Jazz is one of the most well loved musical genres in history. It offers a sound that gets you to let your hair down and lay back in. The guitar is one of the favorite jazz instruments. And it plays a big role in the jazz industry as well. It is either used in ensemble playing or as a solo instrument.

The first guitars used in the genre were acoustic. Today, acoustic guitars are still used by jazz artists but the jazz guitar has been preferred since the 1940s. This guitar allows you to play it as an amplified electric guitar. The guitar is also known as the archtop guitar. It resembles a violin, only in a bigger version with the trademark f-holes. It also has a floating bridge and a magnet pick up.

You will also be able to notice that there are a variety of jazz techniques incorporated with the playing like comping and blowing. Comping means playing the chords underneath the melody of the song or an improvisation of another musician’s solo. Jazz guitar players may use scales, arpeggios, modes and other techniques associated with the chord progression of the song.

Harmony is one of the most important elements of the music. Jazz guitar players allow their knowledge of harmony to be used in order to create jazz chord voicings. These are commonly rootless and emphasize the use of the 3rd and 7th notes of a chord. It may make use of the 9th, 11th and even the 13th of the chords even.

Melody is another important element in jazz music. The knowledge of this helps the guitarist incorporate some scales and arpeggios in the music to create a more balanced melodic and rhythmic phrase to compose a really mean jazz solo. Jazz guitar players often incorporate their phrasing with the idea of natural breathing and legato phrasing. This creates a natural timefeel which in turn helps you ge a little swing and groove in to the music.

Improvisation is another thing in jazz. The timefeel, like getting ahead or behind the beat, along with some modes, scales and arpeggios associated with the chord progression of the song will help get a new feel on the song. Rather than rework the melody, jazz guitar players would rather improvise.

As mentioned earlier, jazz can be played as an ensemble or in a solo. Most of the time, jazz guitar is incorporated with other musical instruments to form a small ensemble. You might also get into mind something like a big band which was pretty popular during the 30s and 40s.

Most of the time, you will find jazz guitar players comping, short for accompanying, with other musical instruments in order to create a really smooth and groovy tune that can be quite easy to dance to.

You may also find some chord-melody and unaccompanied soloing being done by jazz guitar players. The guitar player zeroes in on playing the entire song – melody, harmony and bass – on his own much like a pianist or a classical guitar player. This is one of the most loved playing styles in jazz guitar.

Mentioned earlier was blowing. This is also known as single note soloing. This is a playing style that is best identified with cool jazz and bebop. They are now incorporated with other musical genres like rock that allows you to make use of electronic effects.