Wes could play any part of the beat, at any tempo, and in any style. He swung as a good horn player he was saying as much as a horn player.”Īgain, I can’t say enough about Wes Montgomery’s time and it’s relevance to today’s guitarists. “He was more as an interpreter of jazz, but on the guitar. John Scofield is quite right in saying the following regarding Wes Montgomery: During the process of transcribing Montgomery, I never become discouraged by my failures because I realize that I am trying to conquer the work of one the most sophisticated musicians in the history of jazz. Usually, I was rushing an eighth note here or an eighth note there.Įventually I got an expectable take and I was one step closer to reaching some of my personal goals as a musician. In listening back to each pass, I would hear a line or two that wasn’t quite inside the pocket. If my performance were transcribed, it would look correct on a piece of paper. Each pass was academically acceptable for sure. In making this video, I played the solo about 25 times. Transcribing Wes Montgomery can be a painful process. It should be the goal of every aspiring jazz guitarist to get inside of Wes’s head and experience his feel under their own fingers. Simply put-Wes Montgomery’s time is better than any jazz guitarist who has ever lived.

In fact, I don’t think Wes’s harmonic ideas should be the focal point of these transcription studies. Of course, I would never suggest that a player should make a habit of blatantly lifting Wes’s lines and rehashing them in their own solos. It is my firm belief that anyone who is even remotely interested in playing modern jazz guitar should transcribe Wes Montgomery. This is the first of many Wes Montgomery solos I will be demonstrating. Wes Montgomery’s solo on “Billie’s Bounce” from Fingerpickin’

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