PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[darylcd]

Spyro Gyra has been around for about 25 years and unlike a lot of groups they have put out a new CD every year. It bugs me when I find a group I like and they put out a CD every 5 years or so. (Like New York Voices, so good but so few CDs).

Spyro Gyra just has a great sound. They are a lot of fun and Jay Beckenstien is my favorite sax player and has written a number of now standard jazz tunes such as The Shaker Song and Morning Dance.

Sort of off the topic, but good information for anyone who gets the chance to catch them live.

[josh]

This discussion has been going on long enough that I presume the cat who asked this question has already figured out whether he can play jazz on a strat/boogie setup. That said, I'll contribute some of my experience.

Can you play jazz on a strat? Absolutely. It will sound different than a conventional archtop guitar and may not work as well in some settings but ultimately it can be done. I learned to play jazz on a strat-style electric guitar. Eventually, I found that the single-coil pickups didn't provide the punch or depth I required to compete with horn players' tones but the guitar was great to learn on. Even if you want to play bop or a more traditional style, there's nothing wrong with learning to play the style with a solid-body. The same concepts of melody, harmony and phrasing apply to any instrument. And if that becomes your voice then go for it!

I recently acquired an archtop to use along with my current solid-body Godin with humbuckers. I believe archtop guitars have their place, especially in the context of rhythm-playing and to get that signature jazz tone but they are by no means the be-all and end-all of jazz guitar.

So grab your strat, plug in and start playing some jazz!

[stratocasturbator]

there are no rules. many gear choices and practices were the result of accidents...for example: jimi hendrix flipping a strat upside down so he could play it left-handed; t-bone walker playing the guitar parallel to the ground, which helped author a signature string-bending style; django reinhardt re-inventing jazz guitar on a bright, twangy acoustic guitar with half his fingers missing...

there are many examples. do what you can with what you have. if it's a strat and a boogie (me too, at one time) then use that to get the music out.

jazz, at its best, is pure, undistilled musical expression. at its worst, it is formalist copycats trying so hard to fit someone else's idea of what is right. I highly doubt alan holdsworth ever lost a single minute of sleep wondering whether or not he's a "jazz" musician, though he's played with tony williams and can blow a mean version of 'countdown'...innovation is where it's at, not imitation...

bottom line: if you play with soul, and can say something, the gear is at best a side issue. the only strat-specific thought I'd offer would be to make sure that it's properly set up and intonated. I've played and built many fender-style instruments over the years, and they sound like ass if they're not properly tuned and and intonated, especially for "jazz"...

[Secret2goodtoneispractice]

"If you play with soul, and can say something, the gear is at best a side issue."

Listening and "being open" have far more to do with soul, than any gear.
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Trust your own opinion of a guitar or amp. Form your opinion from what you value. Your need, preference, circumstance, experience, and opportunity are the most important factors.

[JakeJew]

i been playin wida strat. it's goin ok. I need a better amp first, and I might put a humbucker in the thing.
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"Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland

[greentone]

Eldon Shamblin played jazz on a Stratocaster for years with other musicians who blended jazz with country/swing. Shamblin had a great tone.

There is a great YouTube video of Joe Pass in his Synanon days playing a Fender Jazzmaster through a piggyback blonde Fender Tremolux. Pass is playing straight bop lines and getting a solid tone through the Jazzmaster. He might as well have been playing a Stratocaster. With the _same_ gauge strings on it, it would have sounded just as cool.

Put some 11-54, or so, strings on a Stratocaster and it sounds pretty tough when you play jazz lines on it. Skinny strings thin out the tone.
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Soul Jazz & Blues

[Jazz Playa]

Definitely can play jazz with a Strat if its mated with the right amp. With some Fender Texas Special pickups it works even better as they have more midrange and a bit less on the highs. Try putting a proper set of Fralin's in your Strat and OMG!

[JakeJew]

the thing with string gauge is that the depth of your attack makes all the difference. If you hit hard on 9s or 10s it's going to sound like shit (imo) for clear lines that are at least somewhat relevant to the tradition of jazz. Hit it real light and you don't get that annoying twang, and the sustain is longer. Abercrombie is playing real thin strings these days, he sounds good to me.

Jim Hall usually played at heaviest 11s, I believe, but it may have been 10s.

I guess all this shit is just about how traditional you want to sound.
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"Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland

[Jazz Playa]

I never really try to sound "traditional" even when playing standards I just try to do my own thing and make them sound like me. People seem to like what I play so I guess its cool. On my archtops I seem to go back and forth between 11's and 12's and they both work great for me. The 12's have a thicker sound which is nice and the 11's are sweet and seem to be more sensitive to dynamics in my playing, which is the way I've been leaning lately. On archtops 10's or thinner just don't seem to vibrate hard enough to bring out the character of an archtop for me. They don't seem to vibrate enough to get the top into it and besides they just don't feel right on an archtop anyway. On solidbodies though I can do it with strings as skinny as 10's, with a good amp.

Why some players can get the sound with lighter strings? The X factor is the players touch. Theory: the lighter the touch the lighter the strings they can get away with. A player who really likes to dig in to the strings will probably need heavier strings to get the job done.

[greentone]

I like different sounds, e.g., my ES-335 with some edge on it, or my ES-175 with a very traditional sound, or an acoustic archtop guitar--preferably an old one--with a clear, even voice. I also enjoy the sound of Fenders played through tube amps for jazz. Some of my favorite early explorations with jazz were with my Hagstrom solid-bodies, back in the 1960s, played through a Vox Essex bass amp. The Hagstroms came from the factory with flatwound strings--a rarity, even in those days. The strings, as I recall, were about 11-50 gauge. Those Hagstroms (I have owned the I and the III since the 60s) sounded big, fat, and juicy through the Vox, with those twin Bulldog/Celestion speakers in a sealed cabinet. On the neck pickup, you could get a great jazz tone with those solid bodies. Still can.
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Soul Jazz & Blues

[jlc]

A few years ago i was invited to a local place that was having a small jazz concert. the players were professionals from all over who get together once a year and play, normally when they are home for the holidays. the guitar player is a session player in Nashville, he was playing a stratocaster, thru two blues juniors, some delay box and an ernie ball volume pedal. he played thru both amps, with the slightest delay (i never heard the delay, just the tone), he told me it thickened the tone.

I know it sounded great and he is monster player. drums, bass, keyboard and guitar. in the middle of some of his solos, he would, now and then throw in a western swing or pure country lick, he really seemed to have total control of his instrument, and everything was tasteful and when he'd throw in a country lick you had to smile.

the strat sounded great, and as you know, as different as you want to make it for each song.

[Jazz Playa]

Greentone I like to get different sounds too. ES-335's are really versatile you can play almost any style of music on them. When I was writing about archtops earlier I was thinking of full size hollow archtops really. I'm able to get a really fat juicy tone using 11's on my full size archtops with the amps I use. I really see the amp and the guitar as like "married", as one, to form a complete unit. Since they also seem more sensitive to dynamics in my playing I think I'm going to stick with 11's for a while on my jazz archtops.

Speaking of 335's, that's what I'm on the lookout for now is a nice 335 style guitar. Currently I have full archtop's and solidbodie's but would like to add a semi or hollow 335 style guitar to the mix. The Benedetto Bravo looks nice. I'm kinda looking around right now for a good shallow archtop. Until I find one I'll just keep playing jazz, and everything else, on my Strat's.