If you absolutely must: making electric guitar work for Swing Rhythm
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 3:14PM Electric guitars do not work for Swing Rhythm Guitar.
Let me say that again. Electric guitars DO NOT work for Swing Rhythm Guitar.
Amplified electric guitars have way too much sustain, plus they overamplify bass strings. What you end up with is mud, and not the crispness of an acoustic archtop. That inherent lack of sustain is part and parcel of getting properly short notes. Plus, the overemphasis on bass frequencies makes the possibility of playing too loud almost impossible to avoid.
But sometimes, even for a total rhythm guitar geek like me, you have no choice. Here is the best possible advice I can give for making the best of it.
Making Electric Guitar Work for Swing Rhythm
1. Roll down the volume knob
When playing acoustically, you would generally be hiting the strings fairly hard. Roll the volume knob down so that you can play as hard as you normally would, without being to loud for the band. Basically you want to avoid altering your right hand technique as much as possible, so change up the amount of signal going to the amp.
2. Consider rolling off some of the bass
Depending on the situation, you may not be able to do this but, rolling off some of the bass frequencies of the amp can be helpful. Electric guitars and amps over amplify bass frequencies - it's one of the things that makes electric guitars sound, well, "electric." Since you are trying to ape an acoustic sound as much as possible.
Generally, if I'm stuck playing rhythm on an electric guitar, it's because I'm playing mostly lead guitar all night. In that setting, I wouldn't want to compromise the lead tone, so I just make due.
3. Emphasize the D and G strings, and avoid the low E and A strings
I have in the past emphasized and urged the use of classic three-note Allan Reuss voicings. As I may have mentioned previously, there is something out there called the "one note theory" - which holds that after the Swing-era, Freddie Green leaned heavily on single-note and two-note voicings, on the D and G strings. These evolved from playing standard 3 note voices and leaving out the bass note.
I'm prefer to stick to three-note voicings normally, but switching to two-note voicings is a great workaround for the bass frequency problem.
UPDATE: Here's a simple example of how to change 3-note voicings to 2-note voicings just by leaving out the bass note:
Reader Comments (3)
The principal difference between acoustic and electric guitars is that the former possesses a very rich overtone spectrum that extends several kilohertz. This is true for single notes, but even more so when strummed. This wideband spectrum is what gives the characteristic crisp, dry CHUNK - CHUNK - CHUNK - CHUNK percussive sound that is so essential to genuine Swing music. On the other hand, the magnetic pickup on an electric guitar is not very sensitive to these higher frequencies. Moreover, even the best guitar speakers poop out at about 5 kHz. To capture the acoustic guitar sound, a good (flat spectral response up to 15 kHz, high dynamic range) microphone, or a piezoelectric pickup is essential. I say "flat" because if you have a quality guitar you don't want to add any spectral coloration.
Electric guitars live in the lower part of the sound spectrum. The paucity of high overtones is precisely what gives them that warm jazz tone. Acoustic and electric guitars are therefore really very different instruments, with different acoustic properties, and aimed at different musical styles. Trying to make one sound like the other is not esthetically advisable. Better make use of the musical characteristics of the instrument at hand, i.e., emphasize an available guitar's inherent qualities rather than trying to emulate some other type of guitar.
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