More Telecaster Jazz

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now. In October, I wrote a post called “Tele Jazz“, in which I briefly touched on the subject of using the Fender Telecaster guitar for playing jazz. Since then, I have been contacted by a number of guitarists who are curious about why someone would use a Tele for jazz, how to do it and who does it. Also, since that post I have had about 500 visitors to this site who typed some version of “Telecaster jazz” into a search engine. As I said, my original post just touched on the subject a small bit so, I am thinking that most of those looking for information were probably disappointed.

Why would anybody use a Telecaster to play jazz?

The Telecaster, by nature, is a very bright (lot’s of treble) guitar. It has a huge twang factor when compared to other guitars. Jazz guitars usually sound more mellow, rounder, fatter.

The Telecaster does, however produce a very pure even note. The low frequencies are inherently there, just more highs on top. The Tele also gives you a very even response from low strings to high. If set up properly, one string is not louder than another. This is crucial for jazz chord voicings because, you want to hear every note of a chord evenly.

A lot of jazz players use the fingers on their picking hand to pluck, sometimes in conjunction with a pick. Since the Tele does not have a middle pick-up, there is nothing to obstruct the fingers.

They are very durable and also versatile. Very few players make a living playing jazz guitar, so most guys need an instrument that is well suited for other styles and will withstand the rigorous nightclub atmosphere.

So, how do you coax the jazz tone from the Telecaster?

On a stock model, the neck (closest to the neck) pick-up is a lot less bright than the bridge pickup. The problem is that is not nearly as loud either. I’ve heard older players refer to the neck pickup as the rhythm one and the bridge pickup as the lead one. The idea being that, you would strum at a lower volume and switch to the bridge pick-up for solos. You can use the neck pick-up for a jazz sound but, the volume difference between the two is so great, you are confined to it. Personally, on a stock Tele, I have had better luck using the bridge pickup and rolling the tone control back until it feels jazzy. A lot of players are accustomed to never using the tone knob on the guitar. On a lot of guitars the tone knobs are not very useful. Not so, with Telecasters, the tone and volume knobs both perform useful functions.

If you cut back the volume on the guitar, it will brighten up somewhat. Tele’s do that when you cut the volume, the mids thin out.

A lot of players will put a humbucker in the bridge position for the jazz tone. Tele’s are very adaptable to such modifications. They are the electric guitar equivalent of a ‘34 Ford to a hot rod builder. There is room to tinker.

My guitar was a gift from Bill Dees in 2000. I use it at every gig and it’s the same one I used on the “Trouble Ain’t Over” record.

It is a reissue of the “wallpaper” model that was produced in 1969. Can you guess why they called it the “wallpaper” model? They didn’t sell a lot of the original ones in ‘69 and I don’t think the reissue went too well either. It’s a very solid guitar though, and one I didn’t have any qualms about modifying. I was always a big fan of Danny Gatton and I read several interviews where he talked about a guy named Joe Barden who made pickups for him. One thing Danny talked about was the volume difference in the pickups on a stock Tele and how the Barden pickups were the solution. I loved Gatton’s jazz tone so, that was one of the reasons I loaded this guitar with the Bardens.

I also have a 1 meg tone pot in there like Gatton used which, reacts a lot differently. As a matter of fact, this guitar with Barden pickups, 1 meg tone pot, and maple neck has the capability of producing a far brighter tone than any I have ever come across. Most of the time, on gigs, I run the tone control somewhere between half and 3/4. Rarely do I have it on full treble although, sometimes I like to make it sting for a few notes. But, because it has the bright factor available, I am able to get a vast array of sounds without ever tweaking my amp.

If you want to hear an example of some jazz sounds I got using this guitar, listen to the song “Munk”. There are three guitar tracks on this song. The chords are played on the neck pickup. The melody section, where I’m doubling with Joe Terry’s Hammond B3, is played in the middle position and the solos are on the neck pickup. All were played through Lou Whitney’s old Fender Deluxe Reverb amp with the reverb turned all the off. I almost always record my parts dry and add effects later, during mixing.

By the way, except for a couple of acoustic guitar parts, everything on the “Trouble Ain’t Over” record was played on a Telecaster. All my stuff and all of the rhythm parts that D. Clinton Thompson did as well. Having Donnie Thompson play rhythm guitar on your record is a bit like cooking dinner and having Bobby Flay as a sous chef. Donnie is a fantastic player.

Ted Greene, Mike Stern, Ed Bickert, Danny Gatton, John Jorgensen, Roy Buchanan, Jerry Donahue, these are a few well known guys that I have seen play Telecaster jazz. You can get a jazz tone out of ‘em. A Tele isn’t going to sound like a $20,000 hand carved arch top like a D’Aquisto or anything along those lines. But, then again, you wouldn’t want to drag a piece like that to the kind of places I go play either.

I know a lot of guys that have a Telecaster, that will bring it to a country gig once in a while or play it on a session from time to time. Then, I know a few guys who are into a wide variety of styles that play a Tele on everything. They drag it to a blues gig, a rock show, country barn dance whatever. These guys are coming from a no frills mindset;”I just need this one guitar here”. They usually don’t use a bunch of gizmos either, and the guitars tend get time worn. These are the Tele guys I often speak of.

Here is Ed Bickert playing on a version of “When In Rome” by singer George Evans. George’s intro is a bit goofy but Ed’s solo is great. He is playing with the neck pickup which is a humbucker. I don’t know if he added that pickup or not. There were a few Telecaster models that had them.

Here’s a short example of Gatton playing “Seven Come Eleven”. Danny was able to play jazz stuff with a little edgier tone than most. It’s tough to do. It’s easier to play precise and quick when you use a warm and fuzzy tone than to do what Gatton does here using the middle position.

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Tags: Danny Gatton, Ed Bickert, Fender Telecaster, Telecaster Jazz