A jazzy sound on a non-jazz guitar

MartinBush

Hi all

I have been dabbling on the very outskirts of jazz guitar. By that I mean putting together a few chord sequences and working towards writing a tune or song or two.

All my guitars are solid-body and I wondered what the results would be of putting flatwound strings on one of these or, more likely, something like a Squier Sonic Tele. I don't have the money to buy a jazz type guitar and don't envisage Joe Pass levels of demand for my playing.

My other guitars are a Squier Mustang and Jet Strat, and I fancy a tele-type, hence thinking of trying flats on one.

digitalkettle

Ted Greene on a tele: https://www.tedgreene.com/images/pdf/TedGreeneStringGauges.pdf

merlin

I used to have a friend who was a jazz guitarist in the more conventional style, standards etc. You know, more like elevator jazz than Sun Ra. 

He said way back in 1984 that jazz on a "good" telecaster was fine. 

Check out Julian Lage and while you're at it, don't hide behind conventialism. Play whatever sounds good to you, jazz, nor any other kind of music is defined by the instrument it is played on. And why would you define it in the first place? Jazz in its initial stages was outrageous, shocking, powerful, creative and most importantly, individual. 

ICBM

MartinBush said:

A jazzy sound on a non-jazz guitar

Neck pickup, tone control down a bit, play further away from the bridge, use a thick pick.

Flatwounds might go further, may be worth a try.

MartinBush said:

I don't have the money to buy a jazz type guitar and don't envisage Joe Pass levels of demand for my playing.

Joe Pass used a Jaguar for a while.

https://youtu.be/7bByNpAx150?si=SM6W6PkYiJlUYC5J

Both the Jazzmaster (the clue is in the name ) and the Jaguar were originally designed for jazz, even if very few players did use them for that.

The short scale of the Jag was chosen to make complex chords easier to play.

MartinBush

I love that Joe Pass clip @ICBM ;

The clips I have been watching are later ones with him playing more chord based stuff with his fingers. That's more my style (and by style I mean a general approximation), but it's interesting to see him playing something other than his signature style instrument.

Voxman

Jazz is such a wide-ranging genre isn't it!  I fiddle around with jazzy stuff from time to time myself.  This was with my 1969 hardtail Strat, neck pick-up, tone knob taken down a bit:

stonevibe

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1nlCdNu-59/

Fiddlesticks_

This might be helpful: https://youtu.be/PkA0sMHoiuw?si=M4on4XjRVyjnZmF8

Funkfingers

Bill Frisell, Redd Volkaert and others get a perfectly good Jazz sound out of a Fender Telecaster.

Flatwound strings will soften some of the high frequency content but the main thing about big strings is that they discourage sideways bending. Not much string bending in mid-Twentieth century Jazz guitar.

rossi

A2 or A3 in a tele or strat  neck will do it .I have a Van Zandt in my tele and it gives agreat sound but no idea what magnets are in it .A four way  switch helps to give more depth.I play a fair bit of jazzy bluesy stuff or did pre covid .

guitars4you

Many great players have favoured a Tele for jazz work - Julian Lage, Adrian Ingram, Jim campilongo,  Mike Stern, Jim hall at times, Tommy Tedesco, Jim Mullen

  Probably the best option with regards to a solid body guitar - As for flat wound or wire wound or even 1/2 wound, then a matter of taste

mudslide73

My 52ri Tele is supposedly ex Adrian Ingram but he's apparently been through hundreds of them as spares down the years.

guitars4you

mudslide73 said:

My 52ri Tele is supposedly ex Adrian Ingram but he's apparently been through hundreds of them as spares down the years.

I know Adrian enough to have more than a helpful chat with him - Not in that Christmas card buddy way - And yes he has owned more than enough guitars but I know he is a fan of those 52RI models 

MartinBush

I guess that answers my question.  A tele (albeit a Squier) will get me some of the way there. The rest will be down to what and how I play rather that what it's played on. 

I wish I'd done more learning when I was young rather than making as much noise as possible... I'd have hated anything jazz-related then though.

guitars4you

MartinBush said:

I guess that answers my question.  A tele (albeit a Squier) will get me some of the way there. The rest will be down to what and how I play rather that what it's played on. 

I wish I'd done more learning when I was young rather than making as much noise as possible... I'd have hated anything jazz-related then though.

The other issue is that you are already familiar with playing your existing guitars - A dedicated f-hole arch top guitars will be less familiar to you and in comparison to a solid body guitar they can be a 'bitch' to play - Certainly less forgiving - So for now stick to what you have, knowing that it is down to you and your technique for now

duotone

Truefire Jazz Gear & Tone Talk
https://truefire.com/guitar-lessons/gear-tone-talk-jazz/c2581

longjaw

Another vote from me for a really good Tele neck pick-up.

GoFish

Unfortunately for GAS, a tele can do just about anything.

TheMarlin

You need the Nr Barnyard pedal, one in the classifieds section. 

https://youtu.be/lCiI6_jug3M?feature=shared

Fishboy7

You can definitely get there with a good tele with 11s on. 

Chromes or flat wounds will help too.

Litterick

Cheap and easy:
Be like Grant Green. If you have an amp with a mid control, turn it up to eleven and turn the treble and bass to one.
Try Dunlop Jazz picks: I, II and III. The Red nylon pick is as flexible as a medium pick. The Black 'Stiffo'  has very little flex.
Pyramid flatwound strings are comparable to Thomastik Infeld strings but a lot cheaper. D'Addario Chromes are cheaper still and Rotosound Top Tapes the cheapest, but only available in 12-52.
Jens Larsen will tell you how to get jazz out of a Strat: