Electric fingerstyle

Fingerstyle jazz guitar

The unaccompanied guitar in jazz is often played in chord-melody style, where the guitarist plays a series of chords with the melody line on top. Fingerstyle, plectrum, or hybrid picking are equally suited to this style.

True fingerstyle jazz guitar, without the use of a plectrum, dates back to occasional use by players like Eddie Lang (1902-1933) and Carl Kress (1907-1965), but the style did not really fully develop before the invention of the electric guitar. George van Eps (1913-1998) was revered for his polyphonic solo guitar playing. Ted Greene and Lenny Breau were other masters.

A prominent master of modern jazz guitar finger playing was Wes Montgomery (1925-1968). He was known for using the fleshy part of his thumb to provide the bass line while strumming chordal or melodic motives with his fingers. This style, while unorthodox, was widely regarded as an innovative method for enhancing the warm tone associated with jazz guitar. Certainly Wes Montgomery's influence extends to modern polyphonic jazz improvisational methods.

Today, fingerstyle jazz guitar has several proponents, from British player Martin Taylor to the pianistic Jeff Linsky, who freely improvises polyphonically while employing a classical guitar technique. Earl Klugh has also recorded several fingerstyle jazz projects on the solo guitar. Charlie Byrd played fingerstyle in a latin american style on the classical guitar.

There is no single technique of fingerstyle jazz, but players generally avoid the use of capos and altered tunings.