Perhaps the easiest pick to use is a thin medium to large one that is easy to hold and with some “give” to prevent it from moving around when held.

Of course the problem with t gauge picks is that they give too much and cause a slight delay and slap-back.

The jazz pick, however, is rigid and although more difficult, especially for the beginner, to hold it produces a response that is immediate when playing fast jazz scales or lines when improvising.

Also, if you tend to lose plectrums I find that brightly coloured picks are harder to lose!

I once had a hundred printed with my name and telephone number on them and most of them were all lost within a few months – they were all black!

It ‘s easy to end up with a large pile of books and a row of DVD’s and not be any better at improvising than when you just had one book or DVD.

The truth is, there comes a point where a huge effort is required in order to break through that barrior – going from copying others to the point where your own music flows from your fingers, or more specifically from your head or inner ear and out through the guitar.

The problem is, the more choice you have, the more ways you have to achieve the freedom you search for, but the more difficult it becomes.

Choice can become the biggest obstacle along with an ever-growing knowledge where the balance becomes weighted too heavily on scale construction and not enough on just playing the notes in musical phrases.

Of course you need to listen to the players that you like and fill your head with the sounds that you eventually want to make – you won’t get anything out if you don’t put anything in.

So what is good advice?

Get a good balance between listening, learning and playing – put stuff in, learn how it works and start playing – play as much as you can!

I used to think there was a standard jazz guitar tone, especially in the 60′s and 70′s before so many different guitar makes became popular in the field of jazz and so many more new jazz guitarists came on the scene and created their own sound.

The fact is, there probably isn’t an ideal jazz tone that is the same for everybody, the true jazz tone is the tone that is in each individual’s head – his or her own personal “ideal jazz sound”.

That aside, it has been the case that the hollow body, “f-hole” guitar has been the most popular type of guitar in this style, giving a warmth and a depth of tone that holds the attention of the listener, rather like a voice.

Perhaps it is true to say that there are as many distinctive jazz sounds are there are voices, but the thing is, you find the sound and tone that you like and stick to it – it is your sound.

My old guitar teacher used to use tape-wound strings and if that wasn’t mellow enough, he used to turn the tone controls right down on his Gibson 175. He was so mellow his sound could only be heard by whales swimming in the ocean!

The combination of classic humbuckers combined with flatwound strings is what jazz tone was all about for me.

This site is in the format of a ‘static weblog’ so that each time I post new information, it will come to the top of the front page. This means that you can check back here frequently to see new updates to the information found here.

You can navigate through the site by using the menus on the sides of the page. Also don’t hesitate to follow the links you see in bold throughout each post to learn more about the product being spoken about.

I hope you find the information I provide valuable and helpful.

All the best,

The Jazz Guitarist

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