THE USE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR IN JAZZ
Is it considered classic or jazz?
What makes it classic or what makes it jazz?
LOOKING BACK...
I grew up learning classical guitar (nylon string guitar) for classical music. This beautiful instrument is when the first time guitar was formalised, it's a Spanish instrument. I love the warm sound of the nylon strings of it compared to the steel stringed guitars generally (though there are some steel stringed guitars I love too).
Nevertheless my favourite music is jazz and I learned out that classical guitar is also a wonderful instrument for playing Jazz. Latin Jazz in general, and also particularly Brazilian Jazz music, they use classical guitar a lot as their iconic instrumentation.
Many legendary jazz guitarists were/are actually "classical guitarists" (the term here means they use classical guitar), such as : Luiz Bonfa, Charlie Byrds, Earl Klugh and many other awesome guitarists.
Luiz Bonfa
Charlie Byrds
Earl Klugh
MY JOURNEY LEARNING CLASSICAL & JAZZ GUITAR
Classical
When I learn classical I learn so much about techniques, it's practically fingerstyle technique that enables the guitarist to play the melody, chords and bass line simultaneously as the guitarist plays classical pieces which usually arranged for solo pieces. It's like playing an orchestra in just by a guitar.
The focus here is more of playing accuracy towards what is written and how we interpret the piece as close as possible to the intention of the composer, that includes focusing on dynamic, tone color and other factors. Usually the consistency of tempo's not in my mind as I could play the phrases loosely according to my interpretation.
The technical requirements of classical piece ranging from pretty easy until very difficult that demand high dexterity of the players.
The piece for performance is usually prearranged as it's a technically demanding piece. Performer takes long hours to practice and prepare his/her materials.
Jazz
In the other hand when I learn Jazz I learn about being creative, taking authority over the freedom I have and use it wisely to express my artistic musical idea. Freedom of exploration is the key here.
The training includes understanding music theory (jazz theory), ear training, listening to other jazz musicians, practicing the groove/rhythm and starting to play with others, learning how to improvise, and many things along this line.
The technique is not necessarily to be fingerstyle, in fact jazz guitarists generally use pick/plectrum to play.
The instrumentation is not necessarily to be solo playing, in fact jazz guitarist generally play in the band/ensemble. In this case I learn to pay attention on tempo and groove together with the band members.
By nature jazz welcomes all instruments as long as the musicians could express their language in jazzy context - it's all about freedom of expression.
The long hours training is needed for the musician to keep on pushing their boundary and to enrich their musical language.
Jazz performance could be very spontaneous though sometimes is rehearsed/prearranged to make sure the musicians follow through the format well.
COMBINING TWO TRADITIONS
As what have been displayed by many jazz guitarists on classical guitars I decided on exploring the possibilities of using classical guitar to play jazz, and I'm sure, like any other discipline to master, it's gonna be a long-life journey.
In this combination I try to use fingerstyle technique on my playing, use some jazz knowledge to reharmonize some songs, play different groove other than the typical groove in a song, play electric guitar as solo instrument, play classical guitar in the band, and many other possibilities.
I remember the classical piece I learned, I think it's one of the iconic piece of learning a classical guitar - Perhaps you could associate with this piece too. I tried to jazz it up in this video :
Some works on classical guitar that I played in a band :
Morning Dew (Original) - Taken from "My Childhood Recollection" album : https://www.dpurnomoconcept.com/mychildhoodrecollection - Also available on major online medias (iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, etc)
Some accompaniment works on classical guitar :
Some solo works on classical guitar :
Amazing Grace (Blues) - Taken from "Aloha from Singapore" album : https://www.dpurnomoconcept.com/aloha-from-singapore - Also available on major online medias (iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, etc)
With this blog I hope to socialise the use of classical guitar beyond classical music and make this beautiful guitar as popular as steel stringed guitar.
Perhaps the other way around will be interesting possibility to explore, have you thought of using steel string guitar for classical music?
Bridging the gap between poles and called it fusion? Hmmm...just a thought.
Daniel Purnomo
#onlineguitarcourse #jazzguitarcourse
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