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.
Comments
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.
Flatwounds might go further, may be worth a try.
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.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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.
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.
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
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.
https://truefire.com/guitar-lessons/gear-tone-talk-jazz/c2581
Chromes or flat wounds will help too.
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: