holiday

A Gear Visit from St. Nicholas

Somewhere, Clement Clarke Moore may be scoffing, but our columnist’s tone-crazy Santa brings all the goodies!

’Twas the night before New-Gear Day, when all through the house
Not a Pro Co RAT was stirring, not even a Blue Mouse;
Two microphones were hung by the 4x12 with care,
In hopes that no phase issues would ever be there;
The pedals were nestled all snug on their boards;
While visions of Sugar Drives danced in dream chords;
With my bandmates in bed, to enjoy decompression,
We’d just settled our brains from a long recording session,
When, coming from the studio, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the console for an EQ that’s flatter.
Away to the kit to make room for a splash,
I tightened up the snares and polished the crash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a sparkle and shine to my bluegrass banjo,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature Timmy, and the Lightspeed from Greer,
In a sleigh with a Driver so lively and thick,
I knew in a moment this was Gear St. Nick.

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A Holiday Theme from Wes Montgomery

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Video

In time for the holidays: Wes Montgomery''s "Snowfall" solo

Click here to download the full-resolution, printable PDF tab.
Happy Holidays from Jazz Guitar Hardball! And what better way to celebrate the holidays than with Wes Montgomery’s solo on “Snowfall”? Wes shows us how to capture an elegant and ethereal waltz-like feel on this A-A-B-A holiday classic, written by Claude Thornhill.

The strength of this solo lies in its ability to transform standard harmonies and arpeggios into warm and intuitive melodies and themes. The improvisation takes great care to outline the harmony of each chord change, but simultaneously does so in a very melodic manner with careful phrasing and use of rest space. Classic single-note Wes makes the holidays complete!

You can listen to Wes’ solo at:https://www.stevekhan.com/snowfall1.htm

For an original performance by Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, see the video on YouTube.


Jim Bastian
A clinician and jazz educator, Jim Bastian is a 10 year veteran of teaching guitar in higher education. Jim holds two masters degrees and has published 6 jazz studies texts, including the best-selling How to Play Chordal Bebop Lines, for Guitar (available from Jamey Aebersold). He actively performs on both guitar and bass on the East Coast.

An avid collector and trader in the vintage market, you can visit Jim’s store at premierguitar.com (dealer: IslandFunhouse).
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