Gypsy Jazz guitar has influenced bluegrass, rock, blues, country,
and jazz guitar greats and is being seen more and more both in
new recordings from Nashville and around the acoustic guitar
community. I hope to describe many of the elements of gypsy
jazz guitar in future posts but thought I would start by giving some
background on the founder of this guitar technique.
Django Reinhardt was born in Belgium and was raised within a
gypsy tribe and caravan just outside Paris. Django first began
playing violin and banjo but switched to guitar and was playing
around Paris by the age of 13. When Django was 18 his right leg
was paralyzed and his third and fourth fingers of his left hand were
severely damaged by a fire in his trailer home. He persevered and
now played with only two fingers on his left hand (above).
Django became heavily influenced by American jazz musicians like
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Eddie Lang, which led him to
move from playing just gypsy guitar to a new gypsy jazz guitar style.
After teeming with swing violin player Stephan Grappelli they formed
the “Quintette du Hot Club de France”, which quickly became a huge
hit. Django survived World War II despite being in France and the
Nazi hatred for both gypsies and jazz. In 1948 he came to the US to
tour with Duke Ellington but returned to France never to return to
the US again. Django died in 1953.
Except for that brief tour with Ellington (where he played an electric
guitar) Django played an acoustic Selmer guitar. I will post a great
Django song to hear and a tab for the song below. I hope to expand
your knowledge and interest in this style and add a new flavor to your
playing no matter the style.
influence coming out
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