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Topic: My first jazz-guitar gig! |
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 4 Apr 2013 8:09 am |
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Last night I had my first-ever jazz guitar gig. It's part of a quartet (with bass, sax and drums). (The bassist is Forumite Matt Berg; hey, Matt, thanks for inviting me to join you on this gig!) Whenever I've sat in and jammed with other people, there was always either another guitarist or a pianist in the combo to comp while I solo, so it's really stretching me to cover the harmonic structure while I solo too.
Anyway, it was a fun gig! We had a nice little turnout and the audience seemed quite focused on the music and we played pretty well for our maiden voyage. I even got some nice compliments from the pro guitarist in the headlining band that followed us. A few things I learned from the experience:
1) I really need to internalize the changes to every one of these songs so I don't need to refer to a chart at all. Because I think I'm fine for awhile and take my eyes off the page and get into soloing, then I realize I'm not sure of a certain upcoming change and turn back to the chart -- but can't find the spot in time and the moment passes, sometimes with an unfortunate clam to mark the occasion. So I gotta get off the page as soon as possible.
2) A corollary: making lemonade out of lemons is a key skill in improvisation - and one I'm pretty good at, having had to do it every time I play steel! 
3) Some of the tunes I was least comfortable playing turned out to be the best ones of the whole set. Go figure...
4) Don't over-think it on the gig; you know what you know and cramming only works for math and chemistry tests (if even then). Everything I know resides in me someplace and the best way to have access to it all (or as much as possible) is (as they say in Philly) to fuggedaboutit and just blow.
I'm really looking forward to playing this gig every Wednesday evening and building on our good start. I've got some homework to do before next week!
Jim
p.s. If you're local to Philly, stop by some Wed. from 6:15pm to 8pm at the 7165 Lounge, 7165 Germantown Ave, in the Mt Airy section of town. You might want to email me first, though, to be sure the gig is on because there are a few Wednesdays when various folks aren't available.
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 4 Apr 2013 11:15 pm
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| Jim, congratulations! I don't get to play very many Jazz gigs but every time I do I have a great time. Its like finding the money on the ground. It'll be great for you to have a steady weekly gig, IMHO, nothin' builds your chops better than using what you've learned on a gig. Best of luck to you! |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2013 12:28 pm
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1) Would they let you play your steel, if you brought it? (too weird....?)
2) Can you "serve the song" better on guitar, already? (what does this say?)
3) Got Tele yet?  |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 5 Apr 2013 12:45 pm
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Thanks guys.
David, yes, I believe they'd let me bring my steel but I don't wanna. I really need the opportunity to grow as a guitarist right now and this is perfect for me. (Plus it's such a refreshing change to load into a gig with a guitar in one hand, an amp in the other, be set up in 3 minutes and be ready to play!)
I'll have to leave it to others to judge which way I serve the song better, on steel or guitar. (But we're lookin' at 40 years on one versus 4 on the other...)
No Tele yet, but as a matter of fact, just today I was reading a thread on another forum about the ideal characteristics of a "jazz-Tele". Got one you wanna sell?
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 5 Apr 2013 3:03 pm
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Jim,
I have a '52 RI Tele that plays and sounds great on Jazz gigs, but if the band has an Upright Bass player and I know they're not going to get real loud, I prefer an Archtop with flatwound strings on it. There's something about a Jazz Box with flatwound strings that inspires me to play that kind of music more than a Tele or any other solid body guitar. Of course there are some great Jazz guitarists using solid body guitars, but I love the sound of an Archtop in that setting. I bring the Tele to Jazz gigs if I think they might play some fusion or funk type stuff. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Richard Damron
From:
Gallatin, Tennessee, USA (deceased)
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Posted 5 Apr 2013 5:22 pm
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Jimbeaux -
I'm not trying to be a smartass, but you pointed yourself in the right direction in your (1) comment. If you REALLY know the tune, then you can leave the charts at home. Sounds like you're in for some woodsheddin' time!
Go gettum!
Richard |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 6 Apr 2013 7:04 am
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Sounds like a real fun gig, Jim. I'm with you about lovin' just bringing a guitar, amp, and knapsack for a gig-bag. I can carry everything I could possibly need in one trip from the car and it's light as a feather, even with a portable music stand and real books in the bag. I usually have to double on guitar for steel gigs, and that amount of equipment hauling is really a PITA.
Generally, if I'm playing with jazz guys, there's no way I'm gonna know everything they call, so if they're playing challenging stuff, having at least some head/chord charts is real useful. On the other hand, I sat in with a guy last night who, I believe, must know every pop, rock, and jazz standard ever written. You never, ever know what he's gonna call next, and he just segues from one tune to the next with no dead air space, so no way would charts help. Only if he hears someone not pick up the key immediately does he even call out a key. Just me and a Les Paul with flatwounds plugged directly into the PA, but it's always a learning experience with him.
If I get to Philly mid-week, I'll try to stop in.
BTW, I often use a '68 Esquire for this kind of stuff. It had already been routed for a neck humbucker, so I got an old pickguard routed for a mini-humbucker, and threw a late 60s Gibson mini-humbucker in there, using an old Firebird bezel to hold it in place (all this stuff I picked up at the Philly guitar show several years back). I tried an old full-size humbucker, I feel it's pretty unbalanced with the Tele lead pickup, but the mini-bucker is pretty much perfect. That bezel sort of makes it look like a Frankenstein, but it is great for any style of music - blues, jazz, country, rock and roll, R&B, funk, you name it. Nice to have in the arsenal. |
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Ron Page
From:
Penn Yan, NY USA
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Posted 8 Apr 2013 8:20 am Re: My first jazz-guitar gig!
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| Jim Cohen wrote: |
| ...4) Don't over-think it on the gig; you know what you know and cramming only works for math and chemistry tests ... |
Pro golfer Ben Hogan famously walk past a full driving range of fellow pros and exclaimed, "Fellas, if you didn't bring it with you, you're not going to find it here".
Same deal.
_________________
HagFan
Emmons Lashley LeGrande II |
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