Swing Rhythm Guitar Pointers

Swing rhythm guitar, or straight fours, is one of the most basic skills of a jazz guitar player - styles such as big band jazz, Gypsy jazz and swing/dixieland also have the guitar playing some variant of this rhythm.

In theory it's an easy task - play the chords of the song, strumming on every beat. However, getting it to authentically swing and 'sit' just right with the drums and bass is a real art form - and even here there's plenty of room for different styles.

Much of my professional life is spent playing this type of part, and I feel I've found out a lot over the years about what to do and what not do, often by trial and error, listening to recordings or myself, teaching, and getting useful feedback from fellow musicians.

So - on to the dos and don'ts. My bandmates will probably laugh when they see some of this, but at least I'm aware of the pitfalls even if I don't always manage to avoid them....

Don't overdo the 2 and 4

This is the number one error made by most of my students and even experienced players who are unused to the style. There is a misconception that the 2 and 4 beats in jazz are all important, to the point where musicians feel it will help them swing to tap their foot on 2 and 4. In fact, 1 and 3 are equally important.

The confusion comes from the fact that 2 and 4 have a different function to 1 and 3. In Hal Galper's words, 2 and 4 are 'tension beats' while 1 and 3 are 'rest beats.' James Chirillo, rhythm guitarist with the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra says the same thing in a different way in this video:

We have a choice whether to make this distinction in our playing - we could just play even 4's without accents. This is my preferred style at medium and slow tempos these days.

If you want to differentiate the 2 and 4, as is common in music with a two feel, such as gypsy jazz or dixieland, you can do so by changing the speed of your pick stroke. A common gypsy jazz technique is to lift the hand slightly higher on 2 and 4 which means you have to move your hand faster to play the chord in time. Another way is to think 'rake slap rake slap' - which is the way Kevin Nolan describes it. Either way creates a subtle, appropriate accent which you can enhance by cutting the chord shorter on 2 and 4.

Another way, favoured by American style swing players is to accent the 2 and 4 by strumming nearer the bridge on these beats.

The result is that you have a different articulation on 2 and 4 but not a loud/soft accent - everything is at the same dynamic, it's just that 2 and 4 now sound tenser and snappier - just as they should. In situations where the band is playing in two this can make the guitar sound like it's only playing on 2 and 4 - don't be fooled! Big band rhythm is always straight fours unless you are playing stabs or stops - if a big band arranger indicates the guitar to play on 2 and 4, try cutting the 2 and 4 short and leave 1 and 3 long instead - this will create the desired effect in the correct way.

A more 'backbeaty' style has come into vogue with some gypsy jazz groups, probably under the inevitable influence of later forms of pop music such as rock, funk and hip hop - this is a contemporary feel, entirely different from the original 1930's Manouche swing, but you can't say it sounds bad! Gonzalo Bergara plays in this style here.

Don't play upbeats

Another common error is playing some sort of strum on the upstroke - like a the type of ghost strum you get in pop/rock acoustic playing. Sometimes it can go further and you have some sort of syncopated fill, often towards the end of the bar. Listening to my own playing, I can hear this unconsciously coming in embarrassingly often - it's a real nervous tick!

I'll leave aside the gypsy jazz 'la pompe' upstroke which is specific and hard to master (here's a good lesson). As a general rule play no upstrokes at all - focus on getting clean downstrokes on the beat without anything extra.

The reason is similar I think to the 2 and 4 problem. Many musicians associated swing with offbeats, because we are taught that it is the inequality of the length of the downbeats and offbeats that is swing. In fact it's perfectly possible to swing only on downbeats - Paul Chambers walking in 4 springs to mind. The same is true of drummers playing ride cymbal. While some drummers use a skip note and others don't, it should be obvious right away that the skip note (or up beat) is not the thing that makes the ride cymbal swing. If only it were that simple!

The swing comes more from the feeling and this will inform nuances like the length that you play the chords for, and what sort of attack you use on the chords. I don't want to intellectualise this - a good way to practice is to play with records.

Don't whack it too hard

Again this is a pitfall I've fallen into - and I know exactly why. The guitar is a quiet instrument, and even a loud box such as an acoustic archtop or a Selmer Maccaferri is easily buried by a drummer and a horn front line. However, if you get used to pounding the living bejeezus out of your guitar you will run into a couple of problems - your lead playing will not be able to match the rhythm playing in volume and you all also tend to play this way even on quiet gigs which tends to piss off other guitar players at the very least. Musically I don't think it works either - listening back to my old, loud, playing I notice a tense, forced quality to the playing.

Remember you are supporting the soloing players - you should be quieter than them, at around the same volume as the bass, perhaps a little quieter.

Unamplified acoustic guitar works great in a listening situation with a quiet drummer and acoustic bass, adding a crisp yet warm presence to the rhythm section. However the dynamic range of the guitar is tiny compared to that of drums, so when the drums pick up you will be lost, it doesn't matter what you do. It's actually fine - in the last chorus of a swing number, for example, no one is terribly interested in hearing you anyway. If you are asked to take a solo, the band should drop right down, as they would for bass.

In general when you use an amp, ask the other musicians to tell you how loud they want it, and when set the volume make sure you are never strumming at more than 60-70% full volume. This seems to work well.

Don't play fills

I often do this on gigs thinking 'hey, it's a bit bare here' and whenever I listen back to the gig, I hate myself. Fills come from the ego, and the ego has no place in rhythm guitar (or music.) Fills often detract from the time/feel as well unless they are absolutely 'locked in.'

Less is more

I've found that the smaller voicings - root, 3rd and 7th say - work best. No extensions (although +5's are a good idea where indicated.) Many prewar styles of music don't use a major 7th chord, so get used to playing major 6ths. Also a minor 7th chord is hardly ever used on degree vi - use a minor 6 here instead, or a minor triad.

Often simple triads, especially open voicings (such as 1 5 3 or 3 1 5), sound best.

See here for James Chirillo's explanation of Freddie Green's super minimalist 'one note chord' style (as well as some great advice generally.) You can really hear Freddie doing the one note thing here - also check out his BRUTAL guitar action in the film footage.

Play an acoustic guitar

Jazz rhythm guitar sounds best on an acoustic - the quick decay and lack of dominating bass is perfect for creating the feel. What you absolutely don't want is a mellow electric jazz guitar tone - you want a lot of percussiveness and midrange - very nasal mid range and treble for a drums, bass and horns type band (listen to the James Chirillo and Freddie Green examples) and maybe a bit warmer for a band without drums such as a gypsy jazz group.

However in the real world it is often necessary to play straight fours on an electric - say you have one swing tune in a set of rock and roll and blues tunes, for example. If you are playing an archtop, on a quiet gig you can turn the volume down a bit and use some of the acoustic sound. However this might not work so well on a louder gig. I have a bridge piezo pickup in one of my archtops which helps.

If you must play electric, your main enemies here are muddiness (because of the electric guitar's exaggerated bass) and sustain. You may need to clip the chords a bit shorter on electric. Avoid the 5th and 6th strings like the plague. I've found an EQ pedal, or an 'acoustic simulator' can help with this as well. 

Listen to the band

The best way to stop yourself from getting bored, and playing fills, looking at pretty girls or boys and thinking about what you are going to have for dinner is to focus your awareness on all the other musicians. This is key advice for playing music in general, but is particularly acute for rhythm guitar as you don't really have that much 'to do.' The pay back is that you can feel part of the overall picture, and will groove more to boot.

Furthermore, the 'pocket' of different bands will feel in different places - you will need to learn to feel this pocket and find out how to sit in it. This is the kind of thing that you can only develop 'on the gig.'

Listen to great rhythm players

Some of my favourites include: Freddie Green, Allan Reuss, Carmen Mastren, Eddie Condon, Joseph Reinhardt & Roger Chaput, Jim Hall, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Tal Farlow, Russell Mallone and James Chirillo. The continuing gypsy jazz tradition also has a fine tradition of rhythm guitar - check out these players too!