64 bars of Wes Montgomery with fingerings

[Christian Miller]

This is transcribed from this video

Harmonic analysis not yet complete

I've made a careful study of how Wes is playing, the first 64 bar chorus of Wes's solo.
- often in low positions
- much 'along the neck' motion
- primarily (although NOT entirely) using three fingers/pronated left hand position

EDIT: updated with PMB's correction and handy new bar numbers! Woot.

[charlieparker]

This is transcribed from this video

Harmonic analysis not yet complete

I've made a careful study of how Wes is playing, the first 64 bar chorus of Wes's solo.
- often in low positions
- much 'along the neck' motion
- primarily (although NOT entirely) using three fingers/pronated left hand position
Attachment 128490Attachment 128489Attachment 128488Attachment 128487

Great practice for developing some shifting position lines!

[pcjazz]

I don’t see the promised fingerings.

[Aiq]

Thanks, I had some fun with your Wes pdf as well.

[Christian Miller]

I don’t see the promised fingerings.

Well, I didn't write in which fingers, but it's all three fingers except one note in bar 8

Lot of sliding. The sliding is important.

[olliehalsall]

Well, I didn't write in which fingers, but it's all three fingers except one note in bar 8

Lot of sliding. The sliding is important.

I've seen a few videos where he doesn't even bother with the third finger

[Christian Miller]

I've seen a few videos where he doesn't even bother with the third finger

Fingers are overrated


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[PMB]

Nice one, Christian!

Grant and Wes, as you've pointed out, mostly kept to non-classical fingerings, e.g. very little use of the pinky. This also extends to their slurring, both slides and hammer on/pull-offs. I left a comment on your Grant Green 'Jazz Guitar Scrapbook' video the other day regarding how both of them (especially Wes) would overreach their middle and ring fingers rather than employ the pinky in the expected positional manner.

A perfect example here is in the 6th bar over Ab7 on page 3 of your transcription. The camera doesn't show the fingering at that point - 1'50" in the video - but here's what he actually plays:



How do I know this? Well, it's THE Wes lick and the only one that another great thumb picker, Jim Mullen lifted wholesale and uses everywhere!

Anyway, thanks for your transcription and analysis. Apologies if I come across a little nerdy about this but I've been asked to lead an organ trio in a Grant Green/Wes Montgomery show next month so my head (and fingers!) are pretty deep in this world for the moment.

[Christian Miller]

Nice one, Christian!

Grant and Wes, as you've pointed out, mostly kept to non-classical fingerings, e.g. very little use of the pinky. This also extends to their slurring, both slides and hammer on/pull-offs. I left a comment on your Grant Green 'Jazz Guitar Scrapbook' video the other day regarding how both of them (especially Wes) would overreach their middle and ring fingers rather than employ the pinky in the expected positional manner.

A perfect example here is in the 6th bar over Ab7 on page 3 of your transcription. The camera doesn't show the fingering at that point - 1'50" in the video - but here's what he actually plays:



How do I know this? Well, it's THE Wes lick and the only one that another great thumb picker, Jim Mullen lifted wholesale and uses everywhere!

Anyway, thanks for your transcription and analysis. Apologies if I come across a little nerdy about this but I've been asked to lead an organ trio in a Grant Green/Wes Montgomery show next month so my head (and fingers!) are pretty deep in this world for the moment.

There’s so much to learn from the way those guys played


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[rpjazzguitar]

[QUOTE=Christian Miller;1443573]This is transcribed from this video

QUOTE]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[voxo]

play this every day as a warm up..with band in a box....fingers are now firmly locked into it...its like a conversation with Wes...

[garybaldy]

'Always check the key signature before you start !' - my band master at school!

[Cunamara]

That might be my favorite Wes solo, actually, even more than "Smokin' At The Half Note" in the original or extended versions. The "Full House" LP is close to this.

Wes's sense of musical freedom is palpable here. He's beaming, his playing is so strong that the band can lock into him immediately, his physical self is relaxed and balanced. He's able to be harmonically and rhythmically exploratory. Brilliant, brilliant stuff that reveals his genius so clearly. Wes is one of the few jazz musicians whose solos stick with me. So much of jazz (to my ears) just blows by with form but little emotive substance. Chops and licks are not the same as story-telling, and Wes tells the story in every solo. Wes, Jim Hall, Joe Pass might be the pinnacle of those 30 or so years of jazz guitar they occupied (I also have a huge fondness for Ed Bickert, another masterful story-teller; Ed is probably my favorite jazz guitarist). In current times, my ear is strongly drawn towards Peter Bernstein as another able to convey an emotional story in every solo.

Thanks for the transcription, which is icing on the cake!

[Mick-7]

I've seen a few videos where he (Wes) doesn't even bother with the third finger

Must be the Django influence.

[Christian Miller]

Must be the Django influence.

See the last lick of page 2...

[Petimar]

I love the video of this whole set. So cool to hear Wes teach the tunes to the guys.

[MiniMerckx.22]

[QUOTE=rpjazzguitar;1443650]

This is transcribed from this video

QUOTE]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

Is it an optical illusion that the frets on that guitar look wider than any guitar frets I've ever seen? What were OEM frets on L5's in the 60's?

Also, great work, thank you for posting.

[lawson-stone]

That solo is practically a religious experience. Just leaves me breathless.

[Christian Miller]

That solo is practically a religious experience. Just leaves me breathless.

It’s fantastic


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[PMB]

That whole session in Holland is top shelf Wes. You can tell he loves the band and they're so quick to pick up everything he throws them either musically or verbally. As Pat Metheny pointed out in the liner notes to the officially released DVD, it's informative to see that Wes may not have read music but he was completely comfortable with regular musical terminology (contrary to the 'noble savage' image of him peddled for years).

I just came across this clip of someone playing the same solo with nothing but a metronome and it stills sounds incredible!

[Mick-7]

Is it an optical illusion that the frets on that guitar look wider than any guitar frets I've ever seen?.

[MiniMerckx.22]

Be careful shaving !

[MiniMerckx.22]

Christian said;
I've made a careful study of how Wes is playing, the first 64 bar chorus of Wes's solo.
- often in low positions
- much 'along the neck' motion
- primarily (although NOT entirely) using three fingers/pronated left hand position

With Wes being Pat Metheny's strongest influence at a young age, if you watch videos of both you'll easily see that Pat negotiates the fingerboard in a very similar horizontal manner.
Fwiw, Segovia did also.

[Christian Miller]

Christian said;
I've made a careful study of how Wes is playing, the first 64 bar chorus of Wes's solo.
- often in low positions
- much 'along the neck' motion
- primarily (although NOT entirely) using three fingers/pronated left hand position

With Wes being Pat Metheny's strongest influence at a young age, if you watch videos of both you'll easily see that Pat negotiates the fingerboard in a very similar horizontal manner.
Fwiw, Segovia did also.

Yes Pat is also a low position guy


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[pauln]

[QUOTE=MiniMerckx.22;1445179]

Is it an optical illusion that the frets on that guitar look wider than any guitar frets I've ever seen? What were OEM frets on L5's in the 60's?

Also, great work, thank you for posting.

I noticed that, too; assumed it was because YouTube viewing vs listening is subject to a kind of uncertainty principle - the playback setting for "Quality" is a trade off between sharpness of the video and continuity of the audio.
Invariably if there is something I want to hear without glitches or stalls I have to reduce the YouTube playback quality value's "auto" default to a lessor "p" selection which fuzzes the image a bit. Thank goodness for my records; I can count the number of times a record has skipped in my whole life on one hand. Progress I guess?