What is a Good Jazz Guitar?
You really enjoy those smooth driving rhythms and tasty solo riffs of the jazz guitar. The guitar is an incredibly diverse instrument that can serve as an accompaniment or solo role, and it produces a wide range of sounds. Good jazz guitarists have a completely unique sound, and trained ears can identify players by their signatures tone and technique. So what is a good jazz guitar?
The Arch Top
The arch-top guitar is a distinctive guitar that is a jazz classic. With its f-holes, it can often resemble a stringed instrument, like a violin. The f-holes and arched design are intended to allow for maximum sound production and resonance. Before the days of amplification, big bands of the swing era wanted their guitarists to have big sounds, hence the large body style that can be found in some jazz guitar models. Typically, arch-top guitars do not provide a great deal of sustain. They are designed to speak with a strong and forward voice, and that voice is not meant to last like the driving and distorted sounds that are commonly heard in rock guitars.
Remember that all arch-top guitars are not the same. Their tones can change with the method of construction and the type of wood used to make them – not to mention the fact that any hardware like machine heads, bridges, and pickups will also contribute to the sound. In general, however, the arch-top construction is preferable for a good jazz guitar. Some notable makers include Eastman, Hofner, and Gibson.
Solid Body Electrics
While the arch-top guitar represents the historical sound of jazz, it can also be played on a solid body electric as well. One of the most popular and affordable options for a good solid body jazz guitar is the Fender Telecaster. Professional musicians sometimes fit a humbucker in the neck of their instrument to produce a tone more characteristic of jazz. Other companies like Ibanez and Yamaha also make solid body guitars that are appropriate and popular in jazz music. If you are opting for a solid body, make sure to experiment with the sound of the instrument at a lower volume than you might for heavier music styles. One characteristic of jazz guitar is that it is generally played at a more controlled volume, and therefore the instrument needs to produce a clear, consistent, and resonant tone when it is played moderately.
Acoustics
Acoustic guitars can also have their place in jazz music. Jazz greats like Django Reinhardt and Charlie Byrd popularized the appearance of standard flat-top acoustic guitars in jazz. Again, look for something that produces a crisp, clear tone, and if you choose to amplify, you’ll want to make sure that the instrument does not produce a great deal of feedback or distortion. Ovation makes quite a few flat-top acoustics that perform well as good jazz guitars.
Spend some time listening to jazz recordings and make note of the characteristic guitar tones that you hear. Make sure you choose an instrument that produces a pure and clean tone, and you can’t go wrong.
By: David Smithe