This is intended to be a living document, so check back often for new tips and tricks to help your guitar playing. These appear in no particular order.

Use a metronome when you practice. This helps establish consistent timing, accuracy, and synchronization between your left and right hands. Your playing will improve much faster by using a metronome. You can also build up speed by slowly increasing the tempo in small increments such as 8bpm at a time.

Shorten the length of your strap. Sure, it looks cool to play with your guitar hung really low, but it hurts your playing. If you're more concerned with looking cool, then you probably aren't reading this anyway. Your left hand can't reach or stretch as far as it can with the guitar high up. The higher the guitar, the more your thumb can be behind the neck and the more your wrist can be pushed forward and your hand can wrap around the neck. Think of holding the neck like you'd pick up a pencil, not how you'd pick up a shovel.

Pay attention to where you fret. Fretting in the middle between strings has a different sound and feeling than fretting right behind the fret. For accuracy, precision, and tone, you should fret as close to the back side of the fret as possible without muting the tone of the string. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule, as Eric Johnson is quick to point out.

Less is more…in terms of gain. Many beginning guitarists want their sound to be completely distorted because it sounds cool. Surprisingly, a lot of the music you might want to emulate isn't as distorted as you might think. Also, it's important to understand that tone is a big part of playing guitar. If you have too much distortion, there is no tone. No tone, means less distinction between notes, which equals poor dynamic and melodic contrast.

Intentionally order your pedals. While there are many schools of thought on pedal order, and your ears should be the ultimate decision makers, there is a general order to pedals that makes them most effective in the typical setup.

1. Guitar - this one should be obvious
2. Pre-volume - some people like to run volume pedals or clean boosts before everything else
3. Wah - the wah is a tone control, so generally, you want it close to the clean sound of the guitar
4. Compression - this is like the pre-volume so you want it near to the clean sound of the guitar
5. Harmonizers - pitch shifters, octavers, harmonizers, etc. should be next before the sound is colored
6. Overdrive - put the lightest drive first so you can cascade them into heavier sounds
7. Distortion - this is heavier than overdrive, so it should go after it
8. Fuzz - this is the most extreme form of drive and should be last in the chain of drive pedals
9. Noise suppression - if your noise suppressor has a loop, put your drive pedals in that loop to cut hiss
10. EQ - equalization pedals should typically go after drive pedals
11. Modulation - this is where your chorus, phaser, flanger, or rotary pedals go
12. Delay - just like with drives, it's a good idea to cascade your delays in ascending order with slapback first and long delay last
13. Reverb - this ambient effect should go last after all other types of delay
14. Post-volume - if you don't run a pre-volume, this is another good place to put a volume pedal
15. Amp - again, obvious

Alternately, if your amp has an effects loop, EQ, modulation, delay, and reverb often go well in that loop. Ultimately, try out different combinations and see what works best. Stevie Ray Vaughan often ran his wah after his TS9 Tube Screamers, which goes against the general rules to follow for pedal placement.

Play acoustic and electric guitar. These instruments are very different beasts; playing acoustic will make you a better electric player and playing electric will make you a better acoustic player.

String gauge is directly proportional to tone. If you want a big, fat, thick tone, you better not be playing on 9s. A big part of Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound (a surprising amount, actually) was based on the strings he used. He typically played on 13s and he would tune to Eb for easier bending. There is almost no excuse why you should ever play on 9s or, God forbid (no, not the band), 8s. If you need to do a lot of bending, especially compound and oblique bends, try some 10s for country or similar styles. Otherwise, you should be on 11s or better, especially for blues. Once you hit 12s, make sure you look for a wound 3rd (G) string rather than a plain string.

They say that cat Shaft is a bad motha–shut yo mouth! Never underestimate the power of left-hand muted pick scrapes and wah-wah.

Learning to speed pick can be quite difficult. Many guitarists do it different ways from circular picking to stiffening their arm and wrist. I recommend trying to keep your arm and wrist as loose as possible and let the movement come from the wrist. Try to minimize the range of motion.

The following exercise is done in 3 parts. Each one should be repeated starting on the 12th fret and working down the neck until you hit the first fret. Then you should move to the next string and repeat until you have played the exercise on each string. I also highly recommend using a metronome to stay in time and focus on keeping the notes even. Find the starting metronome tempo by seeing at what speed you can comfortably play 16th notes, then go back and start with the 8th notes.

8th Note Speed Picking

First, start with 8th notes, just two picks per note.

   1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +    1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +     1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +
e|-15-15-12-12-13-13-12-12-|-14-14-12-12-15-15-12-12--|-14-14-11-11-12-12-11-11-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------|
G|-------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------|
D|-------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------|
A|-------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------|
E|-------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------|

8th Note Triplet Speed Picking

Now increase the complexity a bit by adding a third note to each beat and play 8th note triplets.

   1  +  a  2  +  a  3  +  a  4  +  a    1  +  a  2  +  a  3  +  a  4  +  a
e|-15-15-15-12-12-12-13-13-13-12-12-12-|-14-14-14-12-12-12-15-15-15-12-12-12-|
B|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|

   1  +  a  2  +  a  3  +  a  4  +  a
e|-14-14-14-11-11-11-12-12-12-11-11-11-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------------------------------|--------|
G|-------------------------------------|--------|
D|-------------------------------------|--------|
A|-------------------------------------|--------|
E|-------------------------------------|--------|

16th Note Speed Picking

Now add a fourth note, essentially doubling the first version of this exercise. At this stage, it really helps to think of the notes as not faster, but rather shorter.

   1  e  +  a  2  e  +  a  3  e  +  a  4  e  +  a    1  e  +  a  2  e  +  a  3  e  +  a  4  e  +  a
e|-15-15-15-15-12-12-12-12-13-13-13-13-12-12-12-12-|-14-14-14-14-12-12-12-12-15-15-15-15-12-12-12-12-|
B|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|

   1  e  +  a  2  e  +  a  3  e  +  a  4  e  +  a
e|-14-14-14-14-11-11-11-11-12-12-12-12-11-11-11-11-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------------------------------------------|--------|
G|-------------------------------------------------|--------|
D|-------------------------------------------------|--------|
A|-------------------------------------------------|--------|
E|-------------------------------------------------|--------|

16th Note Triplet Speed Picking

For the trickiest challenge of all, add two more notes to make 16th note triplet groupings of 6.

   1  e  a  +  e  a  2  e  a  +  e  a  3  e  a  +  e  a  4  e  a  +  e  a
e|-15-15-15-15-15-15-12-12-12-12-12-12-13-13-13-13-13-13-12-12-12-12-12-12-|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|

   1  e  a  +  e  a  2  e  a  +  e  a  3  e  a  +  e  a  4  e  a  +  e  a
e|-14-14-14-14-14-14-12-12-12-12-12-12-14-14-14-14-14-14-12-12-12-12-12-12-|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

   1  e  a  +  e  a  2  e  a  +  e  a  3  e  a  +  e  a  4  e  a  +  e  a
e|-14-14-14-14-14-14-11-11-11-11-11-11-12-12-12-12-12-12-11-11-11-11-11-11-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|

If you can't play all of these up to speed, then slow it down and work your way up. This will take quite some time, so don't expect to shred the first day. Over a few months, you should be able to work up your speed slowly. Don't try to take big jumps or you will suffer in accuracy and technique.

Illustrated in A Major

The Shape 3 Major Scale is an alternate moveable root-6 (meaning that the 6th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in A major and should be practiced in all available positions.

Scale Fingerings

Scale Tones

Arpeggio Fingerings

Arpeggio Tones

Illustrated in C Major

The Shape 2 Major Scale is a moveable root-5 (meaning that the 5th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in C major and should be practiced in all available positions.

Scale Fingerings

Scale Tones

Arpeggio Fingerings

Arpeggio Tones

Illustrated in G Major

The Shape 1 Major Scale is a moveable root-6 (meaning that the 6th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in G major and should be practiced in all available positions.

Scale Fingerings

Scale Tones

Arpeggio Fingerings

Arpeggio Tones

I'm already adding Part 2 and, just as before, there will probably be more to come. If you missed the first part, you can find it here: Warm Up Exercises Part 1

Here are a few more patterns to practice for warming up.

Linear Patterns

Legato Ascending Pattern

I learned this pattern from some video I saw with Joe Satriani where he was talking about working on legato technique. This is good both for legato lines and for working on the extension between your index and middle fingers on your left had as you should play each triplet with fingerings 1-2-4. Pick only the first note and then hammer on the next two until you change strings, then pick again.

e|-------------------------|--------------------1h3h5-|
B|-------------------------|--------------1h3h5-------|
G|-------------------1h3h5-|-------1h3h5--------------|
D|-------------1h3h5-------|-1h3h5--------------------|
A|-------1h3h5-------------|--------------------------|
E|-1h3h5-------------------|--------------------------|

e|-2h4h6-------------------|--------------------------|-(etc.)-|
B|-------2h4h6-------------|--------------------------|--------|
G|-------------2h4h6-------|-2h4h6--------------------|--------|
D|-------------------2h4h6-|-------2h4h6--------------|--------|
A|-------------------------|-------------2h4h6--------|--------|
E|-------------------------|-------------------2h4h6--|--------|

After you complete this 4 bar pattern, move up to the next fret, which will actually be 2 frets above where you started, and repeat the pattern. Try to be as smooth and even as possible.

Perfect Fourth Stretch Pattern

As long as we are stretching out the left hand with that legato run, let's add another stretcher. This one is meant strictly for stretching between the fingers of your left hand and it also improves independent movement among the fingers. As with the other linear patterns, you start up the neck and work your way down. However, in this case, since the frets are closer together up the neck and further apart near the nut, it actually aids in the stretch.

Play the pattern below and then move down a fret until you've reached the nut, then go the B string, G string, D string, and even the A and low E strings, if you can, as it gets much more difficult on the lower (heavier) strings. Make sure that you leave your fingers down as you play the notes. That is, your fingers shouldn't leave the frets until after you've played the fourth note in the pattern, then release your grip and start over a fret down. This will ensure a proper stretch.

e|-12-14-16-17-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|--------|
G|-------------|--------|
D|-------------|--------|
A|-------------|--------|
E|-------------|--------|

Again, you should be fretting each bar with fingers 1-2-3-4, skipping a fret between the 1st and 2nd, 2nd and 3rd fingers. If you can't leave your fingers down all the way keep practicing and move your thumb behind the neck, pushing your wrist and elbow forward. Lift the neck upward as though you were playing an upright bass if you need the extra help.

Linear Leap Frog Pattern

This next pattern helps develop independent left hand finger movement as well as synchronization between both hands. Play the pattern, then slide down a fret and repeat until you get to the first fret, then start over on the B string, and so on with the G, D, A, and low E strings.

e|-15-13-14-12-|-12-14-13-15-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|-------------|--------|
G|-------------|-------------|--------|
D|-------------|-------------|--------|
A|-------------|-------------|--------|
E|-------------|-------------|--------|

Try playing the Linear Leap Frog with staccato articulation and stay as cleans as possible.

Complex Patterns

Reverse Cascade Pattern

This pattern is like the Cascade Pattern from Part 1, except it's flipped and backwards…and inverted and also it goes the other way. After you play the 6 bar pattern, slide down a fret and repeat until you get to the nut.

e|-15----------|-------------|-------------|
B|----14-------|-15----------|-------------|
G|-------13----|----14-------|-15----------|
D|----------12-|-------13----|----14-------|
A|-------------|----------12-|-------13----|
E|-------------|-------------|----------12-|

e|-------------|-------------|----------12-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|----------12-|-------13----|--------|
G|----------12-|-------13----|----14-------|--------|
D|-------13----|----14-------|-15----------|--------|
A|----14-------|-15----------|-------------|--------|
E|-15----------|-------------|-------------|--------|

Just as with the Cascade Pattern, the Reverse Cascade Pattern should be articulated in different ways, such as alternate and sweet picking.

Root 6 Major 7 Arpeggio

Running scales and patterns is a good way to warm up, but they are often very linear and your fingers don't skip around much. One way to beat the linear rut and still sound musical is to practice arpeggios. This is was the first arpeggio I learned and I still use it to this day. This time you are going to start on the 3rd fret in the key of G and move up a fret after each pattern until you clear the 12th fret.

e|---------------2-|-3-2-------------|-------|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------3---|-----3-----------|-------|--------|
G|-----------4-----|-------4---------|-------|--------|
D|-------4-5-------|---------5-4-----|-------|--------|
A|---2-5-----------|-------------5-2-|-------|--------|
E|-3---------------|-----------------|-3-2-3-|--------|

Make sure you use alternate picking regardless of which strings you are skipping to. Even though you may be skipping to the next string down, if the next pick is up, you should pick up. Try it slowly and exaggerate your right hand picking to help stay with a consistent pattern if you are having trouble maintaining the alternate picking technique.

That should keep you busy with more patterns for warming up. Look for more tips and techniques to come, maybe even "Warm Up Exercises Part 3"!

I'm calling this post "Warm Up Exercises Part 1" because I suspect that I will come up with other warm up exercises later, so this will be the first installment. I'd like to share these because, while these are not difficult, challenging, or groundbreaking, had I known how to use them years ago, I would be a much better guitarist today.

Stretching

Just like any athlete, you shouldn't attempt an exercise without first loosening up your muscles and joints. This may seem silly, but there are many guitarists who swear by this, including John Petrucci, and I've found that it really does make a difference. Here are a few stretches that you can use to loosen up BOTH HANDS:

• Forearm: bend your hand at the wrist as far forward as it will go until you feel a stretch in your forearm; similarly, do this the opposite way bending your hand backwards until you feel a stretch across the inside of your wrist and forearm.
• Wrist: make a fist and rotate your fist, bending at the wrist, clockwise and then counterclockwise.
• Fingers: use your opposite hand to spread your fingers far apart until you feel a stretch; do this between each set of fingers on each hand and do it in all directions (v-finger/Spock stretch, YellowPages walking fingers position and reverse).

Linear Patterns

After stretching, I like to begin with some linear patterns that stay focused on one string and adjacent frets.

1-2-3-4

The 1-2-3-4 pattern is really simple. You start on the 12th fret, play ascending chromatic notes until you land on your fourth finger, then you slide down a fret and do it again. Repeat this until you get to the 1st fret, then come back up the neck with the same pattern except sliding up one fret after each series of 4 notes.

e|-12-13-14-15-|-11-12-13-14-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|-------------|--------|
G|-------------|-------------|--------|
D|-------------|-------------|--------|
A|-------------|-------------|--------|
E|-------------|-------------|--------|

4-3-2-1

The 4-3-2-1 pattern is just the reverse of the 1-2-3-4 pattern. You start on the 15th fret, which positions your first finger on the 12th fret, and play descending chromatic notes until you land on your first finger, then you slide down a fret and do it again. Repeat this until you get to the 1st fret, then come back up the neck with the same pattern except sliding up one fret after each series of 4 notes.

e|-15-14-13-12-|-14-13-12-11-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|-------------|--------|
G|-------------|-------------|--------|
D|-------------|-------------|--------|
A|-------------|-------------|--------|
E|-------------|-------------|--------|

With both the 1-2-3-4 and the 4-3-2-1 exercises, make sure you articulate (pick) each note in order to work on your right/left hand synchronization. Use this exercise to work on even timing with down and up strokes with the pick.

Complex Patterns

These patterns cross strings with more complex patters that are good for warming up, but you should do these after the Linear Patterns.

Cascade Pattern

The Cascade Pattern is similar to the 1-2-3-4 pattern except that you go to next adjacent string on each note. The pattern cascades from the 1st string to the 6th string and then from the 6th string back to the 1st string. After you complete the patter across the strings and back, move down a fret and repeat, just like with the other exercises.

e|-12----------|-------------|-------------|
B|----13-------|-12----------|-------------|
G|-------14----|----13-------|-12----------|
D|----------15-|-------14----|----13-------|
A|-------------|----------15-|-------14----|
E|-------------|-------------|----------15-|

e|-------------|-------------|----------15-|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|----------15-|-------14----|--------|
G|----------15-|-------14----|----13-------|--------|
D|-------14----|----13-------|-12----------|--------|
A|----13-------|-12----------|-------------|--------|
E|-12----------|-------------|-------------|--------|

Try this exercise two different ways: try it with alternating up and down strokes and also try it with a sweep-picking technique where you rake the pick across the strings in the direction that you are fretting (i.e. the first 3 bars will be swept with an up stroke, the last 3 bars will be swept with a down stroke).

Rotate Inner/Outer Pattern (John Petrucci Exercise From Rock Discipline)

I learned this exercise pattern from the John Petrucci video Rock Discipline. I like to use this exercise to maintain and build independent movement among my fingers for quick changes between chords. The pattern focuses solely on the left hand, so you can just strum the chord shapes straight. The important part is to try to only move the necessary fingers to get to the next shape and move them in time (all at once so they hit the chord on time). This one doesn't sound quite so pretty.

e|-15-15-12-12-|-(etc.)-|
B|-14-13-13-14-|--------|
G|-13-14-14-13-|--------|
D|-12-12-15-15-|--------|
A|-------------|--------|
E|-------------|--------|

As I said, focus only on moving the fingers necessary to get to the next shape; leave the others down. From the first shape to the second, you only need to move your 2nd and 3rd fingers. From the second shape to the third, you only need to move your 1st and 4th fingers. From the third to the fourth shape, you only need to move your 2nd and 3rd fingers again. Now slide down a fret, reset your fingers and repeat this all the way down the neck.

After you've reached the first fret, now repeat this same pattern on the A, D, G, and B strings. That is, do the exact same thing, just do it on the middle 4 strings.

e|-------------|-(etc.)-|
B|-15-15-12-12-|--------|
G|-14-13-13-14-|--------|
D|-13-14-14-13-|--------|
A|-12-12-15-15-|--------|
E|-------------|--------|

Now do it one more time on the E, A, D, and G strings (upper 4 strings).

e|-------------|-(etc.)-|
B|-------------|--------|
G|-15-15-12-12-|--------|
D|-14-13-13-14-|--------|
A|-13-14-14-13-|--------|
E|-12-12-15-15-|--------|

Chromatic Scale

There's no replacing the good ol' chromatic scale. You can cover all the notes in a pattern that you typically wouldn't play. I like to start in A (because that's as low as you can go with this pattern without hitting the nut) and run the scale up and down and then move up a fret and repeat until I'm somewhere above the 12th fret. Try this with a variety of picking techniques to keep it from getting monotonous and to exercise the right hand as well.

e|---------------------------------|---------1-2-3-4-5-|
B|---------------------------------|-2-3-4-5-----------|
G|-------------------------2-3-4-5-|-------------------|
D|-----------------3-4-5-6---------|-------------------|
A|---------4-5-6-7-----------------|-------------------|
E|-5-6-7-8-------------------------|-------------------|

e|-5-4-3-2-1-----------------------|-------------------|-(etc.)-|
B|-----------5-4-3-2---------------|-------------------|--------|
G|-------------------5-4-3-2-------|-------------------|--------|
D|---------------------------6-5-4-|-3-----------------|--------|
A|---------------------------------|---7-6-5-4---------|--------|
E|---------------------------------|-----------8-7-6-5-|--------|

There, now you should be warmed up and ready to begin playing or practicing. I think you'll be surprised to see how much more smoothly you can run scales after warming up properly.

One of the things that overwhelmed me when I first tried soloing over changes in jazz was how fast the chord changes often pass. How could I change scales that quickly and express anything? An instructor I worked with years ago taught me a way to simplify a series of changes by looking at what key the chords are implying. Here's how you do it.

First, let's look at the A section (the head) of Line For Lyons by Gerry Mulligan:

|    G6    G7(b9)    |    Cm7    F7    |    Bm7    E7    |    Am7    D7   |

|    GΔ7    E7       |    Am7    D7    |    G6     E7    |    Am7    D7   |

If you aren't familiar with jazz notation, Δ means "major".

We can reduce some of these chords down to their base forms:

|    G               |    Cm     F     |    Bm     E     |    Am     D    |

|    G      E        |    Am     D     |    G      E     |    Am     D    |

Knowing that ii-V is the most common chordal movement in jazz, that's one of the first things we can look for and identify what keys those ii-V movements occur in and then use that key as the scale:

| - - - - G - - - - -| - - - Bb - - - -| - - - A - - - - | - - - G - - - -|
                          ii     V          ii     V          ii     V
|    G               |    Cm     F     |    Bm     E     |    Am     D    |

| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
     I      VI            ii     V          I      VI         ii     V
|    G      E        |    Am     D     |    G      E     |    Am     D    |

Normally, in the key of GΔ, the vi chord is minor, but there are a various number of ways to include a major VI, such as modulation via common tones (other than the 3rd) or it could be the VI of the G minor scale. At any rate, don't lose any sleep over this anomaly, just throw in G# passing tone when you hit this chord and focus on E and B.

We've reduced 8 bars of 2-beat changes to 8 bars of GΔ with 2 measures of descending major scales (the Bb and A section). Now you only have to worry about those two bars and then just play over GΔ for the rest.

There are, of course, many other ways to reduce this. This is just one way. If you can think of another way to reduce this sample, I'd love to hear your suggestions. Use your ear and throw in more chord-specific tones in your soloing as you improve.

Oddly enough, much like with the modern country tone, a basic jazz guitar tone eluded me for a long time. Now, I fully admit that I don't tinker with knobs like I should. I tend to set the knobs on my amps, pedals, and guitar where I think they should be and then just leave them as opposed to tweaking knobs and listening to the results. This is probably why a basic jazz tone eluded me for so long.

Before I get into the specifics of finding a good jazz tone, let's look at what a good jazz tone is. Take a listen to this version of "How Deep Is Your Love" by Russell Malone and take careful note of where the guitar's tone fills up the tonal range.

[youtube bNvntOn7cOk]

You probably thought of words like "full" and "mellow" when you heard his tone. The difficult part for me to translate was that the tone was "full" in regards to the mid-range with balanced bass and treble. The hardest part for me to hear was that, in relation to how I typically prefer my guitars to sound for other styles, the tone on the guitar is rolled off (it's not on 10 or 11, if you're in Spinal Tap).

Guitar

There are some essentials and then there are some nice-to-haves. You can get a good jazz tone with pretty much any guitar and you can get a better jazz tone with some great guitars, but don't feel like just because you have an Ibanez RG or a Tele that you sound jazzy.

First off, you need some decent strings. For less than $10, you can go a long way in improving your tone. I won't play on anything lighter than .10s and I only use that on my Tele for country twang. Ideally, for jazz, much like blues, the heavier the string, the fuller the tone. Try .11s, .12s, or (dare I say it?!?!) .13s. I prefer D'Addario XL EJ21 strings (.12, .16, .24w, .32, .42, .52; the w on the G string refers to it being a wrapped string as opposed to a plain string), although many players prefer flatwound strings. To me, flatwounds strings, while mellow, sound dead. I like a little life in my strings.

Now that you have some decent strings, make sure you're using the neck pickup. The further from the bridge (without crossing the mid-way point) the pickup is, the more mellow (less twangy, less treble) the tone will be. Also, make sure that you roll the tone back. That is, rather than running your guitar's tone knob wide open on 10, turn it back to 6 or so, depending on the potentiometer in your guitar's tone knob. You want it right at the spot where the highs are more subtle but the tone hasn't gone flat yet. It's a sweet spot that takes some time to find if you don't know what you are listening for.

So that gets you the basics with any guitar. If you really want to swing with the big cats, then you'll want to pick up a full-hollow-bodied guitar, often referred to as a "jazz box", like an Epiphone Emperor Regent. This guitar has a single floating humbucker in the neck position, which is ideal for a very mellow jazz tone. If a jazz box isn't an option for you, then try something a little more versatile, but still at least semi-hollow, like a Gibson ES-335 or similar model.

Amp

When it comes to the amp, it's pretty simple. You want a very clean tone. There are occasions when you might want some mild drive, but that's more for fusion. A good clean tube amp like a Fender Deluxe Reverb or Fender Twin Reverb will work great if you prefer a tube sound. Many jazz players prefer a solid-state amp like a Polytone Mini-Brute or a Roland JazzChorus-120. Solid-state amps work well for jazz because the warmth of the tone is coming from the guitar and the amp is just making it louder. Also, solid-state amps are lighter and require little maintenance, which is great for the gigging musician.

As for the settings, if you have a pre-volume or gain knob, make sure it is at the lowest setting possible so you don't get any distortion. Start with all your EQ knobs flat (that means 5-6 if your knobs are the typical 1-10 range, 11 for Spinal Tap) and make minor adjustments from there depending on your guitar and the venue. You don't need to be very loud because jazz isn't typically loud and if you really need to crank it, your amp is usually run through the house PA. An optional setting, depending on your taste, is to run a little reverb on your amp.

Pedals

And that just about does it for the pedals. Well, kinda. The truth is that you really don't need any pedals for jazz. All the tone and sound comes from your guitar and your hands, which I'll get to next. There are a few nice-to-have pedals, but you don't really need any unless you're going to do a mixed set with some fusion or blues.

As with any setup, I like to run a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner pedal for live tuning my guitars. I can't say enough good things about this pedal. It's fantastic and, yes, I know that sounds weird when I'm talking about what is essentially a utility pedal. Any pedal tuner will do and if you don't have a pedal tuner, just make sure you have easy access to a tuner of some kind.

I also like to run a volume pedal. This can help with hands-free fades both in and out of passages as well as volume swells for chord solos, etc. I like the Ernie Ball VP Jr.

If you're doing some ballads and you don't have any other chordal instruments (i.e. piano) to fill out the song, you might want to try a chorus pedal. I've used a few and they all have different flavors, so find one that you like. I have the Boss CE-5 Chrous Ensemble and the Visual Sound H₂O Liquid Chorus & Echo. I like them both, although the H₂O is a bit warmer, in my opinion.

Finally, if your amp doesn't have reverb, you might want to add a reverb pedal. I like the Line 6 Verbzilla, personally. It's really versatile and you can use it with many other styles as well from very subtle reverbs to massive, cavernous, ambient reverbs.

Again, any other pedals you might want to add would be to your personal taste, depending on what songs you are performing, but there really aren't any essential pedals for jazz.

You

Just like any style of music, the greatest impact on tone comes from your fingers, both right and left hands. You can affect your tone greatly through the precision, weight, and expressiveness of your hands. This is something that can't be taught (at least not from a web article) and must be learned through listening, mimicking, and practice, practice, practice. Even just thinking about the tone you want while playing can help translate this idea into your fingers and then into the guitar.

The only definitive piece of information I can share regarding tone and your playing is, just like using the neck pickup, you want to be away from the bridge to generate a warm, mellow tone. That is, your picking hand should be toward the neck rather than near the bridge.

Good luck with your search for a good jazz tone. If you've run across any secrets that you'd like to share, please feel free to comment or contact me directly and I'll add them to this article.

For some reason, there are not a lot of resources (or at least not that many that I've found) that describe a general approach to getting a good modern country guitar sound. Of course, now that I've said that I'm sure I'll get a dozen people pointing me sites that I somehow missed. But anyway, I'd like to go over what I've learned from various readings, speaking to other guitarists, and from my own experimentation.

The first thing that you notice when you listen to guitarists like Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio, and others is how twangy and compressed their sound is. Now, if you aren't familiar with what a compressor does and what it sounds like, then saying that a guitar sounds "compressed" doesn't mean anything to you. A compressor limits the peaks and boosts the valleys of a guitar's signal. That is, it makes the quiet sounds louder and the louder sounds quieter, which evens out the attack. It also has the effect of making the sound very poppy and punchy, if that makes sense. I'll get back to achieving this sound a little later.

For the twang part of the sound sound, that typically means "more treble" in your sound. Make sure that your tone knob is maxed and use your bridge pickup on whatever guitar you're using. You can boost this treble sound by tweaking the equalization on your amp to favor the treble side. That is, start with your Bass, Middle, and Treble knobs "flat" or right in the middle. If your knobs go from 1 to 10, put them at 5 or 6. Now, to further boost the treble you can raise the Treble knob and set it at 8 or so. Also, if your amp has a Bright switch, flip that on. If your amp has a Presence knob, which is like the next step above Treble, you can turn that up a bit to your taste.

So far we have the very basics of a great country tone. Let's take it to the next level and discuss the various pieces of gear and how you can use them to shape your sound.

Guitars

Most country tricksters, as Johnny Hiland calls them, play Fender Telecaster which are known for their very twangy single-coil bridge pickups. You don't have to play a Telecaster to get a country sound, but using a guitar with a single-coil bridge pickup or a coil-splitting humbucker (which allows you to use the humbucker as a single-coil) definitely helps. Single-coil pickups have a much tighter, punchier sound that works well for country. That's not to say that you can't get a great country sound with a humbucker, but in general, most country guitarists play on Telecasters because of their bridge pickup.

Another common element that you might see on a guitar used by a country player is a maple fretboard, as opposed to a rosewood fretboard. There is some consensus that maple fretboards lead to a brighter sound. Not everyone agrees, but I've seen this to be true. However, and this is a BIG however, the difference is very subtle, in my opinion. I greatly prefer the feel of a rosewood fretboard so the extremely slight tone difference I found from a maple fretboard was definitely not worth it for me. Some people may feel that the tone difference is more noticeable, but after comparing the same American Telecasters with maple and rosewood fretboards, I could only barely tell the difference in tone but I could tell a great difference in feel and I prefer rosewood.

As for strings, I recommend a medium-gauge string, such as 9s, 10s, or 11s. For me, 9s are too light and 11s are a tad too heavy. You want a string that you can really bend on for those pedal steel double-stop oblique bends that are one of the signatures of country guitar. 10s have just the right amount of substance and tone while still allowing me to be flexible and bend as far as I need to.

If you're reading this, what I'm about to mention probably won't apply since it's a much more advanced feature, but I'll cover it anyway for reference. Some country guitarists have their guitars modified to include a B-bender or G-bender or even both. Until you see one, it's pretty difficult to understand exactly what it is, but I'll do my best to explain it.

Take the B-bender modification: from the front, the guitar looks pretty much unchanged except for a small ring behind bridge by the B string. The ball of the string is actually anchored in this ring rather than in the bridge, so the string goes past the bridge. Inside the guitar, there is a lever that is somehow (I've never actually seen the inside) connected to another lever by the neck-side strap post, which is spring-loaded. The shoulder strap then attaches to this new post and when you push the neck of the guitar down, the strap pulls against your shoulder and moves the lever which in turn pulls the lever by the ring and pulls the B-string tighter making the string ring sharp. It's almost like a whammy bar for a single string that is activated by pulling against the strap, or rather pushing the guitar down. This allows for pedal steel-style bends while playing. A G-bender is the same thing, except that it's typically pulling against the bridge-side strap post since most G-benders are implemented in addition to the B-bender. So with both, if you pushed down on the guitar on the neck and body, you'd get both the B and G strings to be pulled tighter, raising their respective pitches.

If that description was tough to follow, try taking a look at the pictures on this link: http://www.stringbender.com/bender/fenderb.html

Again, the B-bender and G-bender modification is not something that you will most likely need to worry about for now, but if you're completely befuddled by Jimmy Olander's licks, remember that he typically has a B and G-bender equipped guitar.

Pedals

In order to further shape your sound, you're going to want employ a few effects pedals. Many of these can be achieved by pedals, rack effects, studio processing, or digital modelers, but I'm going to stick to pedals for this article.

First off, any good pedalboard should have a tuner pedal. It doesn't seem that great until you have one and you realize how handy it is. That applies to any style of guitar; you need a pedal tuner. I recommend the Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner.

Second, one of the key elements in modern country guitar is the compressor. There are many compressors out there and they vary in price range. I have a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer which has worked well for me. Some people have complaints about it, but they seem to be pretty standard for all compressors, not just the Boss. I've heard good things about Visual Sound Route 66 which has a compressor and an overdrive in one pedal. Guitarists seem to always be comparing the Ross Compressor (no, that's not a typo when I tried to type Boss, it is meant to be Ross) to all other pedals as if it was the mold that all pedals should made from. The MXR Dyna Comp also comes up quite often. Whichever compressor you choose, you want a highly "squished" sound. Try checking the manufacturer for suggestions for a "squished" or country sound and what settings achieve that sound. I typically run the Attack setting at about 60% and the Sustain at about 75% on my CS-3.

Third, you'll want some kind of delay or echo pedal to give you that quick slap-back sound that many country guitarists use. You don't want much delay at all. Something very subtle will do well as it should almost sound like reverb. I use an inexpensive Danelectro Fab Echo pedal for my slapback because it's cheap ($20) and it isn't meant for much delay, which is just what I want. I can also achieve this sound with my more expensive, fuller-featured delay pedals, but I'd rather save those for longer delays and echoes. As for settings, as I said, you want the delay time very short and you want it to repeat only once. When you play a single note, it should sound like a very quick and subtle "BUH-dup".

Lastly, I highly recommend a volume pedal for assisting with pedal steel volume swells. I use the Ernie Ball VP Jr., which works great for passive instruments (if your guitar doesn't require a 9v battery for EMG active pickups or something similar, then you have a passive guitar).

As for order, follow the standard effects ordering process that has been written about in a zillion posts and articles online. You'll also probably want a mild overdrive pedal and a chorus pedal, but these, like the tuner, are essential pedals to any setup, in my opinion.

Amps

This is where you will probably hear the widest variety of opinions in getting a country sound. My recommendation is either a Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Fender Twin Reverb. I play a Twin Reverb ('65 reissue), because I also like to use it for blues and it has a bright switch which the Deluxe Reverb is lacking. If you start paying attention to what your favorite guitarists play, you'll probably see Fender, Vox, Matchless, and Dr. Z (for Brad Paisley) amps. The common theme among all these amps is that they are all-tube combos with either one or two 12" speakers. You don't need a high-gain full-stack for country and, in fact, it is detrimental to your sound if you do have one.

If the amp you choose doesn't have reverb, you can supplement that with a reverb pedal or dial in your slap-back echo for a little more fullness. As for settings, as I mentioned previously, you want to put some extra weight in the treble side of the amp and then you can adjust from there depending on your taste.

Now that you have a starting point for how to get that modern country guitar sound, you can play with it to achieve your own sound. Also, I've found that the most important aspect of your tone is your fingers. To sound cliché, it's all in the touch. Learning a few country licks and learning the feel will take you a long way with a little preparation in getting your ideal tone.

If you've discovered other secrets, I'd be glad to hear them and even supplement this article with that information, so please do share. Good luck!