Uptempo jazz tunes with a featured guitar player that swing!

[sgcim]

[sgcim]

[sgosnell]

Tal could burn, but it was always musical. He and Jimmy Raney were rather similar in their styles, but I prefer Tal by a small margin. Even his later playing, without the speed of the '50s, is something I really enjoy.

[st.bede]

I've never heard any really fast Jazz Guitar players playing uptempo above 330bmp like a top sax player. IMHO, guitar is too difficult an instrument to be play at these fast improv 330bpm tempo.

But, maybe I am wrong again.
]

I will offer some support. Every note we play on guitar, we have to create the energy… per note… unlike air all ready blowing through, or a bow already in motion. To even get slurs to sound good, takes a good amount of practice.

Not too mention, we have to deal with inertia. Once you start a motion, you have to use effort to change the direction of that motion.

Granted their are a lot of guitarist who can play fast, and a modest amount that can even sound good while playing fast, it seems to me that a good number of others instrumentalist can kick it up a few notches above a typical guitar player.

(At least we are not suffering the fate of harmonica players).

[deacon Mark]

I've never heard any really fast Jazz Guitar players playing uptempo above 330bmp like a top sax player. IMHO, guitar is too difficult an instrument to be play at these fast improv 330bpm tempo.

But, maybe I am wrong again.

That is not jazz as such and nothing special. I think it just a bunch of electricity and a solidbody guitar with no real sound.

[GuyBoden]

That is not jazz as such and nothing special. I think it just a bunch of electricity and a solidbody guitar with no real sound.

Well done, in a free world, everybody has a right to their opinion.

Personally, I think Tom Quayle needs to play more live gigs in a band to get more credibility, I feel he has too many clinics, youtube videos selling stuff, selling on-line lessons etc, I feel he needs to get out and play.

Doing this sort of clinic (video below), is such a waste of his talent.

But, this seems to be a popular modern approach to make a living playing music.

[Christian Miller]

Well done, in a free world, everybody has a right to their opinion.

Personally, I think Tom Quayle needs to play more live gigs in a band to get more credibility, I feel he has too many clinics, youtube videos selling stuff, selling on-line lessons etc, I feel he needs to get out and play.

Doing this sort of clinic (video below), is such a waste of his talent.

But, this seems to be a popular modern approach to make a living playing music.

Apparently Tom hates playing live and basically won’t do it. I was surprised to see him do this tbh. A shame really, but he seems to have found a way of making it work for him so good on him.

(I do hear that Guthrie Govan in contrast gets a bit tired of the clinic bubble… give the man gigs!)

I feel there are fusion players on the UK live scene who aren’t so well known on the internet who are up to his level. Check out Nick Linnick, for example.

OTOH Ant Law is an established professional who gigs a lot with his own groups and with Tom Garlands band and trio HLK. Aside from his highly complex contemporary music, I’ve jammed with the man a couple of times and he’s certainly an excellent ‘real jazz player’ as the Good Deacon would understand it.

Don’t know the other fella, I enjoyed his playing.

[GuyBoden]

Apparently Tom hates playing live and basically won’t do it.

I didn't know that, thanks for the info, puts things into a new perspective.

The young Tom Quayle was taught by Graham Young from Leeds, that's where he got into 4th tuning. I've played with a few of Graham Young's proteges and was impressed, so converted to 4th tuning, that was about 12-15 years ago.

[James W]

Well done, in a free world, everybody has a right to their opinion.

Personally, I think Tom Quayle needs to play more live gigs in a band to get more credibility, I feel he has too many clinics, youtube videos selling stuff, selling on-line lessons etc, I feel he needs to get out and play.

Doing this sort of clinic (video below), is such a waste of his talent.

But, this seems to be a popular modern approach to make a living playing music.

Great video, thanks for posting.

[Irishmuso]

Apparently Tom hates playing live and basically won’t do it. I was surprised to see him do this tbh. .

I hadn't heard of him but how sad He appears to have worked hard.

Does he think no-one out there he wants to play with or does he have some sort of stage-fright or need to have total control of his environment?

[st.bede]

That is not jazz as such and nothing special. I think it just a bunch of electricity and a solidbody guitar with no real sound.

… that sounds so so 80s… good or bad, that is not for me to judge… I am not even sure if the 80s sounded that much like the 80s.

[Christian Miller]

I hadn't heard of him but how sad He appears to have worked hard.

Does he think no-one out there he wants to play with or does he have some sort of stage-fright or need to have total control of his environment?

the latter. I think he’s happy doing what he’s doing, and he seems to get sent like free guitars and stuff so I don’t feel that sad for him haha

[Christian Miller]

I didn't know that, thanks for the info, puts things into a new perspective.

The young Tom Quayle was taught by Graham Young from Leeds, that's where he got into 4th tuning. I've played with a few of Graham Young's proteges and was impressed, so converted to 4th tuning, that was about 12-15 years ago.

look, if I wanted an instrument that made sense I would have learned flipping piano m8

[Alter]

Ron Afiff comes to mind as a player that can play fast and sound great at it. Rodney Jones also.

[Christian Miller]

Playing uptempo isn’t necessarily about playing fast.

I think lots of guitarists can play fast runs. There’s plenty of impressive shredders out there. But that’s not what gets me with fast bebop.

For instance, If you amalgamate the beat too much, and accent only downbeats, it can feel like you are floating in half or quarter time. A lot of guitarists - including me - have or have had this problem. That’s a valid starting point for getting comfortable with fast tempos but if you do this the feel of the tempo and its swing can get lost.


But to be able play in a way that truly expresses the tempo and swings once the metronome gets up there and to make music ! Well I think that’s a rarer skill. It requires rhythmic acuity and groove as much as technique to find a pocket at those crazy tempos. That’s actually more interesting to me than someone who runs eighth note lines, I think it’s harder in fact. Also finding the light and shade within a line rather than playing mechanically. It has the effect of making the tempo feel slower than it is (in a good way)

I kind of feel it you can’t express the tempo comfortably without a rhythm section - so that means the swing feel etc - why play it? It just seems like a technical display then.

it’s amazing to me the way very advanced jazz musicians will find the space on fast tempos while others will make the tempo but not find the same freedom.

[Alter]

Peter Bernstein is a perfect example of this. Check out his solo on Giant Steps below, how he plays so musically without resorting to speedy runs that much.

[GuyBoden]

look, if I wanted an instrument that made sense I would have learned flipping piano m8

I'd never advocate 4th tuning to anyone, I was just relaying info about how the young Tom Quayle got his 4th tuning idea from lessons with Graham Young in Leeds. I bet Tom Quayle, or anyone who teaches guitar, would regret using 4th tuning. Standard tuning is best.

Peter Bernstein is a perfect example of this. Check out his solo on Giant Steps below, how he plays so musically without resorting to speedy runs that much.

What about this for uptempo.

[Christian Miller]

I'd never advocate 4th tuning to anyone, I was just relaying info about how the young Tom Quayle got his 4th tuning idea from lessons with Graham Young in Leeds. I bet Tom Quayle, or anyone who teaches guitar, would regret using 4th tuning. Standard tuning is best.

haha the p4 guys can be pretty militant.

Truth is, I don’t know. I think it makes more sense to me to talk about trade offs. Advantages include easier interval mapping, symmetry of fingerings etc. disadvantages are basically throwing out a lot of the traditional language of the instrument. Maybe that’s a feature, not a bug, for some.

[Christian Miller]

Peter Bernstein is a perfect example of this. Check out his solo on Giant Steps below, how he plays so musically without resorting to speedy runs that much.

Yeah, Pete was foremost in my mind. Thanks for that I hadn’t heard it before. here’s another - interesting contrast with Pasquale.

(no it’s not the shadows tune haha)

if you listen some of his stuff is pretty fast - but it never sounds like that … he’s actually playing a lot of 8th note stuff on that Giant Steps, but it sounds like music. An apt student of Jim Hall (and a Grant Green fan)

[Alter]

Hehe, watching Grassos fingers and playing is like gym motivation for me: I always run to a guitar and play!

[James W]

[redwater]

This came up to my mind....

[Christian Miller]

Hehe, watching Grassos fingers and playing is like gym motivation for me: I always run to a guitar and play!

really? I end up feeling mild arachnophobia