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May 1, 2013 Wednesday
Tip of the day: Learn to identify the most common guitar chords by ear. Work with another guitarist to develop this skill. This will greatly improve your ability to play chord melody solos. Guitar classes Can teach you how to do this!!
May 2, 2013 Thursday
Happy Birthday, James Chirillo! [1953]
“Extremely refined technique is appropriate when you want to make
extremely difficult music feel good and sound simple.” [Tim Berens]
Tip of the day: A broken fingernail can often be successfully repaired with super glue.
May 3, 2013 Friday
Happy Birthday, Tony DeCaprio! [1950]
[DeCaprio is seen here with Jimmy Wyble.]
Tip of the day: Preparing a set list for your gig is generally a good idea. It’s better to have a list and depart from it than not to have one ay all.
May 4, 2013 Saturday
Tip of the day: Have fun when you play the guitar. Pick one up a just fool around on it for laughs. Just don’t confuse entertaining yourself with your regular practicing which should be focused and goal oriented.
May 5, 2013 Sunday
Happy Birthday, Cal Collins! [1933]
Tip of the day: Fake fingernails are used by guitarists in the event of a major nail breakage. They should be trimmed as closely as your normal nail would be.
May 6, 2013 Monday
Happy Birthday, Denny Wright! [1924]
Tip of the day: When adjusting your bridge height or truss rod, play chromatic scales up and down each string. If buzzing is audible the action is too low.
May 7, 2013 Tuesday
Happy Birthday, Reg Schwager! [1962]
Tip of the day: Archtop electric guitars predate solidbody guitars. The next development was the semi-solidbody which is essentially a solid body with f-holes.
May 8, 2013 Wednesday
Happy Birthday, Jack Bland! [1899]
Tip of the day: Many steps have been undertaken in an attempt to prevent feedback. Filling a guitar with styrofoam, rubber f-hole inserts and even blowing a balloon up inside the guitar have all been tried. The best way to prevent feedback is to turn the amplifier down.
May 9, 2013 Thursday
Happy Birthday, Anthony Wilson! [1968]
Happy Birthday, George Golla! [1935]
Tip of the day: Solidbody guitars are generally used for rock, country and blues styles. They are usually strung up with light gauge roundwound strings and feature a bright, twangy tone. They are only occasionally used for jazz.
May 10, 2013 Friday
Happy Birthday, Al Hendrickson! [1920]
Happy Birthday, Lorne Lofsky! [1954]
[Lofsky is seen here with Ed Bickert.]
Happy Birthday, Jimmy Ponder! [1946]
Happy Birthday, Hans Reichel! [1949]
Tip of the day: Listen to as much jazz as you can. Immerse yourself in it. Breathe it. Live it.
May 11, 2013 Saturday
Happy Birthday, Dick Garcia! [1931]
Tip of the day: Most guitars require adjustment twice a year due to changes in the weather. Adjust your truss rod judiciously and in small increments.
May 12, 2013 Sunday
Tip of the day: This one’s for you, Mom: My Old Flame, There is no Greater Love and Too Marvelous for Words strung together in a medley version. Happy Mother’s Day to the rest of you “Jazz Moms” out there too!
May 13, 2013 Monday
Happy Birthday, Jim Douglas! [1942]
Tip of the day: A carved top guitar generally sounds better acoustically than a plywood archtop. When the guitars are plugged in the differences are not as apparent.
May 14, 2013 Tuesday
Happy Birthday, Bruce Foreman!! [1956]
Tip of the day: The callous on Wes Montgomery’s thumb gave his sound a certain edge. From time to time the callous would fall off giving him a much softer attack. Listen to his recordings closely to note the change.
May 15, 2013 Wednesday
Happy Birthday, Oscar Castro-Neves! [1940]
Tip of the day: The city of Philadelphia has given us several great guitar players. They include Dennis Sandole, Jimmy Bruno and Pat Martino.
May 16, 2013 Thursday
Happy Birthday, Levon Ichkhanian! [1964]
Tip of the day: George Benson and John Pizzarelli are well known as singing jazz guitar players. Not as well known is the fact that Larry Coryell and Kenny Burrell have both recorded as vocalists.
May 17, 2013 Friday
Tip of the day: Most guitar nuts are made of bone or plastic. A nut may also be fashioned from brass. Hybrid nuts combine various materials each selected for it’s own characteristic tone.
May 18, 2013 Saturday
Happy Birthday, Dick McPartland! [1905]
[McPartland is seen here with his bandmates “The Wolverines”.]
Tip of the day: Deteriorated power tubes in your guitar amplifier can result in decreased output, poor clarity and distortion. Count on changing them every year or so.
May 19, 2013 Sunday
 
Tip of the day: John Pizzarelli is not to be confused with John Pezzinelli.
May 20, 2013 Monday
Happy Birthday, Sheryl Bailey!! [1966]
Happy Birthday, Adrian Ingram!! [1950]
Tip of the day: Fred Fried plays finger style on a custom built guitar with seven nylon strings. His chord melodies and trio work are unlike anyone else’s and are deserving of a much wider audience.
May 21, 2013 Tuesday
Happy Birthday, Marc Ribot!! [1954]
Happy Birthday, Avi Rothbard!!!
Tip of the day: It is impossible to ignore the contributions of African American jazz guitarists. From Charlie Christian,Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell to George Benson, Mark Whitfield and Russell Malone theirs is the story of of jazz itself told on six strings.
May 22, 2013 Wednesday
Happy Birthday, Elek Bacsik! [1926]
“The music [I’m] playing is very risk taking. I’m not a musician that can ....Do the same routine every night.” [Sonny Rollins]
Tip of the day: Develop an improvisational approach to practicing scales. In India this common practice is applied to their scalar system; raga.
May 23, 2013 Thursday
Happy Birthday, Fred Guy ! [1899]
Happy Birthday, Leslie Spann! [1932]
Happy Birthday, Charlie Hunter! [1967]
Tip of the day: Improvisation can and should be practiced. Record your own rhythm parts to various jazz standards the improvise to the playback.
May 24, 2013 Friday
Tip of the day: When making up a set list look for contrasting settings in tempo, style, key and dynamics. This will make the performance more interesting for the audience to listen to.
May 25, 2013 Saturday
Tip of the day: The tradition of “trading fours” continues to be popular in jazz and is never more interesting than when two guitarists square off. When George Benson would sit in with Dizzy Gillespie’s group and trade with Rodney Jones the sparks would really fly.
May 26, 2013 Sunday
Happy Birthday, Carl LeBlanc! [1955]
Tip of the day: The soloist must succeed in extemporaneously negotiating a set of chord changes in a way that is unique and new. The paradox of improvisation is to play a tune you know by heart in an unknown way.
May 27, 2013 Monday
Happy Birthday, Diz Disley! [1939]
Tip of the day: Dexter Gordon was a master of including “quotes” from other tunes into his solos. He was able to do this in a very spontaneous fashion that never sounded contrived.
May 28, 2013 Tuesday
Happy Birthday, Dave Barbour! [1912]
Tip of the day: Listen to recordings of your favorite guitarists over and over until you can sing along with the solos. The best music is best appreciated fully only after repeated listenings.
May 29, 2013 Wednesday
Happy Birthday, Thornel Schwartz! [1927]
[ Schartz is seen here with Jimmy Smith.]
Happy Birthday, Remo Palmieri!! [1923]
Tip of the day: The guitarists you admire most worked hard to gain the support of their audience. How can you afford to take it easy?
May 30, 2013 Thursday
Happy Birthday, Bobby Sherwood! [1911]
Tip of the day: At its highest-level jazz improvisation is an intuitive process of spontaneous creation. As if from thin air, new melodies are extemporaneously given wings.
May 31, 2013 Friday
Happy Birthday, Jimmy Shirley! [1913]
Happy Birthday, Gene Gifford! [1908]
Tip of the day: Q: How do you get the guitar player to turn down?
A: Put some music in front of him! The moral of the story: practice reading every day.
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