Thumbing with Wes

Hear Wes Soundclip

by Eric Lindberg copyright 1998

For this, my second article devoted to some of my influences, I would like to talk to you about my favorite jazz guitarist, the one and only Wes Montgomery. It's pretty much a given amongst jazz guitar players that the lineage as far as who is the king, goes a little something like this: Wes Montgomery - a HUGE gap - and then the rest of the world trying desperately to match his precision, taste, music ability and swing.

There are several factors that go into making Wes the best of all time. The first and most obvious is his sound, and that's what I'd like to discuss with you today. Wes didn't play with a pick; he used his thumb to pluck and brush the strings. This contributed greatly to the warmth and beauty of his tone. Wes was also a pioneer in the use of octaves, i.e. playing the same melody in two different registers at the same time. This was accomplished by using the fingering positions shown in Example 1. Notice that when playing an octave with the lower note on either the fourth or third string, the stretch is one fret larger due to the unique nature of the way a guitar is normally tuned.

Example 2 shows how a two octave major and minor scale could be played using these fingerings. Notice that when thinking in octaves we essentially have cut our guitar down to four strings due to the fact that for every note we play we must have an additional note two strings away. The fact that in some ways the guitar range is limited is a good thing; this will require players to think about utilizing the whole neck and will require them to use slides and slurs. In my humble opinion, a well played octave in combination with an accurate, thoughtful slide is about the prettiest sound one can make on the guitar.

O.K., now that we all know what an octave is and where to find them, let's talk about how to play them. I am definitely of the school that says if you're going to play octaves you should use your thumb to brush down on all the strings, muting the unwanted tones with your left hand middle and first fingers (you know, play 'em like Wes). I feel that this is by far the best sound and is well worth the time and effort required to get it right. For those of you who normally play with a pick, I recommend learning to palm the pick in your right hand when you're going to play octaves. This is a skill that vou can practice away from the guitar. Hold your pick normally, then place it under your third finger, then quickly put it back into a playing position. Do this a few hundred times and you'll get to be pretty quick at it. Now, when playing you'll have two completely different tonal possibilities; with the pick and with the thumb. Learn to combine them not only in one player, but in one set, one song, one solo, one mind.

To conclude, any guitar player that is even remotely interested in taste, improvisation and swing should be punished if they do not have at least a couple of Wes Montgomery cd's. He rarely played very fast, but every note that he played was perfectly intonated and elegant to the extreme.

I hope that this article will help you on your quest to make music. If it has, I am very thankful.

I would like to close with a thought that I had about art. Nobody ever admired a painting for

the amount of paint that was used on the canvas. Only the image counts……..it’s the shame

more musicians can’t see the same logic, no?

Remember, a genius is one who is most like himself or herself. Catch ya’ lata, dig?

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