.

All of this technology and the ability to record and post anything almost immediately is a double (maybe more) edged sword. I'll be at a party sometimes and some drunk will hand me an out of tune $100 guitar with 5 strings on it and want to jam. Out come the smart phones capturing it all and I'm thinking "Right! Somebody's going to post this somewhere with my name on it."

**targuit** · 11-12-2015, 11:23 AM

Isn't the music in the hands?

**mrcee** · 11-12-2015, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by targuit

Isn't the music in the hands?

Up to a point.

**llazarides** · 11-12-2015, 01:53 PM

anyone know what kind of axe he's playing in this video?

i can't make out what the name on the headstock says.

**Groyniad** · 11-12-2015, 02:45 PM

its perfectly understandable that guitarists on a forum like this should be interested in questions about the value of speed. like flamed woods - its a way to evaluate something that does not involve much interpretation, a way that makes something like objectivity seem a possibility. (you can't establish to everyone's satisfaction that a guitar sounds lovely - but you can establish that its flamed to all feck)

'what a monster player...' which are words we've all heard again and again

can mean either - he can play so fast it's just unbelievable - or - he plays really beautifully (this does not mean he can't or didn't play incredibly fast). it can often be important which of these is meant.

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i think the benson/martino picking every note style can sound very machine-like. and when it does, i really can't stand it at all. (its not a close thing)

it can also sound very lyrical and expressive (as it does very often with benson himself). when it does, it seems to me that its always because the hard-driving passages are weighted strongly (so the 16ths aren't all played exactly the same speed - they're stretched sometimes and squashed at others etc.). parker is at the top of this game - and, i think - the rollins of the late fifties too (toot toot tootsie goodbye etc. etc.). its very hard to get anywhere near this on guitar - and that's why i often find myself disliking fast guitar playing quite strongly.

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this amazing guitarist strongly invites the sort of skepticism about speed i've mentioned. especially playing a tune like ydkwli with apparently no interest in the vibe of the tune. if he is exhibiting impressive chops - he's doing that very well indeed. if he's trying to improvise on a great tune - i think he's not doing anywhere near as well.

(and the fact that i could not exhibit chops in anything like the way he can does not disqualify me from making such a judgement).

but why would you want to exhibit amazing chops as opposed to play the shit out of a great tune?? in any circumstances?

btw the softly clip sounds amazing to me - cause its got some real aggression in it

**mr. beaumont** · 11-12-2015, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by mrcee

All of this technology and the ability to record and post anything almost immediately is a double (maybe more) edged sword. I'll be at a party sometimes and some drunk will hand me an out of tune $100 guitar with 5 strings on it and want to jam. Out come the smart phones capturing it all and I'm thinking "Right! Somebody's going to post this somewhere with my name on it."

I get that, and I know Pat Metheny has thoughts on it too...

I guess I'm old school...I don't consume my music through crappy youtube videos. When I see music on youtube, I consider the source, the location, the quality...if it's recorded on somebody's cell phone in a living room, I don't consider it a professional product, so the player gets the benefit of the doubt.

Everybody has moments where their playing isn't at it's best.

**Mr. Pocket** · 11-13-2015, 01:21 AM

He's got a great groovy feel on these

**55bar** · 11-13-2015, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by Dutchbopper

Next time a blues player tells me that I play scales I will tell him that at least I know 25 while he only knows ONE that he plays over and over again. With 5 notes only.

DB

Rather listen to BB sometimes though..

**Groyniad** · 11-13-2015, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

This was the first video I saw of him playing. Different guitar but stellar playing. Bluesy too, which (when done well) always works for me...

this is exactly the pick angle (relative to the floor if you like) that i see benson using - and peter farrell

big pick

benson picking

**55bar** · 11-13-2015, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Groyniad

this is exactly the pick angle (relative to the floor if you like) that i see benson using - and peter farrell

big pick

benson picking

I'd be lying to myself if I didn't say I'd like to play like that now and again

destinytot · 11-13-2015, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by 55bar

Rather listen to BB sometimes though..

Sean Levitt's favourite guitarist. (He called Eddie Diehl his favourite 'jazz' guitarist - and Django the best.)

**55bar** · 11-13-2015, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by destinytot

Sean Levitt's favourite guitarist. (He called Eddie Diehl his favourite 'jazz' guitarist - and Django the best.)

In case you haven't seen.

**AlsoRan** · 11-25-2015, 10:41 PM

Commenting on this one a little late but I could not help but say comment that I could spend years to get as good as this fellow and still not be able to please all Jazz fans. It's funny how Jazz fans have such wide and varied tastes. You really can't please everyone because there is such great variation in this thing we call "Jazz."

And hell, if record sales are any indication, there may not be that big a crowd to try and please to begin with.

My two cents.

**Philco** · 11-26-2015, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by llazarides

anyone know what kind of axe he's playing in this video?

i can't make out what the name on the headstock says.

I think I recognise the "Framus" name on the headstock.

**MackBolan** · 11-28-2015, 04:57 PM

No.
it"s a Tausch Michael Sagmeister model,which of course is a blatant copy of Peter Coura"s
Michael Sagmeister model from the early "80s.

**christianm77** · 12-01-2015, 03:58 PM

I dig this guy. There's something quite Pat Martino about his feel, which for me is a compliment.

Obv. he's playing more over groove tunes here, but the rhythmic definition in the playing and the way it 'pops' is the same thing as swinging.

I was having a conversation about Pat Martino with a friend - a very good jazz player himself - who said he didn't feel Pat swung. But for me Pat is very very swinging - even though (or perhaps because) he play so straight.

But then Herb Ellis plays pretty straight, and most people agree he swings!

Anyway, thanks for the post.

**tritonus** · 12-29-2015, 05:04 AM

No, the guitar was built by Rainer Tausch a luthier from Germany. It seems that the man currently builds only a Strat type hollow body model, he might still be doing custom work though.

**Robertkoa** · 12-31-2015, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by Flat

Dizzy, I wanted to say pretty much what you said, but frankly I was afraid to until you went first.

I'm not nearly a good enough player to critique a guy who plays so very well -- no doubt about it.

But as a listener I have to admit that I found all the fast sections utterly uninteresting. Like he's showing me how fast he can play. My mind just tuned out in those spaces. Yeah, he knows his scales, and yeah, he's nimble and quick as a lick and still clean.

But to my ears, those parts were all technical and not in service of the music. Like a poet who's talking too fast to sound like poetry. Or like a great player teaching a class in how to drop in and out of double time (which could be a great and valuable lesson).

All the other parts were absolutely delightful and very musical and very cool indeed. And yeah, a really sweet jazz tone on a solid body Yamaha, absolutely.

All imho, ymmv, and have a nice day.

He's showing you how well he can phrase and thread the needle in nearly perfect time.

If you listen to the Blues clip he does it even better with a little humor with those little dissonant things he does.

There's nothing wrong with showing some flash but this guy isn't really doing that IMO he is not on the ragged edge...he's right in the Pocket...all control.

If you want to hear some guys show off speed on the ragged edge- some of the Gypsy Jazz is pedal to the metal ..less time accurate...

Virtuosity is a Tradition in many Instruments..nothing wrong with it..but Sagmeister isn't on the ragged edge in these clips IMO...( I am guilty of this so I know lol) this guy is showing some real precision and taste.

**scole** · 12-31-2015, 08:23 PM

Slow passages are nice but the fast runs are just mechanical and feel out of place for me. Like playing Flight of the Bumblebee over a jazzy backing track. Still light years ahead of my playing, though