L5Larry Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Yesterday I was going over some charts in preparation for Big Band rehearsal. Our "novelty" song for our next concert series is the theme song from the 1971 movie "Shaft". The band calls these "Larry's Picks", as I will bring in some off-the-wall popular song (or Rock & Roll song), that I have either written a full big band score for, or for which I've "modified" an existing published arrangement. Many of these type of songs just don't sound right on the L-5, and really require a solid body R&R guitar. One of my Strats seems to have become my go-to guitar for this, but yesterday I pulled out the 1975 Les Paul Standard (tobacco sunburst), just to give it some fresh air. Nothing but chunka chunka wah wah for me on this song and the LP sounded really good for this during my practice session. As I was packing up my gear for rehearsal, I decided (since it was ONLY rehearsal) I would take just the LP and play it on everything. This included songs from the likes of Count Basie, Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Ella Fitzgerald, etc, and the LP sounded (and played) F'ing fantastic on EVERYTHING! I had so much FUN playing the old Les Paul on that stuff, that I'm still talking about it 12 hours later. Now that got me thinking,..... since the Les Paul (guitar) was developed in collaboration with Les Paul (the man), wasn't it really designed to be a jazz guitar in the first place? Now I want to go set it up with some heavy gauge flatwounds. I think I might have a set of "Chromes" around here somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Well the man himself certainly played a lot of jazz on the model, so it can be said that it was indeed designed as a jazz players' guitar that's evolved to use in other music genres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 since the Les Paul (guitar) was developed in collaboration with Les Paul (the man), It wasn't really. wasn't it really designed to be a jazz guitar in the first place? Yes, it was, kind of, if you call that Jazz. To me it's not jazz but then I was brought to see only New Orleans jazz as true jazz. To me it was the pop of it's day. I'm the one with the minority opinion here so, yes, you're right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 You can play jazz on any guitar - jazz is in your fingers, not the piece of wood. And yes, Les Paul was a jazz guitarist. This contemporary idea that semi-hollow and hollow bodied archtops are "Jazz Boxes", Teles are for Country, Strats and LPs are for rock is something I don't understand. Marketing? Urban legend gone mainstream? I have no idea. I see no reason why you can't play Jazz on a Tele if you want. Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 All guitars have wrong notes. [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've got flat wounds on all of my electrics ranging from 10s to 12s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 The versatility of ANY decent guitar, is only limited by the mindset of the player, and not the genre of music. IMHO CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I was at a workshop a few years ago, there was a huge lounge that had two sections.. my team was sitting in a smaller part of the louge (kind of an L shaped room), eventually (around 7ish while most of us were getting on the way to being hammered) the house band fired up, I could hear but could not see them but I could tell it was gutiar/bass/drums... they were playing some great stuff (Wes, even to my surprise some Howard Roberts, who plays that stuff??) The guitar player the tone we've come to expect, after a while I peaked around the corner, He was playing a telecaster thin line plugged into what to me looked like a peavy bandit... many of us (I believe you included Larry) have said this before, "it's all in hands"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I was at a workshop a few years ago, there was a huge lounge that had two sections.. my team was sitting in a smaller part of the louge (kind of an L shaped room), eventually (around 7ish while most of us were getting on the way to being hammered) the house band fired up, I could hear but could not see them but I could tell it was gutiar/bass/drums... they were playing some great stuff (Wes, even to my surprise some Howard Roberts, who plays that stuff??) The guitar player the tone we've come to expect, after a while I peaked around the corner, He was playing a telecaster thin line plugged into what to me looked like a peavy bandit... many of us (I believe you included Larry) have said this before, "it's all in hands"... Convoluted as this may seem, that's why I liked the old DeArmond soundhole pickups. Wish I had one now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 There you go, Larry. I knew Les Paul's were versatile guitars. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Jazz with a twang. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1tNOLsMZiI If I've posted this here before, apologies. But, proof that jazz can be played on any guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Now that got me thinking,..... since the Les Paul (guitar) was developed in collaboration with Les Paul (the man), wasn't it really designed to be a jazz guitar in the first place? Yes, you just need to take everything off 11 and play with your tone and volume knobs :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've seen great jazz played on many a tele.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAndersson Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Did anyone say Jazz? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOWd8OJbE8A&spfreload=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I see no reason why you can't play Jazz on a Tele if you want. And the late and great "Chord Chemist" Ted Greene used just that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Frank Zappa said Jazz is not dead it just smells funny. How can you pigeon hole any guitar? Tele's aren't just for Country ES's aren't just for Jazz and Blues LP's and SG's aren't just For Rock Explorers and V's aren't just for Metal. Jazzmasters and Jag's aren't just for Surf Music true but... You wouldn't use an L5 for death metal. It would be like casting Meryl Streep in a zombie flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 true but... You wouldn't use an L5 for death metal. It would be like casting Meryl Streep in a zombie flick. Don't know anything about film/movie casting, but my favorite jazz guitar is the one from my avatar, my Government Series II Explorer. Her clean tones are incredibly jazz-box like. As expected, she's also great for any metal guitar style as long as there's no need for a whammy bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 You can play jazz on any guitar, but I think that misses the point. It isn't so much what is a jazz guitar, but what is a GOOD jazz guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 What is jazz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 What is jazz? It's a bit like jizz only less funky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 This thread is taking a Zen-like turn - very appropriate to the genre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 What is jazz? A series of wrong notes, played at the right time! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 All guitars have wrong notes. [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] rct lol. I've always called mistakes my "Jazz licks" . I've gone so far as repeating them, as if I played it the 1st time on purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 "There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places." - Miles Davis "It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong." - Miles Davis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 "There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places." - Miles Davis "It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong." - Miles Davis ahhh, thats where I went wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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