Jazz guitar
The tradition of jazz playing on guitar, centred on chord melody, comping and improvisation over standards.
Jazz guitar covers a wide range, from a hollow-body instrument played acoustically behind a horn section to a distorted electric sound in a fusion setting, but the skills are consistent: knowing chord voicings in every position, comping sensitively and improvising with chord tones and guide tones rather than shapes. Learning the repertoire means learning standards and the typical progressions that recur in them. A great deal of the technique is in the left hand and in knowing which note not to play.
Example: A guitarist accompanying a saxophone with sparse chordal figures, then taking a chorus of improvised single-line solo, is playing jazz guitar.
See also
Related
- PageComping
- PageVoicing
- PageChord melody
- PageAmericana
- PageBebop
- PageBluegrass
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley