I like my jazz one of two ways:  Ultra-traditional or way-out-wacked.  Guess which one this is?
You like that?  More here -> http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeStreetDive

Thanks. That was rather good.

Love Jimi! It's funny how he says he forgot the words to All Along the Watchtower.

In the guitar line of music videos... this is some pretty funky stuff!

I like the range of that guitar.  I've actually found that I enjoy playing simple mid-tempo solos on the piano in that range from middle-c to a couple octaves down.  Makes it sound funky.

I like the range of that guitar.  I've actually found that I enjoy playing simple mid-tempo solos on the piano in that range from middle-c to a couple octaves down.  Makes it sound funky.

I like it too even though everybody seems to play it with reverb or delay cranked up to the nines! Not what I'd call subtle...unless you're a Spaghetti Western or hardcore surf music fan. It's extremely easy to overdo it. And the baritone's sound character is distinctive enough that it can easily overwhelm an arrangement. Snarky Puppy compensated by going completely over the top with the low end. It worked for that piece. But you can only do so many songs like that before it starts to get gimmicky. Mr. League walked a fine line and pulled it off. Most players don't have his level of musical training or enough good
taste to take chances like that.

My old band had a baritone in the equipment list. I used it on one song to good effect. Did a delicate octave doubling and some harmonizations on the bass line. The regular guitarist played bass on that song since he couldn't get his head (or hands) around the baritone guitar. Too much culture shock I guess.

Quick note: don't confuse the baritone guitar with the rare six string Bass-VI /Bajo Sexto that Fender sold back in the 60s and early 70s. It looks similar, but it's a totally different sounding and playing instrument.

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Not a fan of more strings than 6 on any guitar, and 4 on the bass.

I'm with you. 6 for a git, 4 for a bass. However, I do own a Spector 5-string bass. (Spector was one of the first 5-strings that actually had enough tension on the low-B string for it to be playable and actually have distinct notes. Many 5-string bass's low-B flops all over the place and mostly sounds like mud.) Currently strung B-E-A-D-G. I'll probably switch it over to a high-C string set (E-A-D-G-C) instead since that low B string isn't all that useful. If I regularly need/want a low open D, I can always put a Hipshot tuner on the E string and be done with it.

That said, when I get my next guitar actually built sometime in the next 10 years, it's gonna be strung up in C.  Just sayin'  

Not Nashville or Methaney Nashville?

The prototype guitar I'm working on right now has 5 strings and is tuned to open G ala Keith Richards. I love it. Now all I need to do is make one with better materials. Still up in the air about electronics although some combination of lipstick, mini humbucker, 'jangle-tron', and P-90 is definitely where it's going.

And what of the piccolo bass?  Which one is it gonna be?  All these overlapping ranges, a man could go MAD I tell you!

What of it indeed? I like the piccolo bass. Like it a lot more than going up above the 12th fret to get the same notes - but with zero sustain.

Checkout Zander Zon who "gets it!"

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FWIW Ibanzez currently sells an 8-string guitar intended for the Metalhead that can't get low enough with their 7-string grunge plank. Can a 9-string be far behind?

Oh, for the love of Pete, just STOP... STOP I SAY!!  STAAAHHHHHHHPPPP!!

...

I SAID STAAAAAAAAAAHHH... oh never !@#$%^&ing mind...  

Agree! Really sucks (no better word for it unfortunately) doesn't it? Just goes to show, if you want something bad enough - you can get it. And that junk is about as bad as you can get it.

Oh...since we're on the subject...don't forget that noble (but mostly forgotten) little gem of an instrument: the tenor guitar. Now that's one sweet little box o' strings.

Here's the modern Eastwood version:


But there are dozens of variations on it that go back to the beginning of the last century including some beautiful antique Martins.

Gibson even did an SG version they never released to production. This circa 1964 one-off has got to be among the rarest of rare Gibsons!

Oh, for the love of Pete, just STOP... STOP I SAY!!  STAAAHHHHHHHPPPP!!

I SAID STAAAAAAAAAAHHH... oh never !@#$%^&ing mind... 

7, 8 , 9, 10...

God! Before you know it, they'll have a 12 string guitar~!

Scott Fernandez's 12-string bass seems like it has more in common with a Chapman Stick or the sound of a clavichord than it does with the lute family from which guitars and pizzicato-style basses ostensibly trace their heritage. FWIW I'm starting to find the whole' tap-a-tap' bit is getting kinda old. It's fine as an accent point in a solo - if it fits within the context of the larger piece. (Think parts of Eddie Van Halen's solo in Panama or Somebody Get Me a Doctor for examples of where it does fit.) But a whole song (or show) worth of it? No thanks! It might have been real "rad" at one point. (Like maybe back in the early 80s?) But it's been so overdone after all this time that my ears switch off if neck-tapping goes on too long. And it doesn't matter how "good" it is. I'm tired of it. And I'm not alone.

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Note: about the Chapman Stick and neck tapping in general

Maybe it's just me, but I'm always amazed at how people go ga-ga over a mediocre performance of something on an instrument clearly not designed to do what's being asked of it. To me, it's like the proverbial "singing dog" at a Carnival sideshow. People lay their money down to see it. And they applaud the performance...but...I can't help wondering if they're applauding because they actually liked what they heard...or they were just amazed that a dog could 'sing' anything at all? Kinda like some of these parent-proclaimed "child prodigies" who play a musical instrument. They don't really play all that well. But they do play extremely well for a 5-year old.

IMHO there are far better instruments to play most of what gets played by neck-tapping a guitar or bass. Keyboards, tuned percussion, and harps come most readily to mind.

So can we skip fixating on the party tricks so much and possibly get back to making some fine music again?

Dunno...maybe it's just me...but:

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This from OpenCulture.com

Musician Shows How to Sing Two Notes at Once in Mesmerizing Video

in Music | October 6th, 2014

Anna-Maria Hefele, a musician based in Munich, has an unusual talent. She can sing two notes at once. In the music world, it’s known as polyphonic overtone singing, and it’s believed that the practice originated and still endures in Mongolia. Above, Hefele offers a pretty captivating five-minute display of her technique. On her website, she notes that she offers concerts, lecture performances, and workshops in overtone singing. In fact, there’s a workshop being held later this month near Salzburg, Austria. Find updates on Hefele’s Facebook page. Enjoy!

She's pretty amazing! (She's also rather pretty too.   )

This from OpenCulture.com

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Musician Shows How to Sing Two Notes at Once in Mesmerizing Video

in Music | October 6th, 2014

Anna-Maria Hefele, a musician based in Munich, has an unusual talent. She can sing two notes at once. In the music world, it’s known as polyphonic overtone singing, and it’s believed that the practice originated and still endures in Mongolia. Above, Hefele offers a pretty captivating five-minute display of her technique. On her website, she notes that she offers concerts, lecture performances, and workshops in overtone singing. In fact, there’s a workshop being held later this month near Salzburg, Austria. Find updates on Hefele’s Facebook page. Enjoy!

She's pretty amazing! (She's also rather pretty too.  )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9Qh709gas

Avi Kaplan from Pentatonix can do this too.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight


His parts in this song merge throat singing with dubstep overtone.

I would like to see her do a tutorial on how to do it. Just a very basic one. But everyone can do it? Wow. That's a big claim.

She does workshops. Just not around where I live.

But wait! There's more...

Here's an ensemble Ms. Hefele is part of: SUPERSONUS The European Resonance Ensemble ( http://www.supersonus.eu)

Ok...overtone singing, jew's harp, Harpsichord, Kannel (Estonian zither), and a Nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle) all on one group???

Awesome!

Definitely my kind of weird.

Saw a Mongolian guy doing overtone in concert a few years back but cant remember his name...

Possibly Kongar-ol Ondar of Tuva? He's probably the most famous in the Western world. He was featured in the documentary Genghis Blues. And he was touring with Bela Fleck and The Flecktone some years back. Caused quite a sensation at the time. He passed away in 2013 at the young age of 51.

Here's Ondar demonstrating to an enthusiastic audience at the Fairfield University Quick Center. After that there's a short introduction of the three separate styles of Tuvan throat singing.





Tuva is an unusual country with a tragic history. Physicist Richard Feynman became fascinated with Tuva and attempted to travel there in 1977. His story about that ultimately fruitless attempt is documented in a book by his travelling companion Richard Leighton entitled: Tuva or Bust!: Richard Feynman's Last Journey

As a stamp-collecting boy always fascinated by remote places, Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman was particularly taken by the diamond-shaped stamps from a place called Tannu Tuva deep within Outer Mongolia. He hoped, someday, to travel there.

In 1977, Feynman and his sidekick— fellow drummer and geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton—set out to make arrangements to visit Tuva, doing noble and hilarious battle with Soviet red tape, befriending quite a few Tuvans, and discovering the wonders of Tuvan throat-singing. Their Byzantine attempts to reach Tannu Tuva would span a decade, interrupted by Feynman's appointment to the committee investigating the Challenger disaster, and his tragic struggle with the cancer that finally killed him. Tuva or Bust! chronicles the deepening friendship of two zany, brilliant strategists whose love of the absurd will delight and instruct. It is Richard Feynman's last, best adventure.

There's an excellent CD by Ondar that's well worth a listen. It's called Back Tuva Future.

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I like very very much Hiromi Uehara. 
I propose an astonishing video where she even alters the sound of the pianoforte by a unique manner that I have never seen before: