Check out Joe Pass. check out his intro here. Imagine this was a set of vibes. Doesn't translate totally to our instrument. I grew up playing classical guitar and still think the vibes are more like a guitar than a piano. IMHO
I've contemplated this quite a bit over the years. My brother is a classical guitar player, son is learning to play guitar and living here in Indy we like to listen to a little Wes Montgomery now and then. (Buddy too!) We also get frequent visits from Bobby Broom which is definitely good for the soul.
Some of the points I ponder;
Most of the strings are a fourth apart and for us Burton grippers that's a very comfortable interval. Fourth's and fifth's, within one hand, also move around on the vibe well. If we're going to move thirds, it's easier to move them between the hands than within. This, I think, leads to some similar voicings.
They may have six strings but they usually only play three or four notes per chord. Talking to one of the good guitarists around here about voicings he said, "how about just 3 & 7?" and laid out Autumn Leaves that way. Sound familiar?
They have to deal with note lengths and dampening. A lot of cats have their gear set-up to create some significant note length. Easily as long as vibes will ring.
For most of us anyway, we can play a line and fill some comp back and forth and in some situations we can play a "chordal" type of solo but, really trying to take a left hand comps, right hand plays melody approach ain't really a practical adventure. There are some that can but often, even they, are really masters at going back and forth with the left hand to create that illusion. Guitarists have a little more flexibility here (and a lot more range) but they're closer to our world than Keith Jarrett's.
Good guitarists and good vibists are both capable of comping just as well (or better) than a lot of pianists but are seldom called for those gigs!
Hi, just wanted to add my two cents worth. My big role model for comping was guitarist Jim Hall. Like you, I realized that guitarists mostly make chords of 3-4 notes on the top four strings, and the types of voicings and frequency of chord attacks that are natural on guitar seemed to work very well for me on vibes. On the other hand, I don't think the mental process of playing guitar is at all similar to playing keyboard, and after 50 years of standing next to a string of guitar players on the bandstand, I still can't figure out what goes through their minds when they play. Just imagine an instrument where instead of one middle C, there are as many as six different ways to finger it depending where you are coming from or going to with a melody line! (But millions of average types manage to bang out some music on the thing, so it clearly isn't rocket science.)
Comments
An awesome point!
brumc Thu, 01/31/2013 - 21:18
I've contemplated this quite a bit over the years. My brother is a classical guitar player, son is learning to play guitar and living here in Indy we like to listen to a little Wes Montgomery now and then. (Buddy too!) We also get frequent visits from Bobby Broom which is definitely good for the soul.
Some of the points I ponder;
Most of the strings are a fourth apart and for us Burton grippers that's a very comfortable interval. Fourth's and fifth's, within one hand, also move around on the vibe well. If we're going to move thirds, it's easier to move them between the hands than within. This, I think, leads to some similar voicings.
They may have six strings but they usually only play three or four notes per chord. Talking to one of the good guitarists around here about voicings he said, "how about just 3 & 7?" and laid out Autumn Leaves that way. Sound familiar?
They have to deal with note lengths and dampening. A lot of cats have their gear set-up to create some significant note length. Easily as long as vibes will ring.
For most of us anyway, we can play a line and fill some comp back and forth and in some situations we can play a "chordal" type of solo but, really trying to take a left hand comps, right hand plays melody approach ain't really a practical adventure. There are some that can but often, even they, are really masters at going back and forth with the left hand to create that illusion. Guitarists have a little more flexibility here (and a lot more range) but they're closer to our world than Keith Jarrett's.
Good guitarists and good vibists are both capable of comping just as well (or better) than a lot of pianists but are seldom called for those gigs!
I totally agree
Gary Burton Tue, 08/27/2013 - 08:38
In reply to An awesome point! by brumc
Hi, just wanted to add my two cents worth. My big role model for comping was guitarist Jim Hall. Like you, I realized that guitarists mostly make chords of 3-4 notes on the top four strings, and the types of voicings and frequency of chord attacks that are natural on guitar seemed to work very well for me on vibes. On the other hand, I don't think the mental process of playing guitar is at all similar to playing keyboard, and after 50 years of standing next to a string of guitar players on the bandstand, I still can't figure out what goes through their minds when they play. Just imagine an instrument where instead of one middle C, there are as many as six different ways to finger it depending where you are coming from or going to with a melody line! (But millions of average types manage to bang out some music on the thing, so it clearly isn't rocket science.)