7:00-7:30 Hard vs soft picking. Opposite of what one might think intuitively. Excellent video! An experienced guitarist, but new jazz student...on a Strat! I also enjoy electric bass and play my Strat through an Ampeg Rocket Bass RB-112 for lush jazz tones with my Strat! I've never heard anyone mention this!
Lenny Breau was an amazingly talented genius on guitar, and favored a solid body instrument he played finger-style on, and I've always loved his crystalline clean tones, warm and round sounding. He could play anything, but the sound he got from the his solid body was one of my favorite guitar tones.
You can also get a significant variation in tone with the shape and material of your pick. I have turned my pick around to use the round end, but there are also darker sounding picks like the Taylor "dark tone" picks. Changing strings to flatwounds or a stringset with a wound 3rd also changes the tone.
I find heavier picks are better for jazz than thinner, softer picks. My teacher has encouraged me to use a thick, heavy pick with a light touch instead of a thin pick with a heavy touch, and it's helped my tone a lot.
My favorite guitar was my Les Paul, I wasn’t crazy over the tone so I picked up an Ibanez, I think it’s like an AS153 I think, it is really easy to get a nice thick tone, and less temping to bend notes for some reason. It’s a real nice guitar, way better than a Strat for a new jazz player.
This is Awesome!! I use my strat, mostly to practice Jazz! Its just so comfortable to play and use. To me its more about getting practice in than sounding old school Jazz tone. Still as you pointed out, the Strat has been used for Jazz in many recordings!
I love videos like this that don’t just talk but actually showcase these great jazz players and stuff like that. I love discovering players whom I do didn’t know existed. Thanks for sharing !Subbd!
Great video! I'm working on playing lightly after decades of attacking the strings and your video really highlighted the difference in tone from picking hard or light. It was really striking and I have renewed enthusiasm for my quest for a lighter touch now :)
I have a Stratocaster for playing Jazz with a Mark LJ DV amp. 1) Lower the tone to the maximum and open it completely on the amp. 2) The Boss GE7 pedal can turn your single coil into a humbucker. Take Pure nickel strings or better flatwounds
GE7 is a way underrated secret weapon. In a clean amp (think Roland JC) I put a dark-ish booster/ blues breaker (just in the brink on breaking up) first in the pedal chain and does the trick.
I switched out the neck pup in my Strat to a Seymour Duncan Lil 59. That, and stringing up with 10’s give it a nice warm jazz tone played clean through a Roland Cube 40.
Another great video! The 1st was Bill Carsons before it had the Stratocaster name. He was a western Swing player who was very dissatisfied with his Tele. When he passed away his Strat sold for more than $60,000. I see it as a jazz guitar because of Bill. Western Swing is really country jazz. Most excellent video! Great job!
...also if you can check the tone capacitor soldered to your tone controls for the value like .022 or .047mf. The 50s Strats had beefy tone capacitors like .1mf which can give you an instant jazz tone when you turn the tone down as the video says. Just thought I would mention this as I have noticed the newer Strats have .022 which shaves off the treble but leaves the bass a bit flat. A decent quality Capacitor( even .047mf orange ) can make the bass fuller and mid punchier for jazz.Thanks for the playing tips.
Another really nice video, Jamie. Thanks !! I play jazz on solid, semi hollow, hollow, acoustic. Once I start playing, I'm not thinking about what kind of guitar I'm playing on. I'm thinking of how I can make the notes and the chords, as tasteful as I can make them. I do have to say that I've, most recently, been enjoying the "chimey" sound of Squier, 25.5" scale, solid body guitar. They have a clarity about them, that makes the notes in a chord, more individually distinct. It's not as warm a sound as a shorter scale length guitar, but the clarity is very attractive, especially when you're adding in the "competing tones" like notes that a a half step apart. It can almost be described as a bell like sound (but it's not as warm and can be a bit steely sounding.) This is somewhat less muted than the traditional tone. I like a tone that is sort of half way between the old muted tone and the Fender clear tone. I pick lightly, so as to not get a jankely sound. I'm a bit fascinated by jazz on Fender style solid body, single coil neck pickup, guitars. This video, that you made, here, is of particuar interest, to me. Ted Green used to use a Telecaster, but his tone, to me was bit harsh. Of course I'm not knocking his playing. He was amazing.
Ibanez archtop is the go to; but yeah, have discovered the Strat can get a pretty warm tone when handled right, & with that small radius has a nice feel, too
I think in this age of modelling amps and effects, it's quite easy to make one type of guitar sound like a completely different type of guitar. I love my Strat as I've had it for 30 year and it's just so playable. What I look to do is use an acoustic emulation effect and it just softens, warms and brightens the tone and makes it really nice for jazz.
I've found that turning the treble on the amp all the way off and turning the mids all the way up lets me get a decent jazz sound on a strat without lowering the volume or tone controls on the guitar.
Two other Strat jazz players worth checking are Nir Felder and Chris Crocco. Like me, I think your musical journey started on a Strat and I would like it to end on that guitar when the time comes!!
Brilliant video, and beautiful playing!! Really enjoyed this!! I had a Seymour Duncan Cool Rail pickup put into the neck of my Strat, sounds lovely and warm 😁
Very nice video, man. Thanks. I play a US standard Strat with SD Little '59 humbuckers fore and aft, no pickup in the middle. I don't use an amp, but go direct into the PA via an old Award Session JD10 preamp. To accentuate that warm old archtop sound, I used an EQ pedal after the preamp with the top 3 frequencies turned to zero, all else pretty much flat. It sounds amazing!
Nice demo and presentation... I might try this on my Guild DeArmond M75 solid... But I purchased an Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II Pro for my Jazz Side and using a Roland Cube 60.. Bought the Cube used and in the process of tweaking it for that desired "Tone".... Clean Channel with a little reverb. Another part is to consider Flat Wounds to the usual Round Wounds you find on Rock Guitars... Most Jazz Players seldom bend their strings... so 11s might work. The luthier who sets up the action on my guitars recommends Pyramids for my hollow body and D'Addario's Chrome Flats for my Guild solid... Just a thought
Greetings sir. I play fingerstyle chord melody jazz guitar and i used a Strat back in the day. I didn't like the sound much, so i went to an Epiphone Les Paul. Still, i always wanted kind of the archtop sound...
Joe Bonamassa now owns Eldon Shamblin's gold strat. Thanks for the recommendation, just reserved Grant Green's The Holy Barbarian, St. Louis 1959 at my local library.
Nice to know, last I heard Dave Crocker from Fly By Night Music, I Neosho, MO had it (bought several pieces of gear from Dave over the years). I believe that prior to 1954, Eldon played a Gibson Super 400, then was gifted the custom gold strat by Leo himself. That clip is actually Eldon playing for a class at (I think) the University of Tulsa, in Tulsa OK.
You can pluck with your thumb on light strings like Mark Knopfler. Also if one has to buy special amps, pedals, or install humbackers why not get a budget Les Paul instead ,which is the perfect solid guitar for jazz?
Jamie, how about doing the same thing with your Tele, or, comparing it to your Strat? Which one would be your first choice for a Jazz gig, if that's all that was available at the time?
@@jamieholroydguitar I bought it when I taught guitar years ago for a music store for 249.79 and just added to it over the years. My son now plays professionally finger style guitar in the style of Tommy Emanuel. So far my collection tops out at 218 guitars
Great video! Just a minor correction-> Dave Cliff’s guitar shown in this video (3:20) is actually a ‘Fender, Made is USA, Bullet, 1981/1982 model’. (Tele neck and Strat type body, modified with a non-fender neck hummbucker pick-up). He does also have a ‘Squier’ Bullet, Made in Japan, from 1982, but that’s not the one here in the video. Full video clip of the solo is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kzfEezTmK7E.html
I like the Fender Jazzmaster better than the Stratocaster you should try one I have the Squire version but I set it up My way with some flat wound strings and it's nice,
Your Tone at 7 and Vol at 9 is great on the guitar, but on your amp, start with Bass & Treble about halfway and TURN UP THE MIDS. - the MIDS will give you the fatter sound.
1:20 - best tone advice ever. Learn how to play the songs and it will sound correct. This is true of almost all genres. Anyone can roll of the tone and and amp’s treble to get a nice, muffled….errr…*warm* tone.
Great video, does anyone actually use a Jazz Master for jazz. I have a zub zero, approximately £170 twin humbuckers and it sounds really good played through a Laney tube fusion 50w. I find it interesting that there doesn't seem many that actually play a Jazz Master.
Well apart from the fact I would have to sell my Rolls Royce to get an L-5 and my Jag for an ES335 I would settle for some of the amazing Ibanez jazz boxes like the IbanezLGB30-VYS as played by George Benson himself or even the Artcore Expressionist guitars. I've actually been using a Hofner Verythin Contemporary for playing jazz. Anyone know this guitar? By the way I don't have a Roller or Jag really!!
Thanks. That’s an old standard called Lullaby of the Leaves which most people know from the ventures cover! Check out Grant Greens version of it - you won’t be disappointed.
Hmmm, never heard of these guys, but I am new. Question though; I come from a classical background & I wonder why so many players don't use the pinky finger?
Congratulation Jamie! I discovered your channel today and I saw that it's mine of useful info. Where are you from exactly? I'm going to to establish in UK in few months.
Try using flatwounds and a wound G string; go heavier too. Fenders originally came with .013-.054 flats on them: the F-50 set. I discovered the Statocaster as a "jazz guitar" when I saw Geroge Bien and another guitarist playing jazz together both on Stratocasters at a guitar show in the mid/late 1980s. There's know rule as to what guitar can be used for a particular genre of music. Leo Fender designed the Esquire/Broadcaster/Telecaster for jazz players; with Bill Carson's input, he designed the Stratocaster for country-western players. The Les Paul was intended for jazz and big-band players. Well, so much for intention.
Just bought a Stratocaster because they have always felt more comfortable. The one characteristic though it has a snappy sound even when unplugged. I wonder if any suggestions to lessen the snappiness?
Two things that also increase a nice fat tone: 1. A heavy gauge pick; and 2. An anodized strat pick guard. Surprisingly, the metal pick guard adds a much fatter and slightly more powerful tone.
