Gypsy jazz guitar is a genre based on the music of Django Reinhardt, a guitar player who overcame a severe disability to become a legend in jazz music. Most people have heard music by the Quintet du Hot Club de France or one of the gypsy jazz groups devoted to its style of music. Born in the 1930’s this group with Stephane Grapelli on violin, Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt and Roger Chaput on guitars and Louis Vola on bass, pioneered the concept of lead and rhythm guitar.
The group played popular jazz tunes of the time with Django and Grapelli alternating on the lead with the two other guitars playing rhythm and Vola playing walking bass figures. A drummer was never in the mix. They also wrote their own tunes, many of which have themselves become standards. Some of the group’s compositions include blue Drag, Minor Swing, Djangology, Django Rag, Django’s Blues, Django’s Tiger and Nuages.
The group’s violinist, Stephane Grapelli continued making music until his death in 1997 but the figure that has proved to be the inspiration of many gypsy jazz groups, Django Reinhardt only lived to be forty-three years old. Gypsy jazz has been behind the popularity of the Maccaferri and Selmer style guitars. The guitar that Django Reinhardt made famous was made by the Selmer company in Paris based on a revolutionary guitar design by Mario Maccaferri, one of the first generation of classical guitar players. Surprisingly, Maccaferri was never familiar with Django Reinhardt’s music.
As with all music associated with the tag “gypsy” the music is usually passed on directly from one musician to another. The Quintet Du Hot Club came out of an environment where playing music was simply a part of life. Each musician was both student and teacher. And there were not too many note readers among them. In fact Stephane Grapelli, a classically trained musician used breaks in the groups playing schedule to tutor Django in music. So every guitar player wanting to learn to play gypsy jazz is faced with learning the music of Django Reinhardt, as played by Django Reinhardt.
One element that made Django’s music unique was the fact that, due to an injury in a fire, Django played the guitar using only the first and second fingers of his left hand. This limited the range of notes available to him as he worked his way up and down the fretboard was severely limited. As a result of his injury, barre chords are not found in gypsy jazz guitar music. A close look at Django’s music will tell you he had little use for sevenths in his music.
If you want to listen to some contemporary gypsy jazz guitar, American groups devoted to the genre are Pearl Django and the John Jorgenson Quintet but Europe is still the place where there is most interest in this music, with groups like Hot Club of Hungary and Hot Club of France. If you want to learn to play gypsy jazz guitar, the ability to read tab would be a minimum requirement because there are many examples of Django’s music available as guitar tab.
By: Ricky Sharples
Jazz guitar is an instrument with a tone usually thought of as clean and warm. Traditionally, most jazz guitar players go with little effects and stick to basic guitar set ups. Although there is a charm to tradition and standards, this trend is now changing, and this is probably a good thing.
Jazz as a whole is not an incredibly popular genre of music. It has moved from the underground into the music conservatories and universities but it still remains a style supported by a relatively small group of die hard supporters. For this reason, any development that can add to the popularity of jazz should be seen as a good thing. More players and listeners will mean more support for the artists and more artists. Overdrive and distortion pedals in jazz guitar are a small step in the right direction for this exiting and special line of music.
What the use of overdrive and distortion pedals do for jazz is open it up to the huge amount of rock guitar players and lovers that live all around the world. If they hear a jazz guitarist playing a solo with overdrive they will be much more inclined to listen, it will give them an obvious point of familiarity. Along with this, the use of overdrive pedals usually make the guitarist play with more energy and in more of a rock style. All of this could help influence more rock minded listeners to give jazz a chance; All of their favorite guitarists use distortion pedals to play their lead lines, and the simple addition of overdrive distortion to jazz can make the two genres sound surprisingly similar.
The use of overdrive pedals in jazz is not a new idea; Grant Green played with a lot of guitar overdrive in the early days, but it has become more pronounced and widespread in the modern age of jazz guitar. Kurt Rosenwinkel is a player who has employed small amounts of guitar distortion and overdrive in his sound to give his lead lines just a little more power and edge, but he has also played with an all out distortion sound on several records and live appearances. Not only that, but other types of guitar effects are also being used. Delay and reverb have long had a place in jazz, but now you can hear some tremolo and other effects finding their way into jazz recordings.
In general, the more jazz becomes infused with other styles, the more exposure it will get by others, and this is better for everyone who likes jazz. What has started with the use of simple guitar effects such as overdrive pedals and distortion pedals will continue to grow into an expansion of jazz that should help everyone trying to make a living off of it or just enjoy it whenever.
By: Randal Stevens
Once you have purchased a guitar of your choice, next step is to buy a good amp for playing jazz guitar. ‘Amp’, the short for amplifier plays a very important role in deciding how your guitar finally sounds. It amplifies the sound of your jazz guitar and makes it sound great. The quality of amp is so important that it can make an ordinary guitar sound ultimately good, and vice-versa. Most of the musicians agree that a good guitar is no good without a good amplifier; this is the most necessary gear of your guitar kit.
There are basically four kinds of amps available in market. A suitable one for jazz guitar may not be the latest or the costliest one; you should look for the one which suits the sound of your guitar to perfection. Let’s have a brief know-how of all the four kinds:
1. Tube: These are the first amps that were introduced; they produce richer, warmer sounds. They use glass tubes; they produce louder sound than any other amp. But their upkeep is a bit costly, they are bulky too, thus you will have to be very careful while moving them around. Some makers of tube amps are Marshall, Mesa Boosie, Fender, they use Chinese tubes which come factory fitted.
2. Solid state: In these ones, transistors are used in place of tubes. This makes them very handy and better for heavy use. But for a good amp for playing jazz guitar, it has to be tuned finely because in this amp, sound may start sounding harsh and distorted at higher frequencies. Some players find solid state amps more reliable, some find that the sound does not retain its original quality.
3. Digital: These ones are quite trendy and they use digital technology for amplifying. Digital amps can imitate large range of sounds including distortions and the classic tube amp. The cheaper variety amps may sound synthetic. But to make your jazz guitar sound great, go for the more sophisticated digital amps. These amplifiers sound as good as tube amps, you can’t tell the difference.
4. Hybrid: These amplifiers combine the tube and solid state amp technology. The tone comes from tube amp technology and the power behind the amps comes from solid-state technology. If you want a tube-like sounding amp without spending as much, then you can go for it. Sound is not that great but its reliable, handy and ok quality.
What Is The Best Choice For You?
All jazz players have different opinions and choices when it comes to the choice of amplifiers for their guitars. Since jazz guitars are traditionally acoustic sounding, many prefer the tube-type amps. Many players like Mike Stern use solid state and it sounds good too. So there is no rule in choosing certain types of amps.
The kind of sound you want, the amount of travel your amp will have to do with you, the degree of usage and the kind of money you want to spend on it…all these factors matter when you are choosing an amplifier. Always remember that the sound produced by the guitar is as good as it is actually played. Thus, before buying an amplifier, take your guitar along and try out on different amps. Buy the one which suits your budget and your playing style in best manner. The related equipments like speakers and pick-ups also play a major role in sound quality along with a suitable amp for playing jazz guitar.
By: Logan Young