By: Chuck Anderson
For the purposes of this article, I’ll define jazz guitar as the tradition as exemplified by Charlie Christian, Eddie Lang, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Johnny Smith, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow and others of a similar pedigree.
The easiest way to begin to identify “what is jazz guitar?” is to identify what is not jazz guitar. It’s not an effects driven style. It rarely uses a solid-body guitar, high volume, big amps or tons of embellishments. Examples of non-jazz guitar embellishments would be frequent and heavy bending, vibrato, whammy bars, “dive bomb” effects etc. As in all generalizations, this is not to imply that the jazz guitar “never” bends etc. It’s just that it’s not a common characteristic of the jazz guitar style.
Harmonically speaking, power chords and simple I IV V structures are more common in rock, blues and country music. Scales that dominate contemporary music such as the major and minor Pentatonic are used, but don’t form the core sound of jazz guitar.
A standing guitarist is virtually the norm in all contemporary forms of guitar. The power of the sound and the rhythm are certainly necessary in dance forms but not necessary in jazz.
The distinction between “rhythm guitar” and “lead guitar” is not used to describe the role of the guitar in the jazz idiom. All this being said, let’s get down to the actual characteristics of the jazz guitar.
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The instrument itself is a full, hollow-body, electric instrument with F holes. Acoustic guitars have been used but tend to be more applicable to the school of Gypsy jazz guitar. The most famous Gypsy jazz guitarist was Django Reinhardt.
The most common jazz guitar style uses very little by way of effects. EQ and a little reverb are about all that’s used. Any effect could be used but it tends to redefine the genre. Imagine cellist Yo Yo Ma with a flanger, octave doubler or wah pedal. It’s not that it can’t be done. It just isn’t done.
Jazz guitar chords focus on 4-part chords. These chords are typically arranged in sets of 4 strings such as 2346, 2345, 1235 etc. Extended upper partial chords i.e. 9, 11 and 13 are common. Alterations such as dim 5th, aug 5th. b9, #9, #11 and 1b3 represent another level of jazz chord use.
In contemporary music such as rock, blues and country, scales are commonly limited to major and minor pentatonic and a few major and minor type scales. Jazz guitar uses a much wider palette of scales from modes and traditional to altered scales and the exotic.
The rhythmic feeling of jazz is dominated by the following:
Tempos are variable from very slow to furiously fast. The bebop style of jazz is characterized by very fast tempos, typically over 200 beats per minute on the metronome.
Jazz guitar repertoire is drawn from the following sources:
Any of this material can be played in any style or tempo regardless of the original version of the song.
Song structures are based on the structure of each individual song. Common binary forms are AABA, AAB and ABAB. Themes are typically 8 bars in length leading to the common 32 bar form common in standards. 36 bar themes happen from time to time. 12 bar themes are most common in blues although there is a 16 bar structure in blues as well.
A song may have three themes which leads to another set of structures. The most important aspect of structure involves improvisation. Without an agreed upon structure, improvisation can degenerate into chaos. Modal improvisation is a freer form that can operate under a “continue until cue” premise.
All this being said, the most effective way to learn about the jazz guitar is to listen!
Keep in mind that there has always been and will always be schools of jazz guitar that are not “traditional.” Examples might be the New Age, Fusion, Smooth Jazz, Rock and Blues etc. inspired styles. My personal style is a blend of various styles of jazz guitar but I definitely lean towards the “traditional jazz guitar.”
