Sadly, these days, and for that matter, since Charlie Christian made the electric guitar so popular in jazz in the early 1940s, the acoustic, chordal style of guitar playing I like to call swing jazz guitar has become almost entirely an underground phenomenon. Sure, there have been swing rhythm players who continued to play in big bands, like the famous Freddie Green, but many of the other player's contributions have gone mostly unnoticed except by those intrigued enough to dig deeper. I'd like to unearth a few YouTube gems for you as well as talk more about the style I've come to love.
In swing jazz guitar, rhythm playing is really the most important thing. The main job of guitarists of the era was to provide solid rhythm accompaniment for the bands they were with, and only infrequently took solos. This type of rhythm guitar playing really requires an archtop guitar or Selmer style gypsy guitar with a heavy pick and attack to get the right sound. Feel is important too; I've heard many electric guitarists try to mimic acoustic rhythm playing, but its always just that, mimicking. For the first example, I'll give you a video of an unusual, modern small group that has Rod McDonald on rhythm guitar. Notice the percussive, driving quality the guitar brings to the group, as well as his chord solo:
A perennially popular form of swing music still exists to this day called gypsy jazz. This style was made famous in the mid 1930's by the European gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, a fantastic single note soloist whose groups usually consisted of three guitars, a bass, and a violin. Notice how different the gypsy rhythm feel is compared with Rod McDonald's more straight-ahead, classic American swing feel. Oh, and Django's wonderful solo:
This next example, "Kay's Fantasy," from a compilation of studio recordings made in the late 1940's by George Van Eps, is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the absolute finest examples of melody arrangement and improvisation in this style of jazz guitar playing. It's a recording that really showed me that the seemingly impossible truly can be possible, with enough work of course! I am always blown away by this set of recordings; they are the apex of Van Eps' work, in my opinion. One of the best features of these recordings is that we have a rare opportunity to hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by only drums and bass, without a piano or second guitar to get in the way:
Notice in the comments section, if you do end up on YouTube, the amount of people who can't understand that this is ONE guitarist playing with only a PICK. That's right, this is the "impossible" being made possible by one of the fathers of the style. You really have to be a guitar player to truly appreciate what is going on here. Van Eps basically turns the guitar into a piano, and does it well. I'd like to see any modern bebop jazz guitarist try to attempt something like this!
The basis of this style of improvisation and melody arranging is fairly simple: take triad and 7th chord forms and put the melody and/or solo on top. The key is knowing your chords inside and out, up, down, and across the neck, and in every inversion. It takes work, but getting started is quite easy. I hope to do a post and hopefully a video series later on where I can go more in-depth about the techniques and thought processes needed for playing this way.
As you can hear from the last example, this style of playing really makes it possible to do everything on your own. This became one of the major selling points for me back when I decided to commit to playing in the chordal swing style. It is just as effective for playing solo as it is for use in group playing where you are both laying down rhythm chords and taking solos. It is also great for singing accompaniment where you also want to do a guitar solo. A great aspect of the style for those who sing and play is that you don't have to give up the rhythm and harmony while you solo. Here's an example of Steve Jordan singing and playing:
I love this style of jazz guitar playing, and do my best to keep the tradition alive while also playing my music in an individual way. I hope the examples and explanation offer you a bit of insight into what all the excitement is about! I don't think you have to limit this way of approaching the guitar to just swing style jazz, either. Knowing a thing or two about chordal soloing could certainly benefit many guitarists who may be looking for an alternative to electronic gadgets to provide background accompaniment when they perform solo. It is possible to do it all on one guitar with only a pick! All it takes is some knowledge and practice!
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