The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I imagine this guitar genre has been discussed here, but hadn't seen anything about the topic. Maybe somebody can point to a past thread that I missed.

    Anyway, I dig it, though, I can't surf and I really don't play much of it on guitar but I need to get some classic licks down someday.

    On a whim I wondered if there was an interesting hybrid of surf jazz and this is what I found!



    I wouldn've never thought someone would interpret Monk this way, but I thought the attempt was pretty fun.

    Please share your favorite surf tracks or bands or offshoots of this style

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    huge surf guitar fan...from true vintage era ala dick dale, eddie bertrand to modern

    check out the mermen...jim thomas one of the best guitarists of the genre (& beyond) ever



    cheers

  4. #3

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    Surf guitar music was what excited me to start playing guitar when I was 10 years old.

    I bought every album I could find by The Ventures, The Surfaris, The Chantays, The Trashmen, and Dick Dale and wore them out learning all of those surf guitar instrumentals.

    I still get a kick out of listening to them today!

  5. #4

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    Frisell and Ribot both did surf with John Zorn and on their own projects because it is part of the language they are fluent in. Very hard to separate it from Frisell's overall style.




  6. #5
    Cool! I think there's a lot of youthful spirit in this music. It has this little bit of edge to it and can rock pretty hard, but the music can be pretty, um, romantic in some ways, too. Miserlou, Pipeline, Walk Don't Run are forever classics! I discovered The Pyramids tune Penetration looking through the deeper cuts and found out that this band was one of the rare instances of an African American guitarist (Willie Glover) who was part of that 1960s scene.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    Frisell and Ribot both did surf with John Zorn and on their own projects because it is part of the language they are fluent in. Very hard to separate it from Frisell's overall style.



    Thanks for sharing these clips! I really dig this version of The Quiet Surf

  8. #7

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    Love it and play it every chance I get but there's not much market for it in this area. Tried putting a group together a couple years ago but there was just no place to play it. Did get to play a big car show at the Don Garlits Museum in Ocala last spring, however. You can see my short lived group on YT - search "Surf Tones Trio".

    I mostly like the first generation, original stuff but some recent is OK if it doesn't get too close to 'punk'. Big Los Straightjackets fan. Oh, and BTW, I'm old enough to have learned all the tunes when they originally came out in the early 60's - I'll just never grow up!

  9. #8
    This music is classic and an undeniable influence on the history of rock music, so maybe it hasn't had another resurgence in recent history (hmm, I heard about 3 different waves of it though in it's 50-some odd years?) but I think anybody can get hooked to the sound whether it's because of nostalgic surf culture or re-contextualizing like Pulp Fiction or if it's punked out a little bit for the next generation of kids who might appreciate it's origins. Pretty great to hear guitars soaked in reverb and staccato picking, I say!

  10. #9

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    I do believe that surf is still a very popular genre today and the lines get blurry between surf, spy music, and spaghetti western stuff. It's not gonna disappear anytime soon, especially with Canadian gals like the Surfrajettes on the frontlines coming to a town near you. They may just help bring balance back to the universe.


  11. #10

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    tho never really a surf tune...(they were from the chilly pacific northwest) -the ventures- iconic take on walk dont run certainly inspired many generations of bands to come..the track was actually written by the great jazz guitarist johnny smith!!! and the ventures version was very loosely based on a chet atkins interpretation of smiths tune...the classic descending chord pattern has been used on countless tunes since

    johnny smith said if it wasn't named walk don't run..he would never have recognized it as his own tune!!! haha






    "After hearing a Chet Atkins recording of "Walk Don't Run", the Tacoma-based instrumental rock band The Ventures released their version of the tune as a single in spring 1960 on Dolton Records. This version made the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2 and was kept out of the #1 spot by It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley."

    i always liked the ventures '64 version..which was certainly more "surf"..with great reverb!!



    cheers

  12. #11

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  13. #12

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    Dick Dale still bringing it in 2019.


  14. #13

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    sad news is that dick dale is very ill...he has been battling cancer for years...and was just recently in icu with severe heart & pulmonary problems...last i heard, he had been temporarily released, but is scheduled for bypass surgery if his wellbeing permits it...gods bless


    cheers


  15. #14

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    for modern surf, I like this band from Russia of all places ... Messer Chups


    Gotta like using the standalone reverb unit as a percussion instrument.

  16. #15

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