however, he did consider using a pick Bt one
B Y J I M CBROUSON
Wes Montgomery leamed his art on the street,
not in a classroom or from a book. Largely self-
developed, his pragmatic approach was de-
signed for playing jazz, period. According to
his brother Buddy, “He didn’t read any music
that I know of, unless he was quiet and didn’t
tell me anything.” Yet an inability to read mu-
sic has never prevented improvisors from
achieving great things. Wes had plenty of natu-
ral talent, but he also worked extremely hard.
EX. 2
G7
J= 108
EX. 3
Eb7
J=w
6 6 GUITAR PLAYER Arclast 1 9 9 3
ybs
In the early ’60s he told Ralph J. Gleason, “It
takes so much time to develop your tech-
nique.”
Even non-musicians who saw Wes play
were astounded by how he used his right-hand
thumb to sound the strings. This was a primary
reason for his particularly lush tone and un-
doubtedly a contributing factor to the way he
phrased. (Monk Montgomery also used his
thumb.) Wes supposedly began using his
thumb because it kept his playing relatively
quiet and less likely to disturb his neighbors:
c7
point. “I just didn’t like the sound,” he ex-
plained to Ralph J. Gleason. “I tried it for about
two months-didn’t use the thumb at all. But I
still couldn’t use the pick, so I said I’d go ahead
and use the thumb. I liked the tone better with
the thumb, but the technique better with the
pick.. . . I couldn’t have them both.”
Viewing 1965’s /uzz 625 reveals volumes
about Wes’ overall technique. In terms of his
right-hand thumb, he used downward rest
strokes the majority of the time. (Normally, his
fingers spread out over the pickguard and onto
the guitar’s top, serving as an anchor.) He occa-
sionally used upstrokes for fast passages, off-
the-beat kicks, and tremolos. Less frequently
he brushed up with his right-hand index finger
or executed a rasgueado-like flourish with sev-
eral fingers.
Most of Wes’ thumb movement emanated
from the joint nearest the hand, the knuckle of
which protrudes upward. The rest of his thumb
was rigid and arched down toward the strings.
Many fingerstylists find this position very diffi-
cult, if not impossible, to adopt. Recording en-
gineer Wally Heider observed that Wes’ thumb
was “the fastest thing” he’d ever seen.
Although Montgomery complained about
the shortcomings of his right-hand technique,
it didn’t prevent him from developing his
patented approach to improvisation, in which
he began with single notes, moved to his trade-
mark octaves, and climaxed with chords. This
“additive” method organically built tension
and excitement and made many of his solos
miniature primers in his overall skills.
Single nokr. Wes’ bluesy feel and vocabu-
lary are primary reasons why players of so
many styles gravitate toward his music. Bx 1
through Ex. 4 show a variety of blues-based
single-note ideas. Ex. 1 is based on F minor
pentatonic. Ex. 2 is basically the same phrase,
but in the key of G. Although Montgomery had
a collection of stock licks, the many ways in
which he led into and exited from them never
signaled that he was falling back on memo-
rized clich8s. Ex. 3 has a double-time feel,
while Rx. 4 integrates the b7, which generates
its own bluesy quality in the context of a 12-bar
progression.
@ LESSONS ON LINE I-900-370-0020”1160
 In addition to the downhome aspects of EX.4
Wes’ playing, he negotiated chord changes in a
J=ioe , F7
seamless, sophisticated manner. Ex 5 shows a
short idea based on E7. Whether he thought in
terms of E7 (in which case the notes generated
are9, 11, 13, root, b7,9), Bm7(5, b7,9, 11,3,5),
or sound alone, his use of extensions is hip to
say the least. He also had effective approaches
to playing over altered chords. In Bx. 6 the first
two beats are Mixolydian-based, while the sec-
ond two feature a superimposed Bbmaj7 EX. 5 EX. 6
E7 A7ft5
arpeggio that generates the root, #5,11, and b9.
Octovos. “You’re going to come across oc-
taves if you play the guitar long enough,” John
Scofield observes, “but no one conceived of
doing it like Wes did. I still don’t know how he
did it.” Wes wasn’t the Brst jazz guitarist to in-
corporate octaves, but he took them to un-
precedented heights. Bx. 7 shows two of the I u I u
most common octave fingerings. Damp the
EX. 7
skipped string by pivoting your 1st finger
against it. xxx x x x xx
To develop fluency, practice Bx. 6’s Cmajor
scale. This simple exercise points out the most 4
difficult aspect of octave execution: left-hand
shifts. To cultivate the necessary speed and ac-
EX. 8
curacy, your left arm should move your hand
from position to position, a common classical
guitar concept. This prevents you from leading
with only your hand, dragging your thumb be-
hind. Wes occasionally reached out of position,
keeping his thumb flxed behind the neck, but
for substantial fingerboard shifts, his left-hand
thumb moved along with his hand.
Octaves are difiicult, but they can be mas-
EX.9
tered. In the early ’60s Montgomery said, “I
Gm7
used to have headaches every time I played oc-
taves, because it was an extra strain, but the
minute I’d quit, I’d be all right. I don’t know
why, but it was my way, and my way just back-
fired on me. But now I don’t have headaches
when I play octaves. I’m just showing you how
a strain can capture a cat and almost choke
him, but after a while it starts to ease up be- I I
P tl
cause you get used to it.” Steve Khan adds,
“The octave passages were often things he’d al- Chords. Probably the most overlooked, in- Kenny Burrell states. “I don’t know of anyone
so play as single notes. In a way, octaves make novative, and monstrously difficult aspect of who played chords in their solos to that extent,
you play more melodic@.” Ex. 9 shows an F Montgomery’s playing was his chord improvi- so well, and so musically.”
minor pentatonic octave idea that demands sations. “He was one of the pioneers of block To begin to appreciate Wes’ chordal fluen-
precise left-hand shifts. chords, a pianistic approach to the guitar,” cy, learn Ex. 10’s E7-based fingerings. Then

Aryrst 1993 GUITAR CLAYER 67

 EX. 10
E7 E7sus4
E7#5#9 El3
EX. 11
Bm7
EX. 12
> > >
record an E7 vamp with a swing feel and im-
provise with Ex. 10’s chords. Remember that
Wes employed a variety of voicings, inver-
sions, and substitutions, and often connected
chords chromatically. Ex. 11 shows a phrase
over Bm7-E7. For an example of his chord-
melody approach, check out “While We’re
Young,” originally on Riverside’s So Much
Guitar!
Montgomery also had a very flexible sense
of rhythm, although his intense drive aligned
him stylistically with the hard-bop school
more than any other. In the Sept. ‘92 GP, Pat
Metheny said, “He had an incredibly good
rhythmic feel when he played straight up and
down, but he would also play against things.”
Rx. 12’s accents show how he might displace a
four-note grouping by one eighth-note, while
E7b5b9 E9
E7b9 E9
E7
J J I J > J J A.
Ex. 13 illustrates a four-note grouping in a
triplet context. ‘Ry these ideas with your own
lines.
For more on Wes and his style and music,
see Steve Khan’s The Wes Montgomery Guitar
Foliollmprovisations And Interpretations
[Gopan Enterprises], Jimmy Stewart’s Wes
MontgomerylJazz Guitar Method [Robbins
Music], Adrian Ingram’s Wes Montgomery
[Ashley Mark], and Wes Montgomery/Jazz Gui-
tar Solos [Alma] .
In the final analysis, how Wes did some-
thing is secondary to what he did. “You can
have multiple degrees in harmony and theory,
be a tremendous reader, and have all kinds of
technical skills,” says Steve Khan, “but in the
end you have to hear something-especially
in jazz. Wes heard something.” 0