The Jump/Swing Blues Thread

AlexO

Yes to this thread! This is basically my Youtube. 
Big fan of Joel Patterson already.

I'll add a bit of TK Smith to the table. Makes the coolest guitars and is one hell of a player to boot.

guitars4you

billzabozo said:

Excellent thread @edenfield99 my first of many possible gear questions, strings.

I assume flatwounds? I currently have all my guitars strung with flats even my telecaster & love the sound and feel (it forces me to play in a certain way) but I do find I need quite bright amps to compensate.

I use the D'addario 1/2 wounds - just a bit more lively but obviously a matter of taste - Dare say flat wounds are ore authentic correct to that era

DB1

Yes, Joel Paterson was one that I meant to mention. Superb player - his test of a 1949 ES-175 made me want one and it's become a bit of an obsession. Thanks for that, Joel. 

edenfield99

Some good stuff here everyone!

I use flatwounds and roundwounds, it depends on the guitar. On my Ibanez 2635 I use flat 13s, on my Gretsch Country Gent I use 12s round and on my Gretsch Jet I use 12s flat. I swap out the wound third...at least I do at the moment but I might move up to the big boys and use a wound one.

With regards to flats I'm not sure they are period correct, there's an article by Jonathan Stout where he goes into this and flats didn't come round until later, epecially not until after the Charlie Christian period, they do sound good though. I'll look for a link later, I'm at work now.

PinstripePhil

If you want to get into this stuff then I would suggest you subscribe to Tommy Harkenrider’s fortnightly subscription lessons. They are cheap and easy to follow. Just amazing content he puts out there.

I have a one week tour arranged this time next year with Tommy. We are going to do a week of gigs around the south coast of the UK. Seven in total in the diary so far.
And, look at Nocturne pedals. Get yourself a JrBarnyard. With that and fat strings on any guitar you are there tone wise. 
As for players to look up, look no further than Junior Watson.

edenfield99

Cheers Phil...good advice. I already subscribe and I have the JrBY pedal. You’ll have to let me have the dates of those gigs and I’ll try to get down to one of them. 

billzabozo

Been "busy" at work trawling through all the youTube suggestions. Does anyone have a book recommendation for these styles? I always like to have at least one good reference book that I keep in my guitar case for when I need to kill sometime and do something productive with no access to decent internet link.

DB1

PinstripePhil said:

If you want to get into this stuff then I would suggest you subscribe to Tommy Harkenrider’s fortnightly subscription lessons. They are cheap and easy to follow. Just amazing content he puts out there.

I have a one week tour arranged this time next year with Tommy. We are going to do a week of gigs around the south coast of the UK. Seven in total in the diary so far.
And, look at Nocturne pedals. Get yourself a JrBarnyard. With that and fat strings on any guitar you are there tone wise. 
As for players to look up, look no further than Junior Watson.

Fantastic! Would you let me know the dates? I'm in the Midlands, but would get myself down there. I was in the Lake District last night, taking the ES-275 that I sold to a nice chap that came down from Glasgow to meet me. He told me that he'd played with Chris Corcoran recently. I was jealous, until I realised that I'd have shown myself up. Chris Corcoran's great. 

PinstripePhil

Yes will do.   
As for a book/resource, try any of the Charlie Christian sites such as:
http://www.music-open-source.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Charlie-Christian-Legend-of-the-Jaz-Guitar.pdf

edenfield99

billzabozo said:

Been "busy" at work trawling through all the youTube suggestions. Does anyone have a book recommendation for these styles? I always like to have at least one good reference book that I keep in my guitar case for when I need to kill sometime and do something productive with no access to decent internet link.

I’ve never found a really satisfactory book, there’s an online swing/jump blues with a pdf option that’s an ok start but other than that I’ve just picked up bits and pieces. Tommy’s online lessons really are the place to get the real stuff I think. If anyone knows of one please let us know. 

jpfamps

Junior Watson is one of the best players of this style out there at the moment.

It's also worth exploring the great Western Swing players like Junior Barnard, Eldon Shamblin, & Leon Rhodes.

Hank Garland was a great player too.

Your best bet is get Transcribe and start working out ideas you like from your favourite players.

NPP

thanks for a great thread!

danowens

I'm interested in the more Jazz side of things, and I love 'Swing and Big Band Guitar' by Charlton Johnson. It's basically a rapid distillation of the '643' voicings or what some call the Freddie Green style. I'm a Bolton-based double bassist, but I'm trying to get down Gypsy Jazz guitar and this book was a great introduction to simplifying complex jazz tunes.

edenfield99

A Bolton based double bassist...how interesting! I’m in Bury (well, Edenfield obviously). If you ever fancy getting together for a swing/jump blues style jam give me a shout!

i have that book and it is good for those Freddie green/jazzier styles. 

Jalapeno

Freddie Green comping chords are pretty similar to Gypsy Jazz ones.

Robin Nolan's website is pretty good, as are his songbooks

Matt_McG

A lot of modern gypsy players play very note-heavy voicings. 

e.g. 5 7 7 6 7 7   for an "A" (i.e. an A6add9)

The Horowitz "Gypsy Rhythm" book is very good, and insanely comprehensive. 

Seconding Charlton Johnston's book, which is very good.

danowens

I've not had a look at Gypsy Rhythm so thanks, Matt. 

billzabozo

Does anyone have any experience with the nocturne EL PESCADORO and the Jr Barnyard? Curious about the reverb on the Pescadoro but other than that are they the same pedal? If so how do people with experience find them, quite a bit of money to drop on something blindly (not that has ever stopped me in the past)

Trude

I searched Spotify for one of the artists mentioned above, and found this playlist.  Does this look like a good representation of the style?

https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX7nt6DdNdydo?si=7NvCcweaSnaY7lSmo2-mgA

edenfield99

That’s his new one isn’t it? Not sure it’s been out long enough for anyone to have one yet. There was still an advert up for the first 20 orders get a gift last time I looked. I believe it is the barnyard into a new reverb unit (possibly by the guy who worked on the delay unit). I considered buying one but I’ve bought myself a spring reverb tank instead.