Pre-War Jazz Guitar: a Bluffers Guide for Filthy Modernists

This document details some of the basic things I have learned in the last couple of years re-working my playing to be more appropriate for pre-war style swing gigs largely through trail and error and transcription. Nothing can replace intensive listening, transcribing and immersion in the music itself, but here are some quick ticks and techniques that can help you sound more in the style if your usual area of interest is more Joe Henderson than Fletcher Henderson: Philosophy This is not a glamorous job, but is essential The guitar is a drum Dig in, play hard Your job is to stick the rhythm section together Get used to being the quietest instrument. You are still valuable (just think of Freddie Green) Solos are an added bonus Get used to hard physical work Equipment An acoustic archtop is ideal for medium or big band work (i.e. where you have a piano.) Maccaferri style guitars - especially D-holes - are extremely popular with small bands because of their warm sound - a decent Maccaferri is a lot cheaper than a good archtop! Failing this an ordinary acoustic will do - I use a nylon string for my gigs, which works extremely well for rhythm despite not being in the slightest bit authentic. Resonators and tenor guitars are also used in early 1930s music (Tiny Grimes played an electric tenor into the 1940s) - tenors evolved to help Banjo players move to guitar. Electrics are a poor choice for early jazz rhythm guitar and its hard to get the right feel due to their increased sustain and bass response. The best thing you can do is EQ off the bass and play very staccato on chords. With a decent archtop with a floating pickup you could switch between acoustic rhythm and electric lead modes using a foot pedal. Back in the day there would have been a rhythm guitarist and the lead guitarist would have been featured separately, sadly the economics of music rarely allows this except on jam sessions. Some purists (such as Jonathon Stout of the Campus Five) bring two guitars to the gig! Never use any plectrum less than 2.00 mm in thickness. Jim Dunlop Nylons are quite hardy. The best choice is a Wegen gypsy pick or a horn plectrum. Stone picks might also be effective. Try the Dunlops until you are sure you want to invest money in an expensive pick! Amplification If possible, no amplification is always best - the band should balance naturally. For larger gigs with a quiet audience and good PA, subtle amplification from a condensor mike is ideal (I use an AKG C1000S - but any decent electret condensor should be fine.) Piezo pickups are often a necessary evil for noisy gigs: they are horrible sounding, but preserve the attack and decay of the acoustic guitar better than a magnetic pickup. EQ can make them sound almost acceptable.

 Acoustic lead. Play extremely loud, and equalise your picking volume with your strumming - this will work better for amplification too. See technique below. Electric lead guitar: in general you want a sound that is more rocknroll than Jim Hall, plenty of treble and slightly crunchy. P90s and other single coils are better for this than hum-buckers, but it doesnt really matter too much - amp settings and pick attack are more important to get the right sound (see technique). Feel: The function of jazz guitar in this era of music is primarily as a rhythm section instrument. Chords should lock in with and support the bass, bass drum and hi hat (if present). Comp with a strum on every beat. You can vary your articulation from long-short-long-short to short-short-short-short to reflect changes in the feel of the rhythm section, for example from two-feel to four, and so on. Play along with records - concentrate on 1930s and 40s recordings. Practice with a metronome. Tap your foot on 1 and 3. 30s swing is more staccato than Be-bop. Be-bop ushered in the use of the ride cymbal and the hammer technique for double bass which encouraged a more legato swing feel in all areas of jazz. Chords: Dont be afraid of straight major, minor and dom 7 chords. Often they are the best choice. Major sevenths should be avoided - use a major sixth or a major 6/9 in preference. If these sound obtrusive, use a normal major chord. Minor sevenths on degree ii are fine. Minor sixths are a better choice for degree vi. Minor 6/9s can be used very sparingly. Dominant chord extensions can include 9, 13 (sometimes) +5 and b9. They should be used sparingly. Augmented triads are common. Whole tone harmony is certainly not out of the question as a novelty special effect. Diminished sevenths are common. Half diminished chords should be considered an inversion of the minor 6th. Minor-major sevenths are acceptable as an ending chord. Block chords work extremely well (e.g. alternating sixth chord inversions and dim 7ths) More of these above strictures apply to be-bop then you might think. Three notes per chord is sufficient. Four notes is luxury. Use voicings on strings 6, 4 and 3 most of the time - these sit the right frequency range. See my learning materials page for more information. Chords may also be used for soloing (this was the dominant style of guitar solos in big bands up till Charlie Christian popularised the electric guitar at the end of the thirties) Guitarists such as Dick McDonough, Eddie Lang and George Van Eps were extremely advanced in this area. Soloing: Keep it snappy - a chorus is the maximum on a dance gig, and you may often be expected to take just 8 bars. Even when you are jamming with other players, be aware of

the number of musicians on the band stand, and edit your solos appropriately (this is also true of modern jazz) Ignore chord scale theory. Ignore passing chords - e.g. dim 7s that occur on beat 3 of the bar. If in doubt, play the melody. Use rhythmic variations and ornaments. Chord solos are always a good idea. Learn to use approach tones and enclosures on major and minor chord tones to make new melodies. Harmonic minor scales and chromatics are acceptable for runs. Other scales are quite rare. Once this is mastered, use major and minor sixths, diminished and dominant sevenths. Use the minor sixth a fifth higher to handle dominant sevenths. For example, play Dm6 chord tones lines over a G7 chord (the effect is G9) study Django and Charlie Christian solos for specific instances. Dont over-use 8th notes. Dont over dot your swing (Louis, Lester and CC didnt.) Let the band shuffle, while you play legato and almost straight and free of heavy accents. Staccato can be used as a special effect. Beware fake swing. Dont use the blues scale, but incorporate blues notes (e.g. b3 - 3 on a major chord, b5 -5 and so on) in your lines as an ornament. Strong rhythms and simple melodies are best, with runs and other set pieces used for decoration and drama. Vibrato and bending is both big and clever. Bending is not on the notes you might expect from blues guitar - see Django for example. Make your playing vocal. Vocalness of sound, phrase construction, storytelling, strong rhythm and elements of showmanship are important to this style of music.

Technique All swing players use a plectrum, preferably one like a breeze block. Well used so called Gypsy picking, though the technique is the same as for Mandolin, and was employed by Eddie Lang among others, as well as Jim Hall and some of the older modern jazz players. This covers all picking whether single note or chordal. The aim is primarily volume and intensity of sound, with a trade off against flexibility. However, the technique can be made to work very fast. It is also great for your feel. If you are used to playing dazzling lines and runs with an alternate picking or legato technique on an electric, prepare to spend some time playing very simply! It does get easier luckily. Use a traditional pick grip. Plectrum is gripped by the thumb against the fist. Use a floating wrist technique - the right (picking) hand must not touch the guitar in any way. Pick strokes come from a rotating flick of the wrist, never an up/down movement. It can help to have the wrist bent at an angle of around 30 degrees to achieve this watch gypsy guitarists like Birelli Lagrene and Angelo Debarre to see how this is achieved. Freddie Green is also an exemplar of this technique for rhythm guitar. Rhythm guitar, use downstrokes for strumming even where you might play a hit on the off beat (for example a Charleston rhythm). A light upstroke can be used as an occasional skip note ornament or in traditional Gypsy Pompe feels where it occurs before the 1 and 3.

 Lead Guitar: every new string should be begun with a downstroke regardless of what your last stroke was. This makes descending arpeggios awkward at first. The downstroke must go through the string and come to rest on the next - this is called a rest stroke. This achieves two things - you know where your pick is exactly without needing to anchor your hand, and you can bring the full amount of power (including gravity) to bear on it, allowing maximum possible volume. On an ascending arpeggio, you will often find yourself doing this twice in a row, leading to something which akin to very brutal sweep picking (its not the same thing though) The upstroke is lighter, and you will fell at as kind of bounce. Dont try to make it is strong as the downstroke - this will happen naturally. Practice with all downstrokes till this technique is second nature. Watch your wrist angle and where the picking position is coming from. While legato runs are not stylistic (guitar strings were too heavy!), it is very common to use hammers and pull offs to decorate a chord tone - usually a turn based on the chromatic or scale notes below and above - for example a flurry on A B A G# A on an A minor chord is a classic Django move. Try all of this on electric. You might be surprised by the results! It helps get a Charlie Christian sound. Freddie Green crossed his legs and placed the guitar at 45 degrees or more to his body. This helps the back of the instrument resonate. Use a foot stool if you dont want to twist your spine. Use your left hand fingers to mute unwanted strings. Experiment with picking at different places on the string. As a general rule rhythm can be near the neck, with bridge strokes for accent. Acoustic lead guitar cuts through best when played near the bridge. Best of luck!