Give me suggestions on players who have a good "groove".

crank

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The only thing I can think of is to play percussively. No drummer right? So who is going to lay a foundation for others to riff off of. In a sleepy tune like the one you posted above there is not much going on. A sparse and percussive rhythm guitar might add some punch. I could see it sounding mushy and muddy with a bunch of not so great players strumming a fairly loos and unstructured piece. You need to add the structure. Pretend there is a snare drum and chop a chord on that beat.

In you specific situation I believe less is more.
 

walrus

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The only thing I can think of is to play percussively. No drummer right? So who is going to lay a foundation for others to riff off of. In a sleepy tune like the one you posted above there is not much going on. A sparse and percussive rhythm guitar might add some punch. I could see it sounding mushy and muddy with a bunch of not so great players strumming a fairly loos and unstructured piece. You need to add the structure. Pretend there is a snare drum and chop a chord on that beat.

In you specific situation I believe less is more.

Well said. You need to be the drummer. Lots of jazz guitarists (John Pizzarelli comes to mind) comp under other solos by muting the strings to get a percussive sound.

Here's a quick example. Route 66 performed by Pizzarelli:



walrus
 

adorshki

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If they are one or two 12 bar blues type songs, yes. If they are the jazz standards, nope. Autumn Leaves, Blue Bossa, Sunny, All of me, that sort of thing. There are a few not so familiar tunes I was working on.
Try KCSM.org, local 24/7 PBS jazz station but they stream on the net, only commercials are quarterly pledge drives.
They feature real DJ's who do NOT use a "playlist", they make their own.
Listening is a college-level education in jazz history.
I was thinking of you just last night when one tune came on, suspect you'd hear something you really like at least a couple times an hour, and answers to your question more often than that.
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geoguy

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Tommy Emmanuel was the first player who I thought of re: this topic.

He is a fabulous solo player, but also excels (and claims to greatly enjoy) playing rhythm guitar to support other players. Here's one example:

 

JohnW63

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Crank,

Sometimes we've had a drummer ( 1 plays everything with a rock beat and loud . The other tends to speed up.. a lot during the song. ) Sometimes we have had a computer based drum thing. But, it we can't work any of those out, it Aaron, me, and the former student also on bass, but , like I said, he rather sedate for a bass guy. Both bass players get solos, and when they are, I'm looking to make sure they have something good to riff against, instead of the some palm muted strums over chords.

The thread has been interesting in that some guys you think of as solo line guys have very good rhythm and groove chops. Now, I need to look at our song list differently. Beyond, do I know it well, can I come up with good solo stuff on the fly, and...how can I help when others are taking their turn.
 
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