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Jazz guitarists are guitarists who play
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
using an approach to chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist ( rhythm guitar) and soloist in small and large ensembles and also as an unaccompanied solo instrument. Until the 1930s, jazz bands used banjo because the banjo's metallic twang was easier to hear than the acoustic guitar when competing with trumpets, trombones, and drums. The banjo could be heard more easily, too, on wax cylinders in the early days of audio recording. The invention of the archtop increased the guitar's volume, and in the hands of Eddie Lang guitar became a solo instrument for the first time. Following the lead of Lang, musicians dropped their banjos for guitars, and by the 1930s the banjo hardly existed as a jazz instrument. Amplification created possibilities for the guitar.
Charlie Christian Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained nat ...
was the first to explore these possibilities. Although his career was brief, it was influential enough for critics to divide the history of jazz guitar into pre- and post-Christian eras.


Early years: 1880s-1920s

In early days of jazz in New Orleans most bands had guitarists, but there are no recordings by Lorenzo Staulz, Rene Baptiste, Dominick Barocco, Joe Guiffre, Coochie Martin, and Brock Mumford.
Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an African American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later ca ...
, one of the earliest jazz musicians, played in a band in 1889 that was led by guitarist Charlie Galloway.
King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...
, another important early figure, belonged to a band in 1910 that was led by guitarist Louis Keppard, brother of
Freddie Keppard Freddie Keppard (sometimes rendered as Freddy Keppard; February 27, 1890 – July 15, 1933) was an American jazz cornetist who once held the title of "King" in the New Orleans jazz scene. This title was previously held by Buddy Bolden and suc ...
. Although jazz guitar existed during these years, banjo was a more popular instrument. The metallic twang of the banjo was easier to hear in a band than the acoustic guitar or piano, and it was easier to hear when recording on
wax cylinders Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylinder, cylind ...
. The first person to make solo recordings on guitar was
Nick Lucas Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese (August 22, 1897 – July 28, 1982), known professionally as Nick Lucas, was an American jazz guitarist and singer. Known as the Crooning Troubadour, he was the first jazz guitarist to record as a soloist. His p ...
, the dominant guitarist of the 1920s, when he released "Pickin' the Guitar" and "Teasin' the Frets" in 1922. He had experimented with wax cylinders ten years earlier. He became the first person to have a custom guitar named after him, the Gibson Nick Lucas Special. Nevertheless, his career was built on his reputation as a singer. He was popular on radio, Broadway, and in vaudeville. With his high-pitched voice, he sold eight million copies of his signature song, "
Tiptoe Through the Tulips "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", also known as "Tip Toe Through the Tulips with Me", is a popular song published in 1929. The song was written by Al Dubin (lyrics) and Joe Burke (music) and made popular by guitarist Nick Lucas. On February 5, 1968, ...
". Both the song and singing style were borrowed decades later by Tiny Tim.


Replacing the banjo

The role of the early jazz guitarists was to be part of the rhythm section.
Freddie Green Frederick William Green (March 31, 1911 – March 1, 1987) was an American swing jazz guitarist who played rhythm guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for almost fifty years. Early life and education Green was born in Charleston, South Car ...
played rhythm guitar for the
Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
Orchestra from the 1930s until Basie's death in the 1980s, contributing to the band's swing by inverting chords, also known as revoicing, on each beat. Like Green, Eddie Condon played rhythm guitar his whole career without taking a solo.
Allan Reuss Allan Reuss (June 15, 1915 – June 4, 1988) was an American jazz guitarist. Biography Reuss was born New York City, he began playing professionally as a banjoist at age 12. He learned guitar from George Van Eps. In the middle of the 1930s, ...
gave rhythm guitar a place in the big band of Benny Goodman. The first jazz guitarist to step from the rhythm section was Eddie Lang. Wanting to do more than strum chords for the band, Lang played single-string solos. He drew attention to himself while he was a member of the
Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
Orchestra and as a popular
studio musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...
. Like most guitarists of the time, he started on banjo, and when he switched to guitar, many others followed. His
Gibson L-5 The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1923 by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, under the direction of acoustical engineer and designer Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the pr ...
archtop became a popular model among jazz guitarists. By 1934, largely due to Lang, guitar replaced the banjo as a jazz instrument.
Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...
's flashy style stood out in the early days of rhythm guitarists. He was born in Belgium to a gypsy family. His
gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane G ...
was influenced by the
flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...
of Spanish gypsies and the violin of Hungarian gypsies. In the 1930s, he formed the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, consisting of three acoustic guitars, a violin, and a double bass. He toured the U.S. in 1946 with Duke Ellington. The gypsy jazz tradition has a small but loyal following that continued in the work of the Ferré family, the Schmitt family,
Angelo Debarre Angelo Debarre ( (born on August 19, 1962) is a French Romani gypsy jazz guitarist. Biography Debarre was born in Saint-Denis, Paris, and began playing at age eight. In 1984, he formed his first group, the Angelo Debarre Quintet. In 1985, t ...
,
Christian Escoudé Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist. He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father b ...
,
Fapy Lafertin Fapy Lafertin (born 20 November 1950) is a Belgian guitarist in the Belgian-Dutch gypsy jazz style. Lafertin was born in Kortrijk, Belgium in the Manouche Romani community and took up guitar at the age of five. After performing in a family band ...
,
Biréli Lagrène Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966) is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles. Biography Lagrène was born in ...
,
Jon Larsen Jon Larsen (born 7 January 1959) is a gypsy jazz guitarist, record producer, painter, and amateur scientific researcher. He is the founder of the group Hot Club de Norvège. In 2007 he received the Buddy Award for his lifelong contribution to ...
, Jimmy Rosenberg, and Stephane Wrembel.


Amplification

Playing an unamplified archtop guitar is feasible for rhythm guitar accompaniment in some small groups playing in small venues. However, playing single note guitar solos audibly without an amplifier is a challenge in larger ensembles and in larger halls.
Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...
's
Hot Club of France The Hot Club de France is a French organization of jazz fans dedicated to the promotion of "traditional" jazz, swing, and blues. It was founded in 1931 in Paris, France, by five students of the Lycée Carnot. In 1928, Jacques Bureaux, Hugues Panas ...
was a string quintet in which being heard over the other instruments was rarely a problem. Argentinian
Oscar Alemán Oscar Marcelo Alemán (20 February 1909 – 14 October 1980) was an Argentine jazz multi instrumentalist, guitarist, singer, and dancer. Career Alemán was born in Machagai, Chaco Province, in northern Argentina. He was the fourth child of seve ...
, who was in Paris at the same time as Reinhardt, tried to overcome the problem of audibility by using a
resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator guit ...
, as did
Eddie Durham Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie ...
, an arranger and trombonist with the
Jimmie Lunceford James Melvin Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era. Early life Lunceford was born on a farm in the Evergreen community, west of the Tombigbee River, near Fulton, Mi ...
orchestra who also played guitar. Durham experimented with amplification and became the first person to make audio recordings with electric guitar when he recorded with the Kansas City Five in the 1930s. He played a
Gibson ES-150 The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and Gibson designated it "150" because they priced it (in an in ...
arched-top which Gibson had started producing a couple years before. Durham persuaded
Floyd Smith Floyd Robert Donald Smith (born May 16, 1935, in Perth, Ontario) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach. Biography Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Ho ...
to buy an electric guitar, and while on tour he showed his amp to
Charlie Christian Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained nat ...
. Many musicians were inspired to pick up guitar after hearing Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman orchestra. Christian was the first person to explore the possibilities created by the electric guitar. He had large audiences when he played solos with
passing chord In music, a passing chord is a chord that connects, or passes between, the notes of two diatonic chords. "Any chord that moves between one diatonic chord and another one nearby may be loosely termed a passing chord. A diatonic passing chord ma ...
s. According to jazz critic
Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
, Christian played a single-note line alongside a trumpet and saxophone, moving the guitar away from its secondary role in the rhythm section. He tried diminished and augmented chords. His rhythm suggested
bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
. While in New York City, he spent many late hours at
Minton's Playhouse Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It is a registered trademark of Housing and Services, Inc. a New York City nonprofit provider ...
in Harlem, playing with musicians such as
Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
and Dizzy Gillespie.


Post-Christian era

Although Charlie Christian had a brief career, his impact was big enough that some critics divide the history of jazz guitar into pre-Christian and post-Christian eras. Mary Osborne saw Christian perform when he visited her home state of North Dakota in 1938. The performance inspired her to buy an electric guitar. Before Christian, George Barnes was experimenting with amplification in 1931. He claimed to be the first electric guitarist and the first to record with an electric guitar, on March 1, 1938, in sessions with blues guitarist
Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...
fifteen days before Eddie Durham recorded with the Kansas City Five.
Oscar Moore Oscar Frederic Moore (December 25, 1916 – October 8, 1981) was an American jazz guitarist with the Nat King Cole Trio. Career The son of a blacksmith, Moore was born in Austin, Texas, United States. The Moore family moved to Phoenix, Ariz ...
, Irving Ashby, and John Collins were the successive members of the
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
Trio who helped establish the jazz trio format. In the early 1940s, Al Casey contributed to the liveliness of the Fats Waller Trio, while
Tiny Grimes Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes (July 7, 1916 – March 4, 1989) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a rec ...
played electric four-string
tenor guitar The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of ...
with the
Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...
Trio.
Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...
established himself in the guitar-bass-drums format during the 1950s as did Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis with the Oscar Peterson Trio. Kessell continued the swing aspect of Christian's music into the 1950s. As the swing era turned to bebop, guitarists moved away from Charlie Christian's style. Two pioneers of bebop,
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
and Dizzy Gillespie, recorded with young guitarists
Bill DeArango William Louis DeArango (20 September 1920 – 26 December 2005) was an American jazz guitarist. Career DeArango was self-taught on guitar. While he attended Ohio State University, he played with Dixieland bands at night. After serving in the A ...
and
Remo Palmier Remo Paul Palmier (March 29, 1923 – February 2, 2002) was an American jazz guitarist. Career Palmier began his career as a musician during the 1940s, and collaborated with Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Teddy Wilson ...
and inspired
Chuck Wayne Chuck Wayne (February 27, 1923 – July 29, 1997) was an American jazz guitarist. He came to prominence in the 1940s, and was among the earliest jazz guitarists to play in the bebop style. Wayne was a member of Woody Herman's First Herd, the f ...
to change his approach. After playing in big bands with Woody Herman and Benny Goodman, Billy Bauer explored unconventional territory with
Lennie Tristano Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation. Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New Yo ...
and Lee Konitz playing dissonant chords, and trying to adapt the abstraction of Konitiz and
Warne Marsh Warne Marion Marsh (October 26, 1927 – December 18, 1987) was an American tenor saxophonist. Born in Los Angeles, his playing first came to prominence in the 1950s as a protégé of pianist Lennie Tristano and earned attention in the 1970s as ...
to the guitar. Although
Jimmy Raney James Elbert Raney (August 20, 1927 – May 10, 1995) was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio (replacing Tal Farlow) and ...
was influenced by Tristano, his harmonies were more subtle and logical.
Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great D ...
carried this love of harmony into a romantic, chordal style as in his hit ballad " Moonlight in Vermont".
Tal Farlow Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As Steve Rochinski notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in th ...
avoided the abstraction of Trisanto. Farlow blamed his ability to play quickly on the need to keep up with his bandleader,
Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...
.
Lenny Breau Leonard Harold Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984) was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used finger ...
performed using an ensemble improvisational playing, along with a more orchestral finger-style solo jazz guitar. He used many diverse elements of music, including closed voicings,
flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
-style guitar, use of varied rhythms, fingered harmonics,
modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...
harmony, an intimate knowledge of inversions and tritone substitutions, and a great understanding of bebop. Bossa nova became popular in the early 1960s in part because of the album '' Jazz Samba'' by Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd and the song "
The Girl from Ipanema "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Por ...
" by
Antonio Carlos Jobim Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ma ...
. Although bossa nova isn't synonymous with jazz, the intermingling of bossa nova with jazz was fruitful for both genres. Brazilian guitarists include
Antonio Carlos Jobim Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ma ...
,
Luiz Bonfá Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film ''Black Orpheus''. Biography Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in ...
,
Oscar Castro-Neves Oscar Castro-Neves (May 15, 1940 - September 27, 2013), was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova. Biography He was born in Rio de Janeiro as one of triplets and formed a band with his br ...
,
João Gilberto João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira – ; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he was of ...
,
Baden Powell de Aquino Baden Powell de Aquino (; 6 August 1937 – 26 September 2000), known professionally as Baden Powell, was a Brazilian guitarist. He combined classical techniques with popular harmony and swing. He performed in many styles, including bossa nova, ...
, and
Bola Sete Bola Sete (born Djalma de Andrade; July 16, 1923 – February 14, 1987) was a Brazilian guitarist who played jazz with Vince Guaraldi and Dizzy Gillespie. History Born Djama de Andrade in Rio de Janeiro, Sete was the only son of a family with ...
.


Fusion, technique, and invention

When rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix became popular in the 1960s, he created the persona of the guitar hero, the charismatic solo guitarist dazzling the audience. He created possibilities on guitar through the use of electronic effect units. Hendrix inspired many musicians to pick up electric guitar. One of them was Larry Coryell, who combined jazz and rock in the 1960s before the term jazz fusion was common. English guitarist
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...
followed Coryell and Hendrix, but he explored other styles, too, such as blues, electronic, folk,
free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
,
gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane G ...
, and
Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...
. McLaughlin recorded an album of acoustic jazz in the early 1980s with guitarists
Paco de Lucia Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fat ...
and Al Di Meola. English guitarist Allan Holdsworth played jazz rock in the 1980s that as inspired by John Coltrane. Lee Ritenour is among the most popular jazz fusion guitarists. He established his name in the 1970s as a busy studio musician who recorded with acts in many genres. The
hammer-on A hammer-on is a playing technique performed on a stringed instrument (especially on a fretted string instrument, such as a guitar) by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on to the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This ...
is a common technique in guitar, but in the 1980s
Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands. Music career Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...
was the first to extend the technique into his entire playing style. Jordan taps the fretboard with the fingertips of both hands, playing the neck of the guitar like a piano. Enver Izmaylov, a native of Uzbekistan, uses a similar two-handed technique to adapt his country's folk music to jazz. Others using tapping techniques to a lesser degree include
David Torn David M. Torn (born May 26, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining electronic and acoustic instruments and for his use of looping. Background Torn has contributed to recordings by artists as diverse ...
and
Tuck Andress Tuck may refer to: People * Tuck (surname), including a list of people * Tuck (nickname), a list of people * Tuck (footballer), Portuguese football player and coach João Carlos Novo de Araújo Gonçalves (born 1969) * Hillary Tuck (born 1978), ...
. Some fusion guitarists reacted against the excesses of their predecessors by playing in a more restrained style. These include Larry Carlton,
Steve Khan Steve Khan (born Steven Harris Cahn; April 28, 1947) is an American jazz guitarist. Career Steven Harris Cahn was born in Los Angeles. His father, lyricist Sammy Cahn, "loved to hear any and all versions of his songs". He took piano lessons as a ...
,
Terje Rypdal Terje Rypdal (born 23 August 1947) is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. He has been an important member in the Norwegian jazz community, and has also given show concerts with guitarists Ronni Le Tekrø and Mads Eriksen as "N3". Career Rypda ...
.
Mike Stern Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, ...
began his career with the band
Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
, then was a member of Miles Davis's band in the 1980s. Charlie Hunter invented the eight-string electric guitar, giving the impression of two guitarists simultaneously. He adapts to guitar the Hammond B3 organ grooves of Jimmy Smith (musician), Jimmy Smith and Larry Young (musician), Larry Young.


1960s-2010s

Influences from
free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
in the 1960s made its way to the guitar. Sonny Sharrock used dissonance, distortion effects units, and other electronic gear to create sonic "sheets of noise" that drove some listeners away when he performed at festivals. He refused to play chords, calling himself a horn player, which is where he got his inspiration. English guitarist Derek Bailey (guitarist), Derek Bailey established his reputation as part of the European free jazz scene. Like Sharrock, he sought liberation for its own sake and the breaking of all conventions in the name of originality. He belonged to the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the 1970s. Beginning in the 1990s, he formed duos with DJs, Chinese pipa musicians, and Pat Metheny.


See also

* List of jazz guitarists * Jazz guitar


References


External links


"Modern Jazz Guitar", ''All About Jazz''

"10 Most Underrated Guitarists", ''Jazz Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jazz Guitarist Jazz guitarists,