I guess this might be a hot take on the topic of limp in Jazz, but this is a really worldwide question, and that was sort of surprising to me considering I never really thought well-nigh it like that but I will try to explain that later.
I get a lot of comments well-nigh this ranging from “why is there no bending” or the increasingly frustrated ones that are “Bending isn’t allowed” and of undertow my favorite which is to vituperation it on me. which is unchangingly fun.
But why isn’t limp a part of Jazz Guitar? And actually, I think there are quite a few reasons for this.
Is Limp Overrated?
Maybe sometimes string limp gets a bit overrated? The main reason you would ask why Jazz doesn’t use string limp is usually that you come from playing genres where that is a worldwide part of phrasing and playing. That would probably be Blues, Archetype Rock, and Metal? In those genres limp has scrutinizingly wilt synonymous with demonstrating good taste, emotion, and not over-playing in a solo. Usually, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd is the typical hero of this way of playing scrutinizingly to the point of it scrutinizingly rhadamanthine a joke.
Some of the comments I get on YouTube will explain to me that “bending is the BEST phrasing” and that is used to oppose that Jazz is lacking emotion or expression, but maybe it is worthwhile to point out that there are a lot of genres of guitar music where limp is not a standard part of the phrasing. Unless you moreover want to write off Flamenco, Bluegrass, and Classical music as lacking emotion as well.
It is not that Jazz fans are really any better, you can hands find examples of Jazz used in the same way to dismiss chord progressions that don’t have extensions as wearisome which obviously is just as silly.
But, while you are learning Jazz then there is a reason why I often tell people to stave to play in a way that makes it a lot less constructive to play boomer bends as a way of phrasing.
There Are Jazz Players That Use Bending
Of course, there are Jazz Guitarists that DO use bends, let’s start with a modern example and then add some of the increasingly archetype guys!
John Scofield was one of the first Jazz guitarists I listened to a lot, and in many ways, he is moreover one of the people to use limp in phrases that are not just Blues phrases. You can hear it in this example where he is using quite a few bends in the theme of the Gershwin verse “Someone To Watch Over Me”.
Scofield unchangingly had this a part of his sound. It is certainly a part of his style, but you can unquestionably find examples of most Jazz players using bends, it is just not as big a part of their vocabulary and not something that happens every other phrase.
As I mentioned older then you most wontedly hear this in Blues phrases, like this example with Barney Kessel – BARNEY EXAMPLE or here with Kenny Burrell – BARNEY EXAMPLE
Both are soloing on a Blues and using blues vocabulary which of undertow is a part of Jazz.
So it is in there and it unchangingly was, but it is not something you use all the time. I think there are 3 possible reasons why limp is not so worldwide in Jazz.
#1 Jazz Melodies Are Different!
You want to alimony in mind that string limp is primarily used in blues phrases, and it is not a technique you would use for the Bebop lines, let me show you what I mean:
In the Blues, bends are used increasingly on sustained notes or when notes are repeated.
But Bebop vocabulary is not well-nigh long notes or repeated notes so the effect of limp is not as powerful. The point is that you want to unmistakably hear that gradual move in pitch. Flipside thing is that for Jazz lines, connecting and locking in with the groove is increasingly important where Blues melodies often will bladder increasingly freely on top of a very well-spoken groove.
Example of floating Blues Lick?
Try to listen to this short phrase where you can hear that the melody uses increasingly notes, has increasingly direction and tension, and is a lot lighter with a increasingly syncopated rhythm.
It is a completely variegated type of melody, and playing syncopated rhythms increasingly freely floating just ways that you lose what is nice well-nigh them stuff syncopated.
I don’t know if I need to mention this, but the difference between Jazz and Blues is not really well-nigh one stuff largest than the other, this is just that they are variegated and what makes Jazz Jazz and Blues Blues.
It Is Limp Too Slow For Bebop?
If you were to try to add bends to an 8th note line then it is fairly well-spoken that limp is not a very efficient way to produce a note compared to legato, slides, and the other techniques used in a phrase, and for Bebop then speed and efficiency is certainly a factor.
Maybe you can see that from the opening phrase of Donna Lee. You could segregate to play the trill in the whence of the melody with a bend:
But it is a lot of uneaten motion for the left hand so it is not very efficient to get to work in a Bebop line compared to a normal legato trill.
Another thing that is moreover worth mentioning is the guitars and I am sure they were certainly moreover a factor.
#2 The Guitars and Pickups
Evolution of sound: Acoustic, Jazz Guitar Amp – Solidbody with effects – Guitar into Laptop
If you think of how Jazz guitar sits in the history and minutiae of Jazz then it was mainly used from Bebop and on, and the instruments that were used at that point were archtop guitars with fairly heavy strings and some sort of early single whorl pickup like a p90 or a Charlie Christian pickup.
This type of guitar sounds unconfined but, similar to an sensory guitar, does not have a lot of sustain, which then fights a bit versus a technique like limp that works largest if the note keeps ringing and doesn’t fade out surpassing you have hit the pitch you want.
I think you can moreover sort of hear this in how T-bone walker, who moreover played a hollow soul guitar, often repeats notes when limp scrutinizingly like he tries to find a way to recoup for that.
Again, it makes sense to compare Jazz to Bluegrass where the sensory guitars have a similar sound without a lot of sustain. In Bluegrass, the soloing style is moreover relying on increasingly dumbo and zippy melodies weaving through the changes and not long notes with vibrato. The gear really does often shape the style of music, by now modern styles of guitar music really incorporates recording and studio effects as much as real gear like amps and effects to shape the sound. In a way, it is an incubation from sensory to subtracting increasingly and increasingly ways to shape the vital sound.
There was flipside thing that we don’t talk well-nigh that much, but it most likely moreover played a fairly big role besides the guitar though.
#3 You Dont Want Feedback
You might be thinking that plane with a single whorl pickup you can get increasingly sustain, which is certainly true for a tele or a les paul with p90s where you can turn up the amp to get increasingly pinch and therefore moreover increasingly sustain, but If you have overly played a hollow soul with a p90 like this one, then you moreover know how much trouble you can get with feedback which can get completely out of control. In the 40s and 50s when the vital Jazz guitar style was evolved then most amps just had a volume knob and some sort of simple EQ. This limits how loud you can go with an instrument like that and if you want to play the amp so loud that it starts compressing and gives you increasingly sustain then you are most likely going to be at a volume where you are spending increasingly time rying to mute the strings and keeping the guitar in a direction yonder from the amp so it doesnt go crazy with feedback.
I am curious well-nigh which reason you think was increasingly important, maybe it is something I didnt mention at all? You can let me know in the comments.
It Is Not Jazz, It is You!
A completely variegated reason for why it feels like bends are not unliable in Jazz has nothing to do with Jazz, considering it could moreover be that you show up to a Jazz Jam session and want to play the blues licks you have in your fingers over the standards, which I imagine will not go lanugo too well.
Before I start explaining why the way I teach Jazz sort of leads yonder from string limp there is something else that is maybe moreover worth understanding, expressly if you were one of the people asking the question.
Does AC/DC Need Synthbass?
The first few times that I had students or people on the internet asking me well-nigh this then I was pretty surprised by the question, simply considering it wasn’t something I had overly thought about. I guess that moreover has to do with how you tideway the music.
When I got into Jazz then the main thing that crush it all was that I liked the music that I heard, and I was very curious well-nigh how to sound like that. That moreover ways that I was not really concerned with what they didn’t do, only in figuring out what they were doing so that I could do that as well. If there was no tapping, bending, or delays then that didn’t matter. What interested me was how to sound like the music I heard. I expressly remember this from hearing El Hombre, Pat Martino’s debut album.
The reason I mention this is considering I suspect you will get that reaction increasingly often, and it feels a bit like asking why there is no synth in AC/DC or BB king tapping licks. The music is fine as it is, and we can’t go when in time and transpiration it.
Beginning Jazz Phrasing
When it comes to Jazz phrasing, and expressly Bebop phrasing, then the fact that the vocabulary is well-nigh rhythm and syncopation moreover ways that you start by letting people play shorter notes. That is moreover what you hear if you go when to the phrasing of swing which is the origin of Bebop.
Pat Martino playing the Benny Goodman piece, Seven come eleven is moreover an example of this. Phrases end are ending on an off-beat and the last note is short to make it well-spoken that it is syncopated. Often when you come from expressly Blues then it is less important to stop the notes and you let every note in the melody ring out. When you start playing Jazz then you need to learn to take tenancy of the length of the note and really segregate when to play long notes. Limp is just not that constructive if you play a lot of fast short notes.
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