Can you play jazz on an acoustic guitar?

[pamosmusic]

I don’t know about this. My Santa Cruz OM sounds its best not in open positions but well up the neck. No “scooped mids.”

I’d say it depends on the flat top. They’re not all the same. My dread is a totally different machine.

Yeah I’ll probably never get a real archtop just because I’ve been down that road and my tele rules, so playing an acoustic guitar is my opportunity to sound old school. I love the sound of jazz on a steel string. I think the only real disadvantage is that they’re generally not well-suited to cutting through the mix with a drummer. Maybe if they used only brushes and you really coughed up for a good pickup? Dunno.

But on their own, hanging with a singer or an acoustic bass, they sound great.

[Chris Brown]

I have the model I could afford ten years ago -- a Walden dreadnaught. "Designed in USA, built in China". 400 EUR. At my girlfriend's place I play her Hohner parlor size guitar. Favorites? I try to make any instrument good that gets into my hands.

EDIT: The newer Walden models (not mine) have as an interesting feature not only a trussrod but the necks are double reinforced with glass fibres.

Cool! I looked it up and it looks great!

[Chris Brown]

Modern jazz has such a diverse range of sound and artists. One player who really loves the acoustic guitar is Julian Lage. His own search for his own music has put him in a class by himself.

Steve Khan has also done some beautiful things on acoustic guitar, here he's playing Infant Eyes by Wayne Shorter

It's not the shape of the guitar, it's the music inside you

I spent my whole weekend on this, I am absolutely loving this new change in sound.
I went through videos by these guys

https://www.zagerguitarlessons.com/f...sonstrial-4200

Steve Khan! I'm gonna spend my day today on his videos

[Chris Brown]

I don’t know about this. My Santa Cruz OM sounds its best not in open positions but well up the neck. No “scooped mids.”

I’d say it depends on the flat top. They’re not all the same. My dread is a totally different machine.

The sound is different on both! I've been practicing Jazz on my dreadnaught, OM didn't feel like the right fit for me

[John A.]

You can certainly learn jazz on a flatop, but it has it's limitations. To learn the jazz vocabulary you have to learn the scale and chord positions up & down the neck. That tends to be physically more difficult with a typical flatop's neck and action. The tone profile is another drawback, oriented towards open chord voicings, bright (twangy) treble, "scooped" mids, and sustain, which is kind of the opposite of an archtop.

I haven't found either the action or tone of any of the flattops I've owned to be any sort of impediment to playing jazz by myself or with other acoustic instruments. Some are scooped, some are not (my current one, an Eastman is pretty warm/mid-rangey). Flattops don't work as well amplified with other electric instruments (unless heavily processed) as electric guitars, but they're fine for practicing/learning before one graduates to that.

I used to play Martin dreads, great instruments, but they tended to distract me towards what they were designed for, "roots' music, fingerpicking, etc. Now I have a Gibson J50 that I use for acoustic music, and mostly archtop for jazz, chord melody, etc.

An inexpensive solidbody might be a better compromise, for playability and jazz tone, like a Tele or Les Paul copy.

I think it makes sense to recommend that at some point OP check out some electrics, but I really don't think it's necessary to do that straight away. it's nearly always best to start out with what you have and not get too caught up in gear until you've developed some degree of discernment about instrument sounds.

[JazzIsGood]

When I was a beginner I was playing on a Fender acoustic with kinda high action. It wasn't the most comfortable and when I switched to an ES-175 things got way easier. I played for a few months on that crappy Fender. That being said, I think you can certainly get started on an acoustic guitar and there are people who have made a whole career out of playing jazz on an acoustic.

When you want to get more specialized and you want to go for a specific type of jazz, you might end up switching to something else. If you're just tinkering with it for now, I say go for it on the acoustic guitar.

[RJVB]

I think it makes sense to recommend that at some point OP check out some electrics, but I really don't think it's necessary to do that straight away [...].

No, I think that's really not necessary indeed. It's not more or less commendable to search your own acoustic jazz sound as it is to search for your own concoction of filters, DSPs and whatnots. You'd just be a different bird

Ever listened to Joe Bonamassa's acoustic evenings? OK, they're amplified acoustic instruments so there's some cheating going on O:-) but he still sounds like Bonamassa.

[L50EF15]

Note that there are affordable acoustic archtops out there if you’re interested, including vintage Gibsons. A good L50 can be bought for the price of a new D18 or J45.

[RJVB]

Note that there are affordable acoustic archtops out there if you’re interested, including vintage Gibsons. A good L50 can be bought for the price of a new D18 or J45.

Thomann ask "just under" 8000€ for a D18, and only a measly "just under" 2780€ for a Gibson J45. Affordable you say? Many would beg to differ...
Oh, yes, there's the Epiphone J45 which goes for only 735€, which is more like it...

But if we're talking about that kind of affordable, the L48 should be mentioned too. I've heard examples that sound very nice indeed.

[bleakanddivine]

[Bop Head]

Those are the "Tristano robots" some people find it funny to look down on ...

Through this forum Dave Cliff has become one of my favorite guitarists and his live videos are a nice opportunity to study the strict three-finger technique.

[RJVB]

Those are the "Tristano robots" some people find it funny to look down on ...

I don't know about that, but do notice that that acoustic guitar gets the signature jazzer treatment of "just turn it into an electric guitar already". There's a magnetic PU installed in the soundhole and the sound we hear clearly comes out through the cable rather than the soundhole.

So not an appropriate example here.

[mr. beaumont]

Sounds great though. And great playing.

[RJVB]

Sounds great though. And great playing.

This too, but still no acoustic guitar

[GuyBoden]

Martin Taylor

[Bobby Marshall]

Lisa Liu and Michael Joseph Harris

I met Lisa and MJH two years ago at the Rocky Mountain gypsy jazz festival in Arvada, Colorado. Great musicians.

As far as playing jazz on guitars where high frets cannot be reached if you keep your thumb on the neck, don’t keep your thumb on the neck. I play a gypsy guitar with a 14 fret neck join which is similar to a flat top but also use my 175. I have found that moving around the neck like an upright bassist to grab high notes works nicely and feels natural, I don’t even have to think anymore my hand just moves where it needs to. YMMV

[AdroitMage]

Some of the most beautiful jazz playing I've ever heard has been on acoustic guitars. Listen to Pat Metheny "Night Turns Into Day" from his Trio Live recordings for an example, not to mention Django.

[RJVB]

Besides, acoustic music can sound perfectly fine on jazz guitars so why wouldn't the reverse be true

[frabarmus]

If you love acoustic guitar and jazz here's a couple more stellar albums.

[deacon Mark]

You can play jazz on a flattop no doubt, but I have never liked the sound nearly as much as an archtop. Almost without exception the sound never seems to pick up the real flavor or jazz. This does not include Gypsy guitar playing and that whole tradition, that is completely different. Kenny Burrell would pick a flattop at times and use it but to me it was just different, not at all better. The best sound is an archtop in my book they simply do the job for jazz like nothing else, a flatop in emergency for me only.

[Kirk Garrett]

You can play jazz on a flattop no doubt, but I have never liked the sound nearly as much as an archtop. Almost without exception the sound never seems to pick up the real flavor or jazz. This does not include Gypsy guitar playing and that whole tradition, that is completely different. Kenny Burrell would pick a flattop at times and use it but to me it was just different, not at all better. The best sound is an archtop in my book they simply do the job for jazz like nothing else, a flatop in emergency for me only.

Solo, in an ensemble, or both?

I think solo flattop jazz guitar can be fantastic. There are guys on this forum who kill it.

[AdroitMage]

I just came back to say, yes, play jazz on an acoustic guitar. Jazz and many kinds of music can sound absolutely stunningly beautiful on acoustic guitar, both nylon string and steel string acoustic.

Go get some of that mojo fo sho, kitty.

[Reg]

Yea... I believe it's a better approach to learn jazz on an acoustic guitar.

An acoustic has a natural reference for learning how to play. Generally the action and physical aspect of... playing on an acoustic help develop technique....

It's much easier to go from an acoustic to electric.

I still love playing acoustic jazz.

[Christian Miller]

Jazz can only be played on expensive jazz guitars that only dentists can afford.

It’s a paradox of the music.


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[gcb]