Jazz guitar

Jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or a guitar playing style in jazz, using electric amplification to increase the volume of acoustic guitars.

Quotes about jazz guitar

  • Prior to the advent of electrical amplification, the role of the guitar in jazz was strictly that of a chorded rhythm instrument, chugging along with the bass and drums and helping to propel whatever ensemble it was a part of. Soloing was pretty much out of the question because, without amplification, the guitar couldn't be heard over the horns. As soon as guitarists could plug into an amplifier, however, the electric guitar started making its presence felt as an improvisational voice in jazz.
    • Nick Morrison of NPR (January 15, 2013) [1]
  • Jazz music forces us guitarists to learn our fretboards. There is no getting around it. In all of its harmonic complexities and demands for virtuosity, we have no choice but to head on down the bumpy road to fretboard mastery.
    • Jazz educator Brent Vaartstra in the book Visual Improvisation for Jazz Guitar: Understand and Command the Fretboard. page 5. Hal-Leonard.
  • For guitar players who are studying jazz, taking the next step in jazz improvisation can mean incorporating the distinct language of the bebop style into one’s playing. Most players start out in jazz by matching scales to their parent chord (such as A Dorian or A Aeolian matched to an Am7 chord). But to really enter the authentic historic realm of jazz – and to learn that specific language – means studying the architects of bebop.
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