"Accessible" jazz guitarists for the beginner?

[guitguy28]

For the beginning jazz guitarist, who are some players with a style that's easy to understand, as opposed to a more complex player?

Maybe we could make a list in terms of difficulty level. Technical playing ie. speed is one thing, but another is in terms of the complexity of the ideas.

Cheers!

[dlguitar64]

Wes Montgomery,Grant Green

[jaydub69]

Interesting question. I have no doubt this will lead to an interesting and possibly pitted discussion.

I like to listen to players to which I can hum a melody. Wes Montgomery comes to mind, though I don''t have an extensive knowledge of just jazz guitarists. At least having a solid melody gives me something to hold on to.

Bump for a cool topic.

-john

[robelinda2]

Charlie Christian.

Django Reihnhardt. Dig the gypsy jazz!!!!!!!!!!!

[EL 34 X2]

IMO Howard Roberts would be a good choice as well. The double CD "Howard Roberts is a Dirty Guitar Player"/"Color Him Funky" would be a place to start.

[arthur rotfeld]

I was just listening to a big Johnny Smith compilation that a student lent me.

He's very musical, great chops, no crazy lines. Not hard to follow what he's doing.

[ecm1117]

Peter Bernstein might fit the bill - great lines without all the "fluff."

[zenitB]

I recommend Tal Farlow's early work with the Red Norvo trio (Mingus on bass). A two disc set came out a few years ago and it is a great example of electric, post-Charlie Christian jazz guitar. Some of the tunes are fast, bebop style arrangements but many are slow. Cool stuff!

[arthur rotfeld]

Tal is a great one. I love his comeback era too. Check out Cookin' on All Burners. Not easy to follow for a beginner though.

[tone4days]

i think pat metheny's early stuff, especially 'pat metheny group' is a good one for guys coming from a rock background

[jads57]

Find the ones that move you most! For me it started w/ George Benson playing Song For my father. From there it led to Pat Martino, Tal farlow, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Howard Roberts, it just keeps moving! Most of all enjoy the music!

[aeolian]

Herb Ellis comes from a fairly bluesy direction. Not too complex or technical. Joe Pass pushes his technical abilities a lot but is still melodic based. His big advice was to learn the melodies to lots of songs. That will give you a vocabulary to work with. Wes always comes to mind, as many have said. Russ Malone often plays tasty accessible things with a great swing and feel.

[Flyin' Brian]

Originally Posted by EL 34 X2

IMO Howard Roberts would be a good choice as well. The double CD "Howard Roberts is a Dirty Guitar Player"/"Color Him Funky" would be a place to start.

This is a great choice IMO. Short compact solos that are smokin' but borrow heavily from blues. Lots of fairly simple but great I-IV-V songs on that set.

[robelinda2]

Originally Posted by Flyin' Brian

This is a great choice IMO. Short compact solos that are smokin' but borrow heavily from blues. Lots of fairly simple but great I-IV-V songs on that set.

Just bought a copy off ebay, thanks! I think this thread will help a lot of players out.

[chopsley]

Jim Hall! I especially like his playing on the Sonny Rollins album "The Bridge" (the Jimmy Giuffre trio stuff is also pretty cool).