Need help identifying/naming the music I like & what to practice to sound like that

[LNW]

I am a person who often has a general/fuzzy/vague idea of where I want to later be down the road, but I have a hard time identifying the clear steps to work on to get where I want to be. Usually, it's because I have a hard time identifying a precise name for what the things are that I enjoy. I am returning to guitar again (having fizzled out several years ago due to lack of finding things I wanted to play due to my limited musical interests at the time)...and this time, I've given a lot of thought to what my real musical interests are for my guitar playing.

I need some help because I kind-of know what I want to improve and sound like, but I don't know what to label the styles or what sort of resources would get me there that I could use for practicing. The thing that most interests me now with guitar playing is rhythm guitar, chord playing...new chords, and just playing nice sounding groupings of chords. Maybe it's jazz, maybe it's blues, maybe I need a book on rhythm guitar...I don't know.


The best way I can think of to convey what I'd like to grow to sound more like in this respect is to post some short YouTube clips:

Gretsch® G9500 "Jim Dandy™" 24" Flat Top Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0YHUcLe4mc

Yamaha APXT2 Travel Guitar [what he's playing around 1:00]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFKr6NlumXM


I think it'd also help if I knew some specific musicians/guitarists who play these sorts of guitar styles for me to listen to and learn from. Any suggestions?


As for book resources to begin sounding more like the styles in those videos, my initial thought is to maybe work my way through one of the following books: [Any help is much appreciated!]

Rhythm Guitar by Bruce Buckingham
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14...KIKX0DER&psc=1

Blues Rhythm Guitar by Keith Wyatt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793571286...d=UQ4LJ380CLGM

Jazz Guitar Chord Mastery by Joseph Alexander
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Chord-...z+guitar+chord

[HHP]

I would call it "swing" guitar. Comping with moveable chord shapes. Maybe the place you hear it used most is the genre called "Gypsy Jazz". Not unlike the "chop" rhythm used by many mandolin players.

[JonPR]

Yes, it's the "hot" or "swing" jazz style of comping, that guitarists played in big bands in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. (Actually it was probably more often banjo in the 1920s.)
And it's standard in small "gypsy jazz" combos, based on Django Reinhardt's 1930s Hot Club group (itself inspired by Eddie Lang's work with Joe Venuti).

The right hand is obviously pretty straightforward - although you need to get the feel for swing in the upstrokes. The left hand is playing various types of 7th and 6th chords, maybe some 9ths here and there. (Triads don't quite cut it in this style.) The fret hand is also doing a lot of muting, to keep the rhythm staccato - short chords - which is done by releasing the fret pressure between beats.

This style was often derogatively referred to as "woodchopping", and as HHP says, we still use the word "chop" for this sound now.

You don't necessarily need full 5- or 6-string shapes. Most jazz chords work on the middle 4 strings or top 4 (and will often omit the root), so the left hand has to be comfortable muting the strings you're not using, as well as shortening the chords by releasing the pressure.

Start here (lesson 1 ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANArGmr74u4&t=90

There's a member here called Big Band Guitar who can probably give you a few ideas. Also, there is a website that I go to to find lyrics to standards, but he also posts a lot of chords over the lyrics: http://www.theguitarguy.com/

[Mandobart]

If it's swing and Gypsy Jazz You are interested in, djangobooks is where to go. Michael Horowitz there has written several books on playing gypsy jazz and swing guitar.