Thank you Andy... I have played Spanish, classical and fold guitars for a long time. But I have been a lover of Jazz as well, for a long time.. I do now own a guitar where I can start to learn to play some Jazz. Your explanation about how to achieve the sound you may want, is the best I've heard so far. Thanks again for your honest, informative and great guidance on things to look out for in trying to achieve the sound one may want. Cheers.
As far as plectrums go, I was reading a biography of T-Bone Walker and the author mentioned the fact that many early jazz and blues players used felt picks. I picked up a pack of felt ukulele picks, about 3 mm, and they provide an amazing mellow tone. I switch back and forth between those and jazz picks, but keep coming back to the felt.
man, i’ve always wanted a pick made out of hardened leather, but all i ever find is just soft leather, like uke picks. if just seems like hard leather, like you’d find on a horse saddle or armor pieces would make such great material for a pick, but no one makes this. basically, any musicians who are into leather working… get on this! otherwise i love weird picks: leather picks, metal picks, wood picks, etc. wood picks have a really nice sound, but unless they’re thick, they don’t last long (and even then… they still wear away) and they’re pricey as far as picks go, about the same as leather picks. and you can really only find them online, so no testing before buying. still, a hardened leather pick would be great.
I was using flatwound for my jazz until my wife bought me a MD200 Mitchell strat. I put 9's on it and love the jazz sound all together better. I do use my fi gers though. So I'm re-thinking my setup completely.
@@jazzguitarwithandy they are a Guitar Center brand that I had never heard of. Shocked how comfortable it is to play. If you put all I love about my tele, les paul, and super strat, that is what this guitar is to me.
Wonderful video - I think a lot of young guitarists are overtaxing their brains about this stuff and not concentrating on the music making part….. Jazz guitar kids are always dialing everything very “woofy” and the masters didn’t do that at all.
I've been trying a number of different picks. I seem to be gravitating toward to the Dunlop Jazz III in the XL size. I've got a few of the red ones, a few of the black stiffos, and a few of the utex type. To my ear, the red ones produce a somewhat softer sound. One of my guitars is a parallel braced 16 inch L5 style which is inherently very projecting and bright (currently with round-wound pure nickel strings). On that one I've been using the black stiffos on the more rounded end. To my ear it produces a richer and warmer sound. When I'm playing a guitar with a pickup, I tend to use the more pointed end. The differences in tone between the red, black, and ultex is pretty subtle to my ear but may be worth experimenting with. And I agree these picks are very easy to hold on to. That, and they are relatively inexpensive.
That’s funny you say a 16inch L5. I met. Someone the other day with one of those. I’ve since tried the Dunlop Primetones and really enjoying them also.
Lots of youtube vids say use thin pick to strum and fat pick for lead. Jazz guitar requires both chords and lines. Do you compromise or persevere with thick picks. (there are many jazz speed players but most playing seems to be at a medium pace).
I have found that whenever guitar tone can't be explained with variations in equipment, it is attributed to the fingers. Eric Johnson had a noticeable difference in clean tone when he downsized his Twin Reverbs to Deluxe Reverbs in 1994. Same fingers, different tone.
For picks, I use standard heavy celluloid (Fender, e.g.). Lighter picks just feel flimsy to me, and I don't get any flexibility from anything much heavier. I use the same picks for everything I play: acoustic folk, rock, jazz... (except pedal steel; that's thumb picks and metal finger picks, but that's a different beast) For strings, I use 10s on solid body electrics, and 12s on acoustic (phosphor bronze) or arch top (nickel wound, wound g). For EQ, I generally set the amp tone to more or less flat, and use the guitar's tone controls to shape. And try to remember that at my age, high frequency hearing is not what it used to be.
I use a slightly thinner Dunlop at 1.14. I play les Paul’s, with d addarrio flats. And the amp is a 5e3 deluxe. Someday I’ll get a 175 or 165 Gibson but for now I have a pile of les Paul’s with different pickups( yes a pile, lol) warm, mellow, but still has definition and a little slight break if I dig in hard.
Thank you for sharing. Just a few thought here. Music is not about the "tone'. If your music sucks tone wouldn't fix it. And if your music is delightful nobody cares about the tone. You have to precisely declare what you mean. If you're talking about _correct_ sound extraction - this is very important. No "bzzz", controllable muting, no muffled sounds etc. If you're talking about THIS - this is important ! But if you're talking about timbre or "voice", hummbuckers/amps/pedals - nobody cares. I didn't mean it's wrong and you don't have to take care of it. But it's insignificant. It's like talking about colors of racing cars. Who cares ? Also take a look on drawings. You don't care how "clean" and "straight" the lines are in drafts/drawings. You'll find very 'noisy" and perfectly "clean" drawings delightful whatever the style is. You don't have to practice perfect academic hatching to be a great artist. Most of the artists don't. Take a look how little details are there on oil paintings in close view. The most of beauty is made in your BRAIN. Artist makes you just a little _guide_ of what meant to be there. In the music it works the same. You might roughly sketch your music and the ears/brain would obey. The clearer - the better but perfectly clean tone is just like photorealistic painting in drawing. It seems overloaded and mostly boring. It's not about art. It's about "doing things" on OCD level. Record yourself. Check with friends. Don't like it ? Fix it. Is everything fine ? Leave it. Just play more. :) Don't let tedious practice to kill your inspiration whatever it costs.
Thanks for the comment. Music is about many, many things. Tone is one of them for me. Of course, having good musical ideas is more important, but I wouldn't call tone insignificant. Part of learning your instrument is learning how to shape your tone. Good musical ideas played with a horrible tone just won't hit the mark. Personally, I feel having the ability to control the quality of the sound you produce will greatly add to how you can play musical ideas with expression. Knowing how we can manipulate the tone of our instrument in the moment is essential to do play with feel. I think basic things like fretting hand technique, the right strings for your needs and learning to deal with what acoustics you are playing in are just one aspect of musicianship that helps us play music. Sorry if the video comes across as random. Wasn't my intention, I plan out my videos, but I was ill with the virus when I filmed these!
@@jazzguitarwithandy totally agree that thinking about the way you fret the notes and pick the strings is very important.Good tone is never accidental every player who has lots of it have put a lot of thought and practice into getting it.
Hi Andy. Nice conversation. My tips for getting a great classic jazz tone: First of all, you need an archtop. Nothing else will do. Your pick is very important. I like a nice, fat, faux tortoise shell pick from JB Guitar Picks in Brooklyn, NY. The model I prefer is a 2.0 MM 351 RB (round bevel). If you’ve never tried faux tortoise shell, you don’t know what you are missing. This big thick pick might slow you down a little bit at first, but the sound is so very nice. Butter. It will quickly become the only thing that feels right between your fingers. For me, D’addario nickel round wound in a 13 gauge sound and feel the best. Any lighter than 13 and the highs are too spanky on my 1953 Gibson ES-175. My instrument has only 1 pickup. I always prefer to simplify, so when I realized that I never use a bridge pickup or a dual pickup setting anyway, purchasing my single P90 pickup vintage archtop was a no-brainer for me. When I look at pictures of my idols playing archtops with dual pickups (Jim Hall, Joe Pass etc) the little selector knob is ALWAYS pointing up, meaning they are just using the neck pickup. I’ve never seen an exception to this. On my instrument, dialing the volume knob up to a healthy level (somewhere above about 7) is imperative. After that, the tone knob goes down to about 4, maybe even 2 or 3 if I’m playing solo. Amp-wise, a solid state amp that gives me the cleanest, most transparent sound is all that I need.
I used to love tomastik flatwound 13s. ,but my fingers are better off using round wound elixir 10s these days. I can play and practice longer and don't have to change strings too often. On acoustic guitar I use 11s. I use the large triangle fender heavy picks mostly, but I like to change it up with others.... especially since I lose them so often 🙄
@@jazzguitarwithandy- That Pedal Show has an excellent episode with Jocelyn Gould on this very subject. And for an archtop, clean, old school “Wes Montgomery” styled wanna-be, it’s an absolute dead ringer. I think I now watch it once a month, same with this video of yours. I’m still trying to get past the newbie guitar-player ham-hock handling and let my guitars sing for me. ❤
For picks I use bluechip 60 (about 1.5 mm thick)... expensive but 1 pick will last for years and the literally glide on the strings and stick to your fingers.
I would describe my optimal tone as thick and buttery. Warm and full but not muddy. As for picks, I only use V-picks made in Nashville. They're usually in the 3-4mm thickness and all acrylic type material. That's produces a full, warm, mellow tone. Their B# model is amazing. As for strings, I prefer round core, pure nickels, usually from DR or GHS. 10-46 on the solid bodies. 11 or 12 for semi or hollow bodies.
@@jazzguitarwithandy Vinni is a great guy. Honest, fair and committed to helping his customers. I'm a true believer. Ran across his website 4 years ago. Take a peek. You might be surprised.
Many jazz guitarists use a slanted pick technique either a "leading edge" pick slant as you do in the video or a "trailing edge" pick slant like the George Benson technique. I find the different pick slants give a different tone. The "trailing edge" pick slant has a broad, bright tone with more definition and a reduction of the pick attack.
I tried many picks...even Chickenpicks...Hawks...but Blue Chip Jazz LG 60 rules them all! Great tone with clarity, no string noise and very very durable. Expensive, but well worth it!! Cheers!
Warm, but clear. Not muffled. I also like just a bit of breakup when I dig in.
Sounds good
Thank you Andy... I have played Spanish, classical and fold guitars for a long time. But I have been a lover of Jazz as well, for a long time.. I do now own a guitar where I can start to learn to play some Jazz.
Your explanation about how to achieve the sound you may want, is the best I've heard so far. Thanks again for your honest, informative and great guidance on things to look out for in trying to achieve the sound one may want. Cheers.
Thanks Julian. Glad you found the video helpful.
As far as plectrums go, I was reading a biography of T-Bone Walker and the author mentioned the fact that many early jazz and blues players used felt picks. I picked up a pack of felt ukulele picks, about 3 mm, and they provide an amazing mellow tone. I switch back and forth between those and jazz picks, but keep coming back to the felt.
That's really interesting to learn. I must try one of these!
@@jazzguitarwithandy they take some getting used to, but I like them.
@@mikea75201 I have just ordered some felt picks to try out.Thanks
@@cheatlewilsonyoutube I hope you enjoy them. I eventually went back to a 2mm Dunlop tortex, but still grab a felt pick every now and then.
man, i’ve always wanted a pick made out of hardened leather, but all i ever find is just soft leather, like uke picks. if just seems like hard leather, like you’d find on a horse saddle or armor pieces would make such great material for a pick, but no one makes this.
basically, any musicians who are into leather working… get on this!
otherwise i love weird picks: leather picks, metal picks, wood picks, etc. wood picks have a really nice sound, but unless they’re thick, they don’t last long (and even then… they still wear away) and they’re pricey as far as picks go, about the same as leather picks. and you can really only find them online, so no testing before buying.
still, a hardened leather pick would be great.
Clean, warm, rounded, buttery, mellow
I was using flatwound for my jazz until my wife bought me a MD200 Mitchell strat. I put 9's on it and love the jazz sound all together better. I do use my fi gers though. So I'm re-thinking my setup completely.
Not heard of Mitchells before, where are they based?
@@jazzguitarwithandy they are a Guitar Center brand that I had never heard of. Shocked how comfortable it is to play. If you put all I love about my tele, les paul, and super strat, that is what this guitar is to me.
Great video ! Thank you!
Thanks 🙏
Wonderful video - I think a lot of young guitarists are overtaxing their brains about this stuff and not concentrating on the music making part….. Jazz guitar kids are always dialing everything very “woofy” and the masters didn’t do that at all.
I agree, just plug in and play once you're are comfortable with your guitar.
I've been trying a number of different picks. I seem to be gravitating toward to the Dunlop Jazz III in the XL size. I've got a few of the red ones, a few of the black stiffos, and a few of the utex type. To my ear, the red ones produce a somewhat softer sound. One of my guitars is a parallel braced 16 inch L5 style which is inherently very projecting and bright (currently with round-wound pure nickel strings). On that one I've been using the black stiffos on the more rounded end. To my ear it produces a richer and warmer sound. When I'm playing a guitar with a pickup, I tend to use the more pointed end. The differences in tone between the red, black, and ultex is pretty subtle to my ear but may be worth experimenting with. And I agree these picks are very easy to hold on to. That, and they are relatively inexpensive.
That’s funny you say a 16inch L5. I met. Someone the other day with one of those.
I’ve since tried the Dunlop Primetones and really enjoying them also.
For iconic jazz tone I go towards Wes Montgomery and Pat martino
I love the tone of Wes. I find Pat's quite dark, but then it does give him a unique sound. His playing is obviously off the scale!
Very informative and well done video :) Fantastic stuff and thanks for sharing all those details and subtleties!
My pleasure!
I’ve been really into using fingers over picks the past year. Gives a really dark tone
I agree, great for a dark tone.
Very attractive topic! Always great content!
Glad you think so!
Lots of youtube vids say use thin pick to strum and fat pick for lead. Jazz guitar requires both chords and lines. Do you compromise or persevere with thick picks. (there are many jazz speed players but most playing seems to be at a medium pace).
I use the dunlop jazz iii for everything. Like you say, it's good to have a fat sound for both lead and rhythm. I'm not really a shredder!
I have found that whenever guitar tone can't be explained with variations in equipment, it is attributed to the fingers. Eric Johnson had a noticeable difference in clean tone when he downsized his Twin Reverbs to Deluxe Reverbs in 1994. Same fingers, different tone.
For picks, I use standard heavy celluloid (Fender, e.g.). Lighter picks just feel flimsy to me, and I don't get any flexibility from anything much heavier. I use the same picks for everything I play: acoustic folk, rock, jazz... (except pedal steel; that's thumb picks and metal finger picks, but that's a different beast)
For strings, I use 10s on solid body electrics, and 12s on acoustic (phosphor bronze) or arch top (nickel wound, wound g).
For EQ, I generally set the amp tone to more or less flat, and use the guitar's tone controls to shape. And try to remember that at my age, high frequency hearing is not what it used to be.
I'm the same with picks, just use one.
I use a slightly thinner Dunlop at 1.14. I play les Paul’s, with d addarrio flats. And the amp is a 5e3 deluxe. Someday I’ll get a 175 or 165 Gibson but for now I have a pile of les Paul’s with different pickups( yes a pile, lol) warm, mellow, but still has definition and a little slight break if I dig in hard.
Nice, I've not tired an LP for jazz, can imagine it works well. I'm just trying out the Dunlop prime tone picks. Impressed so far.
Thank you for sharing. Just a few thought here. Music is not about the "tone'. If your music sucks tone wouldn't fix it. And if your music is delightful nobody cares about the tone. You have to precisely declare what you mean. If you're talking about _correct_ sound extraction - this is very important. No "bzzz", controllable muting, no muffled sounds etc. If you're talking about THIS - this is important ! But if you're talking about timbre or "voice", hummbuckers/amps/pedals - nobody cares. I didn't mean it's wrong and you don't have to take care of it. But it's insignificant. It's like talking about colors of racing cars. Who cares ? Also take a look on drawings. You don't care how "clean" and "straight" the lines are in drafts/drawings. You'll find very 'noisy" and perfectly "clean" drawings delightful whatever the style is. You don't have to practice perfect academic hatching to be a great artist. Most of the artists don't. Take a look how little details are there on oil paintings in close view. The most of beauty is made in your BRAIN. Artist makes you just a little _guide_ of what meant to be there. In the music it works the same. You might roughly sketch your music and the ears/brain would obey. The clearer - the better but perfectly clean tone is just like photorealistic painting in drawing. It seems overloaded and mostly boring. It's not about art. It's about "doing things" on OCD level. Record yourself. Check with friends. Don't like it ? Fix it. Is everything fine ? Leave it. Just play more. :) Don't let tedious practice to kill your inspiration whatever it costs.
Thanks for the comment. Music is about many, many things. Tone is one of them for me. Of course, having good musical ideas is more important, but I wouldn't call tone insignificant. Part of learning your instrument is learning how to shape your tone. Good musical ideas played with a horrible tone just won't hit the mark.
Personally, I feel having the ability to control the quality of the sound you produce will greatly add to how you can play musical ideas with expression. Knowing how we can manipulate the tone of our instrument in the moment is essential to do play with feel. I think basic things like fretting hand technique, the right strings for your needs and learning to deal with what acoustics you are playing in are just one aspect of musicianship that helps us play music. Sorry if the video comes across as random. Wasn't my intention, I plan out my videos, but I was ill with the virus when I filmed these!
@@jazzguitarwithandy totally agree that thinking about the way you fret the notes and pick the strings is very important.Good tone is never accidental every player who has lots of it have put a lot of thought and practice into getting it.
Hi Andy. Nice conversation.
My tips for getting a great classic jazz tone:
First of all, you need an archtop. Nothing else will do.
Your pick is very important. I like a nice, fat, faux tortoise shell pick from JB Guitar Picks in Brooklyn, NY. The model I prefer is a 2.0 MM 351 RB (round bevel). If you’ve never tried faux tortoise shell, you don’t know what you are missing. This big thick pick might slow you down a little bit at first, but the sound is so very nice. Butter. It will quickly become the only thing that feels right between your fingers.
For me, D’addario nickel round wound in a 13 gauge sound and feel the best. Any lighter than 13 and the highs are too spanky on my 1953 Gibson ES-175.
My instrument has only 1 pickup. I always prefer to simplify, so when I realized that I never use a bridge pickup or a dual pickup setting anyway, purchasing my single P90 pickup vintage archtop was a no-brainer for me. When I look at pictures of my idols playing archtops with dual pickups (Jim Hall, Joe Pass etc) the little selector knob is ALWAYS pointing up, meaning they are just using the neck pickup. I’ve never seen an exception to this.
On my instrument, dialing the volume knob up to a healthy level (somewhere above about 7) is imperative. After that, the tone knob goes down to about 4, maybe even 2 or 3 if I’m playing solo.
Amp-wise, a solid state amp that gives me the cleanest, most transparent sound is all that I need.
I used to love tomastik flatwound 13s. ,but my fingers are better off using round wound elixir 10s these days. I can play and practice longer and don't have to change strings too often. On acoustic guitar I use 11s. I use the large triangle fender heavy picks mostly, but I like to change it up with others.... especially since I lose them so often 🙄
I think the number 1 thjng with strings is comfort! It shouldn’t feel like a workout
Not too dull on the bass strings, not too bright on the trebles.
Sounds good!
I’d say warm, clean, and creamy. Like a perfect cup of cappuccino ☕️ it’s clean ingredients, with a bit of smooth creaminess within the warmth
That's a good description!
@@jazzguitarwithandy- That Pedal Show has an excellent episode with Jocelyn Gould on this very subject. And for an archtop, clean, old school “Wes Montgomery” styled wanna-be, it’s an absolute dead ringer. I think I now watch it once a month, same with this video of yours. I’m still trying to get past the newbie guitar-player ham-hock handling and let my guitars sing for me. ❤
Joe Pass and wes montgomery are peak jazz tone.
For sure!
i like a copper metal pick
Interesting, I've never tried one.
For picks I use bluechip 60 (about 1.5 mm thick)... expensive but 1 pick will last for years and the literally glide on the strings and stick to your fingers.
I’m wondering if anyone has tried half-round strings? I need to order new strings and was curious about trying them.
Warm, plummy
Does anyone use fingers only. I come from a classical background...ta
Plenty of people do and it's particularly useful for chord melody arrangements.
I would describe my optimal tone as thick and buttery. Warm and full but not muddy. As for picks, I only use V-picks made in Nashville. They're usually in the 3-4mm thickness and all acrylic type material. That's produces a full, warm, mellow tone. Their B# model is amazing. As for strings, I prefer round core, pure nickels, usually from DR or GHS. 10-46 on the solid bodies. 11 or 12 for semi or hollow bodies.
I've not heard of those picks Don, might have to give them a try.
@@jazzguitarwithandy Vinni is a great guy. Honest, fair and committed to helping his customers. I'm a true believer. Ran across his website 4 years ago. Take a peek. You might be surprised.
@@jazzguitarwithandy Mention my name. Can't hurt. Vinni's a great guy and his picks are the best, to me anyway.
Nice
Thanks
Many jazz guitarists use a slanted pick technique either a "leading edge" pick slant as you do in the video or a "trailing edge" pick slant like the George Benson technique. I find the different pick slants give a different tone. The "trailing edge" pick slant has a broad, bright tone with more definition and a reduction of the pick attack.
I tried many picks...even Chickenpicks...Hawks...but Blue Chip Jazz LG 60 rules them all! Great tone with clarity, no string noise and very very durable. Expensive, but well worth it!! Cheers!
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check them out!
Edit: man they are expensive!
I use the elixir light gauge strings. Is that ok?
I think there's a lot of attention on the need for heavy strings to play jazz. If you like the tone and feel of them, then they are fine :)
DanTDM
Gravity Picks
I hear they are great. Must try them one day.
@@jazzguitarwithandy not as bright as the red jazz 3 I use them too but very quiet buttery sound and stiffer
plummy
That's a good word to describe it!
tip #4 get yourself a few thousand dollars gibson jazzbox😂
Or a relatively inexpensive Telecaster.
Hell yes 👏 They are just getting even more expensive these days too.
I'm with you on this. That would be the best budget option.