Results 1 to 21 of 21

Thread: Jazz On Your Tele?

  1. #1
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Jazz On Your Tele?

    How many of you play jazz on your Tele. What sound do you like and get? What do you do to get your sound?
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  2. #2
    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Northern Virginia, USA
    Posts
    3,928

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I play everything on a Tele, just like I do with every other guitar. I'm pretty much a "clean" player, but I do dial back the treble on the amp a bit.

  3. #3
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Much of the same here as Old Strummer, I play most everything on my Tele, but with about 20% less treble in the amp's settings. On mine, the bridge pickup is loaded with icepicks. Only use the bridge for overdrive stuff. Has audio pots [hate those] so guitar volume max. Tone rolled off about 10%. All neck pickup. Amp, a 30w 1x10 Marshall SS dx series, in clean channel, bass 10, treble 7~8. Lots of lush reverb with a short decay. Gives me a thick healthy tone for jazzy stuff.
    Use the same thing above with a touch longer delay on reverb, played with fingers for classical.

    Hope that helps in your studying for tone...
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  4. #4
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Thanks.

    I'm more interested in clean tones, even without reverb. I don't expect anyone to find Wes Montgomery tones out of their Tele, but I like his clean approach.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  5. #5
    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Northern Virginia, USA
    Posts
    3,928

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Danny Gatton played jazz on a Tele. And played it darn well. Of course, he played EVERYTHING darn well, including chicken-pickin'.

  6. #6
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I firmly believe, and will continue to say so that your "tone" is in your fingers and not your gear.

    I'm playing the ultimate low budget Squire Tele with real low cost ceramic pickups and 9's and have great depth. True that's with the neck pickup, but my pick attack, light fretting, and gentle playing lend heaps of smooth to the sound. A .50 pick with a soft approach here would have made Joe Pass turn and smile. Just personal observation.
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  7. #7
    Forum Member Volumeknob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Swampneckistan
    Posts
    589

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    well said old Ranger
    The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
    T. Roosevelt

  8. #8
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I agree about it being in the fingers--with a little help from EQ and other important variables. I don't see it as an either or.

    I'm more interested in the range of jazz tones people go for. It's not unusual to see jazzers playing something other than a hollow or semi-hollow, but those are the usual. BTW, among my favorites are Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery--I'm not trying to get their sounds.

    Of course, I can get jazzy tones from my Les Paul.

    It just hit me that Walter Becker played a Tele on some of Steely Dan's jazzier pieces. He uses the Tele's top end to accentuate. Of course, he's no Larry Carlton.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  9. #9
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    New York Finger Lakes Area
    Posts
    8,462

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    With judicious use of the Telecaster's tone and volume controls, yes.
    OTOH, it you're of the everything on full and hit pedal for lead boost ilk, jazz on a Tele can be a bit challenging for the audience. Or most music played on a Telecaster for that matter. Or is it a class A style amp or another? Is there a vocalist? A little Telecaster can go a long way.

    It would also depend on the setting. If it's a trio you need to really aware of how much top end you're slapping the audience in the face with. With a horn section you can be lot more aggressive.

    Plus - "jazz" is a pretty broad category to begin with, so one guy might be thinking Wes Montgomery backed-off unison style while another Danny Gatton - two wildly different players and styles of music.

    All IMHO.

    Chuck
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  10. #10
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Thanks, Chuck. I agree with you 100%. While I'm not totally disinterested in this for my own playing, I was just looking for how players here get their tones fo whatever kind of jazz they play. Again, just curious.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  11. #11
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    This below, is merely an observation and not an invitation to a riot within our group. Just an alternative way of looking at things, and perhaps, a little food for thought. I'm not being argumentative in the very least...

    Jazz is a style or form of music. Tone is a word that is used to describe many aspects of guitarist these days. It is, however, not a style of music. Traditionally, fat bodied single pickup hollowbody and a tube amp were the thing. And it had to be since there wasn't anything else being made at the time. Simply by the equipment and instruments available in the time period was the "tone" set for jazz guitarists. If it were the solidbody multi-pickup guitars and solid state amps that emerged first, then traditional jazz players would have set "the tone" with Strats and Teles in a big Peavey SS amp.

    Remember, I was a student of human behavior for decades and an analyst of said behaviors in criminal activities. The same analysis in music is easily applied to see trends and patterns developed by musicians who go out and set the pace so to speak. The traditional C&W guitar was the Tele. Today, its a Les Paul or a PRS. And the twang has been replaced with overdrive.
    And I've seen Teles and Strats do quite well in shred metal, where tradition would call for a Jackson or similar with the thin neck, Floyd Rose, overwound HBs. Yet the standard solidbody does quite well.

    Just an observation gents...
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  12. #12
    Forum Member Volumeknob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Swampneckistan
    Posts
    589

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I have tried to get that tone -- even had a 52 Harmony Montclair for a bit -- with one of them jazz style pickups attached to the neck --

    best jazz tone i get is an Epiphone SOLID no weight relief Les Paul custom with a Wilkinson P90 style humbucker through a CLEAN channel of a Peavey Bandit 112 silverstripe
    The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
    T. Roosevelt

  13. #13
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    11,288

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I was very fortunate when I assembled my Tele- it does a lot of things very well. It's a fat yet twangy guitar that doesn't shred ear drums with piercing highs- though that might be part of how I use the guitar- my guitar's volume and tone controls are seldom all the way up. Unlike a lot of players, I love a covered neck pickup on a Tele. It's nice and warm and contrasts well with the bridge pickup. The last thing I want it to sound like is a Strat neck pickup.

  14. #14
    Forum Member Volumeknob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Swampneckistan
    Posts
    589

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I intended to play my tele tonight -- but the Seymor Duncan 1/4 pound "P" bass pups came in -- and well------ its been a BOOM STICK sorta night :)
    The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
    T. Roosevelt

  15. #15
    Forum Member NTBluesGuitar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    5,820

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    YES! ...one of my all time heroes is Bill Frisell. I saw his trio (everyone here minus the steel player) once before:



    I got my Squier CV 50s Tele for this very reason.
    "...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
    that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
    shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."

    -Edmund Burke

  16. #16
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Bill F is exactly the thing I wanted to hear and see. He really adapts jazz to the Tele rather than the other way around. Really interesting.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  17. #17
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Wish that aggravating slide player would shut the hell up! Bill Frisell however is amazing.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  18. #18
    TFF Stage Crew
    Moderator
    pc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    7,522

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    I'm no Bill Frisell, but for about a year I've been doing all our jazz sets with my Cali fat Tele. Love it.

    MP3 link:

    My trio doing Horace Silver's "Song For My Father" with a Tele

  19. #19
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    pc, Wow, man. That is some excellent stuff. And that Tele sounds incredible. I wouldn't have guessed that it was a Tele if you hadn't told us.

    I love the tune and the performances. Your playing is fantastic.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  20. #20
    TFF Stage Crew
    Moderator
    pc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    7,522

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Aw, thanks willie! That tune is from a three-song demo we did some years back, and was originally recorded "live" in a studio with me playing a Godin Montreal, with my amp in an iso-booth. At the time, I was trying to convince myself I could get away without using a hollow-body or semi-hollow, so I re-recorded the guitar track with a Tele. I was really pleased with the outcome!

  21. #21
    Forum Member NTBluesGuitar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    5,820

    Re: Jazz On Your Tele?

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    Wish that aggravating slide player would shut the hell up! Bill Frisell however is amazing.
    ...gotta wait until 4:35 in the video for that.

    I love the Americana sounds Frisell adds to what he plays - sometimes its subtle in how he harmonizes, sometimes it's in your face by adding a steel player.
    "...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
    that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
    shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."

    -Edmund Burke

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •