Joe Pass & Epiphone Joe Pass

[ruiner54]

man...joe pass always leaves me speechless

[ArchangelofGrace]

wow, wow, and WOW!!! ;) Nuff said. jeje

[hcullen12]

i know it's been two years, but Lapocienta, you're a fucking idiot. Just listening to one or two styles of music is rotting your brain. Great artists like Joe Pass don't listen to one style of music and become famous. They take in as much as they can, and put their own spin on the style they play. If you took a chance and really listened to Hip Hop or pop music, you may see something in it and take something away from it, instead of boring yourself with the monotony of one genre.

[brooksvilleguy]

He plays great- but he can't get the tone out of this EPI guitar like he does on his Gibson L-5. Do you notice?

[ruiner54]

@brooksvilleguy

Definitely i noticed the tone right away..its a beautiful guitar but ironically doesnt seem to give him that joe pass sound. i am in no way crapping on Joe but most sources suggest he wasnt that crazy about this jazz box and endorsed it for the cash

[brooksvilleguy]

@ruiner54

I'm sure. Hell; he deserved it. But; the Joe Pass EPI doesn't even stack up to an EPI dot. If you want to hear Joe Pass at his best, in his later years, there are some excellent videos, with Roy Clark, on Youtube, Roy Clark and Joe Pass play Hank Williams. These two artists had a great repore, and their sound together was nothing less than excellent. Pass played a vintage Gibson L-5, and Clark played a high end Heritage model. Really magic.

[mrjamesgrimes]

That last little flourish he did be for the vid cut out was siiiiiiick

[ArkRed1]

Is that an ebony nut on the guitar, or a black plastic one? Mine had white plastic which I changed to bone. Nice little jazz guitar. Great gospel guitar, so says the preacher I sold it to.

[mightybisons]

PEAVEY!

[Vermillion2176]

Collection of dipwads!

2/5/1/ is a three chord progression. You can chain them together and get a long chain of 2/5/1's and it sound nice.

12 Bar Blues, is a twelve bar progression that is the framework for most traditional blues chord changes. You can play 2/5/1/ passing chords all over it if you wish. If you guys would sit down and be quiet, I would love to listen to Joe playing these 2/5/1 changes over a 12 Bar Blues type Jazz progression.

Big Ron

[RedAlertDC]

this is awesome. anyone know where I can get the tab for this? gots to learn this.

[bluebrowne13]

funny - he didn't like the pickguard either

[gabri3l367]

Grande Joe Pass. Swing , armonia e gusto immenso. Ti adoro !!!!!

[stevemasterus]

I own this guitar, and through a proper amp it sounds awesome.

[RonVermillion]

I hate to rain on anyones parade - I love Joe Pass. This number is in G and IS a basic 12 Bar Blues pattern. You can play the 12 Bar Blues in G right along with it. You will sound better than normal too. LOL

Ron

[monkeys350]

why is it that jazz players like to play blues and blues players like to play jazz?

[guitarpicka1]

@monkeys350 ....To advance the craft of playing theGuitar...The student should spend much time... playing Scales until you become Blue in the face...or...play the Blues until you become Scaley in the face..(WORD)..!!

[KyussWhitewater]

Man if you get this hot over Joe Pass you'll go nuts with all those pre-war 30's swing blues songs. The lines between jazz and blues get blurred in there... As for this video to me it sounds like a standard fluid jazz progression (watch for the walking bass) with some bluesy phrasing.

[navazguitar]

it's based on a stock blues I IV V 12 bar chord progression, it's played with lots of blues scale, it employs improvisation, it's the kind of song (jazz-blues) that's part of a long tradition in jazz, most fans and players would define it as a blues tune (with lots of jazzy sub's, etc.)... So what's the problem?

[ecrocksmysocks]

1:45

[Honeypietwinny]

Its not the guitar... its who is playing it!!!!!! My man plays this guitar and he is a bad ass mo fo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes he would like a gibson.. 335 0r a 176 I think that that the numbers.. but like he says its not the guitar its who is behind it!!!! He won the IBC with this joe pass!!! Lol!!!

[martinaxman]

Joe Pass could make a cigar box sound good. The way I heard it his Gibson got stolen and he decided to go with the Epi. If it got stolen again it wouldn't be so expensive to replace and it had a good sound.

[TheTranslator100]

@martinaxman

You mean Joe Pass actually gigged with that $500 guitar?!? Not knocking the Epiphone, but I guess if he's getting paid to play it, then WTF. For the price, it's not a bad instrument.

Swapping the rosewood bridge for a Tune-o-matic imparts a warmer sound, IMO. For best results; Flatwounds no smaller than 11's are recommended for optimum Jazz tone. To my ear at least, it lacks in highs, so I run it through a solid-state amp, which is not an uncommon practice in Jazz guitar.

[martinaxman]

@TheTranslator100 : Good info. Thanks. The Epi thing was from memory from way back. I tried to find some YT footage, but the only place I can confidently say I've seen it is "The Blue side of Jazz" from Hotlicks. Like you said, it's a nice ax for those of us who can't afford to invest the cost of a used Buick in an ax. ;-) So I save my change and who knows, maybe I'll own one someday. Maybe even swap out the bridge and throw in some nice pickups.

[tacubarex]

About this being jazz-blues or hot rod blues, I like him best with moustache :)

[WIIFORWII]

i dont wanna add on to some argument but this sounds like jazzy blues

[JerrysTube]

Don't ya just love all the "Critics"..??? Actually, Joe is doing just fine here. Duh

[BlueRoseRocketBand2]

Sounds good to me. I don't always play in 145

but it is still blues playing to me. I call it Hot Rod blues.

[88ragtime]

Is it jazzy blues, or bluesy jazz? Who cares! Joe Pass was a wonderful guitarist, and just watching him play you could easily see that he loved the music.

[isismafer]

i enjoy joe´s playing i dont care if it is blues or not he was great period

[leftyjcw]

Man, you people need to stop thinking so damn much. Geez!!! Just enjoy the playing. STOP LABELING everything.

[cwdnashville]

Like many jazz guitarists, I had some "hard times" & the best choice for an affordable axe was this Epiphone "Joe Pass" model. It's a pretty poor imitation of the "real thing". The maple neck gives it a tinny sound. Even the master himself here in this recording has a buzzy thin tone. It does have a decent "feel" & would be good enough for a student or a broke cat who needed a cheap jazz axe to gig on.

[steelmanjim]

So then a Gibson L-5 or Super 400, two of the finest Gibson jazz guitars ever built, are not suitable for jazz and have a "tinny" sound, huh? ... as well as the famous D'Angelico's, D'Aquisto's and more. The Gibson ES-175 has a mahogany neck, MANY have Maple. Mundell Lowe has a stable full of vintage jazz guitars and uses this same cheap Epiphone model quite a bit. Most likely the not great tone here is more due to the video producers or to how this clip was copied, than to Joe or the guitar.

[aaronentresz]

It is the producers that make the tinny tone. I have heard local jazzers make the Epi Joe Pass sound equally as rich as a 175.

[TheTranslator100]

@steelmanjim "Most likely the not great tone here is more due to the video producers or to how this clip was copied"

The amp could have attributed to the tone as well. Not knocking Peavy amps, but I think a Polytone would have done it more justice.

Actually, I run this guitar through a semi-rock setup - an AVT Marshall head with a 2x12 Diezel cab (clean channel of course), and the tone great. I bet George Benson would cut through more in live performances if he used this rig...

[Lapocienta]

Jazz, Blues... Who cares? It's not going to sound any different no matter how we label it. Blues and Jazz are two wonderful music styles, deeply related, and we're all here, fighting, while disgusting sounds like reggaeton, hip hop, cumbia and the modern so colled "pop" are rotting the ears and brains of the general population. Why don't we just lay down and enjoy some good music, frightfully scarce nowadays?

[pppoichops]

A highly intelligent comment good sir, I second that.

[lralbrecht]

@Lapocienta some benefit can be found from labeling as it sets the song in context. that way we can understand the historical influences, how it diverges from the norm, etc. its a way to understand it as a means to learn from it. but i agree, just as long as it doesn't get in the way of the fun of listening.

[gatemouthbrown]

ok..again anyone that dosnt understand that he is playing a 1/4/5/ progression needs to just stop typing...this is fucking blues...you dumb shits think just because it isnt robert johnson/eric clapton/muddy waters ect ect...that its not blues...go do your homework....AND ...i can tell you why it is not jazz...IT'S NOT A 2/5/1/ PROGRESSION!!!!for those that need to know the guidlines....

[Geepsterr]

Pretty bold for being half wrong : There are bits of the 1/4/5 remaining but it is loaded with 2/5/1 substitutions and more. We call this Blues with changes. It is both a type of Blues and a type of Jazz both but many hard core Blues players will say that it is not Blues.

[gatemouthbrown]

ok..again anyone that dosnt understand that he is playing a 1/4/5/ progression needs to just stop typing...this is fucking blues...you dumb shits think just because it isnt robert johnson/eric clapton/muddy waters ect ect...that its not blues...go do your homework....AND ...i can tell you why it is not jazz...IT'S NOT A 2/5/1/ PROGRESSION!!!!for those that need to know the guidlines....

[NickinDK]

"AND ...i can tell you why it is not jazz...IT'S NOT A 2/5/1/ PROGRESSION!!!!for those that need to know the guidlines...."

-- This was a joke, right??

[tazmaniaco65]

Hahahaha...Man, jazz would be pretty boring if it only had 2/5/1 progressions

[MrRomanalexeev]

@tazmaniaco65 -IDIOT! How many chords du you have in the "So what "composition?

[tazmaniaco65]

@MrRomanalexeev I'm sorry,I was replying to a guy below who said that "if isn't a 2/5/1,it isn't jazz".I'm not talking about the number of chords...Actually,"So what" would be a good example of a non-2/5/1 progression.I'm sorry if my comment bothered you,but there's no need to be rude.

[whosetoewasit]

so every 1/4/5 progression is blues, and every jazz song is a 2/5/1 progression??? wow you're an amazing dumbF***

[jteshuwah]

funny how you can say that, since B B King openly claims one of his biggest influences was Django Reinhardt, isn't it? When when you children stop arguing about "style, this and genre, that," and just enjoy the music?

[lefty550]

THE DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!

to me, this is what Jazz is all about.

Swing it J.P.

[gatemouthbrown]

most people get so comfortable listening to I/IV/V played in minor w/ penta or blues scale they can never relax w/ these "voicings".to say this is not blues shows lack of understanding of the material.picture if you will?the bass comping he is doing is tommy shannon/the lead lines stevie ray vaughn.now it might take you awhile to wrap your head around that,but,that is what is happening.he did not embellish notes in the traditional "chicago" style that some claim are "real" blues.good for him!

[Iraqveteran8888]

For you people that argue about blues music here something to wrap your mind around:

How about playing blues instead of arguing about it....you'd be surprised what you would learn....interesting idea...

Joe Pass is the man...too bad hes gone....Ill sure miss him.

[arandunagusimm]

It's a jazz blues, kids, no need to fight. Which, BTW, you could hear played by BB or Albert King (among many other "blues" musicians- you gonna tell BB he ain't playing the blues?). Blues is a feel, not a set of rules.

[xdivinebladex]

true that man

[BluPup8]

No this is nothing like any of the Kings sounds because this is Jazz not Blues, and there are clearly rules for both. So NO, make that false that "man".

[JazzGeetar213]

I was saying more that the set of "clear rules" that people set up to define either genre are non existent. The two are often so closely related that it's hard to seperate one from the other. This is certainly not "typical" chicago blues style playing, and it is certainly jazz... but what makes it not the blues?

[blazn3000]

it's still the blues. it just has more complex and complicated lines known as "jazz lines" using arpeggios and modes rather than being stuck to the fuckin minor pentatonic scale that almost every "BLUES" guitarist is limited to. The tune still uses the 1-4-5 progression, which is the foundation of THE BLUES. You cannot say that this is not a form of the blues. Ask any music professor or expert because that's the only way to get the correct answer.

[Barnekkid]

Damn...what a great, great player he was.

[FugginNorb]

Oh, just a little heads up: Non-Western Genres of music AND experimental music styles often DO NOT use those 12 notes that apparently "define" music.

Definition= the source of stagnation

[robidone]

what is the walking bassline progression that joe usually plays?

[hooptyndablowfish]

I've answered your question but it's not registering with you. Two comments you make: "the textbook characteristics of the blues" and " the blues is ANY kind of music that's rooted in improvisation and employs those different characteristics". Both of these are the wrong approach. Others have responded and they get what I'm saying. You can have whatever opinion you want. But when it comes to the blues your opinions mean little if you don't know what you're talking about. And so far you don't.

[JazzGeetar213]

That's a pretty narrow view of the blues dont you think?

[hooptyndablowfish]

Yes I do think it's a well defined view of the the blues AS IT SHOULD BE. The people who originated the blues were very specific about what it was and wasn't as well. It is a specific genre that has been drastically watered down by people calling other music the blues. It's very easy to step outside the boundaries of the blues format unlike jazz and other genres. Blues has many off-springs including rock even though rock has long since departed from it's roots as well.

[JazzGeetar213]

Who are these people who originated the blues and what exactly were the guidelines that set? A genre's not like a box that you put songs into. Some songs can be blues & jazz... some can be blues and rock... some can be jazz and rock... Musical genres shouldn't be well defined it all. There are tons of genres, but I assure you, they all use the same 12 notes. What really makes one genre different from the other? Especially two as closely related as blues and jazz.

[hooptyndablowfish]

Until you can answer that question yourself you'll never understand how wrong you are about the blues. I don't know what else to tell you. But I will reiterate that the blues can go as far and wide as you want with it in any direction as long as it's within the well defined parameters of "the blues". Everything else that's close I personally call "diddly music". A genre IS a box otherwise it couldn't be defined as a genre. Come on!!

[JazzGeetar213]

You still didn't answer my question. You're the one trying to say that something doesn't qualify as a blues when you won't define the "well defined parameters of 'the blues'" I already rattled off the textbook characteristics of the blues, but the blues is any kind of music that's rooted in improvisation and employs those different characteristics. Beyond that it's all a matter of opinion. But, hey, maybe I'm wrong. So of these parameters are so well defined, then educate me.

[BluPup8]

JazzGee_k_tar213 your anally retentive whiney bullshit doesn't change the fact that anyone hearing this would say it's Jazz, and nonone would say it's Blues.

[blazn3000]

Did you not see the title of the video? THE BLUE SIDE OF JAZZ. Put it this way, this tune uses 1-4-5 progression (foundation of the Blues), but with jazzy lines full of arpeggios, modal improvisation, and the walking bassline.

You probably think its not the blues because there are no excessive bends of the strings, especially to the flatted 5th (AKA the BLUE NOTE), repetetive "stock" licks and Mr. Joe Pass is using much more than just the dreaded minor pentatonic scale.

[JazzGeetar213]

Just curious about what makes this not the blues. Is it the 12 bar I-IV-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I format? Or is it his use of the myxolydian mode and blues scale? Perhaps its that phrasing. Sounds pretty bluesy to me. You said that it takes a certain type of musician to get that across. Perhaps one who has "lived the blues". Joe certainly has done that. Severe drug issues... he's been around the block a few times. It's a different kind of blues... certainly not Buddy Guy but it's the blues.

[hooptyndablowfish]

All that you listed is only the technical part about blues. But that doesn't make it blues. Sorry to bust your bubble. If you were to call it "blues influenced jazz" I'd go along with that. But to put blues in the title and call it blues just don't cut it.

[hooptyndablowfish]

One other thing for you Joe Pass gushers: Every song that I've EVER heard by Joe Pass where the word "blues" is in the title AIN'T blues. He may be playing in blues scales but that's about it. It's jazz played using blues scales--nothing more. I'm not saying it sounds bad. But when it comes to playing the blues it truly is the musician that gets that type of music across. Joe didn't have it. But he was a damned good player nonetheless.

[Slashthatup12]

i agree totaly

[005davidragon]

agreed hooptyndablowfish... everyone online that plays jazz is also like this... they say "blues improv" or some other "blues ___" when they're really playing jazz... that's OK, i love jazz. especially in preservation hall... that place is awesome. just DON'T ASK FOR THE SAINTS. people do that WAY to much and it's a terrible cliché. that's not to say they don't do a good job with it, it's just that everyone has already heard it. request something like the muskrat ramble.

[hooptyndablowfish]

Love Joe Pass. But the first thing I thought when I saw this video is that guitar sounds like pure crap. No question Joe made it sound as good as it could possibly sound. But you can't polish a turd as they say and that guitar sounds like pure turd. You can make all the claims you want that "It's the musician not the guitar." I say the tone of the guitar counts for ALOT when it comes to the final product. This video is proof of that.

[sebthehousekid]

who cares about gear its all the musician PERIOD

[PhuckHue2]

why is he playing that cheap guitar through that gutter crap Peavy amp?

[sonnyboyUK]

it's not the guitar it's how you play it..

this is Joe Pass....

[JazzGeetar213]

I kind of think the tone is partly the recording. Too be honest I really don't think his tone sounds too bad. I kind of like the acoustic feel that Joe and others like Wes get out of their archtops. Also this is an Epiphone model that he built with them. Runs at around $500 to $700, so we're not talking about a high end archtop here.

[SphereAcidBurn]

Choclate rain has 10,000,000 veiws and this has ony 100,000 wow America today has no taste in music

[BekkersBelly]

This is not a real Epiphone Joe Pass, this is a regular Epiphone Broadway. The Epiphone Joe Pass is based on this model, but the pickup switch on the Joe Pass model is at the top and not on the cutaway. Joe Pass is not known to play this guitar very regularly, he prefers Gibson's ES 175 or D'Aquisto guitars...

[maejunkmail]

I know Arlen Roth, He taught Paul Simon how to play. He also taught Scott Baio how to look convincing in the Crossroads movie. Arlen sold me one of his HotLicks Telecasters. There were only 12 made.I also know George Sheck, who ran the camera. He was in Edgar Winter's White Trash.

[isthische]

so?

:}

[BluPup8]

I knew the girl who made the crew cheese sandwiches, she had these far away eyes, her name was Ruby, they shot the video on a Tuesday, good times, good good times, and the bit when Scott Baio blew Arlen on the set was priceless, and Arlen gave him some crack and then they ate the sandwiches, great stuff, it's on the DVD features section.

[maejunkmail]

Arlen is a sheltered Jewish kid from Brooklyn. Not every musician is a loser on drugs with adolescent sexual hangups. You'll find Jazz masters are not drug abusers the way Blues players tend to be. Jazz was alternative to the acid rock of the sixties. I find it hard to think of Brubeck, Quincy, and Benson as a bunh of coke heads. Music matters as more to the Jazz musician than a soundtrack to hedonistic debauchery. Not all players are drug addicts, just the ones who make stupid choices.

[elisharJazz]

I was happy to hear George Benson quote a line that Joe Pass made in this video about the sound of a ninth in a blues scale

[VacantMinds]

didn't think that Peavey was a good amp for playing jazz guitar. I must be wrong

[parakeethands]

joe pastrami

[orcheystra]

great artist

[Boldstrummer]

Blues in G

I get a lesson everytime I hear Joe

play. He was a great teacher too.

I have to find a way to transfer my

VHS video tape of him at my studio.

[YOUYOU47]

Use your video-in on your pc to put in the video-out of you videoplayer, normally you should have Moviemaker on your computer. It's easy to do.

[Boldstrummer]

video in? I don't see a connecter that looks like video in on my computer. That would be a RCA type plug no?

[YOUYOU47]

True, not all computers have this. It could look like a (often yellow) rca input next to a black and red input for audio, or on my pc I also have an s-video input. To go from your videoplayer you should probably need an adapter. In the shop they can tell you what you need, and if you find the user's guide of your pc it could help. To encourage you, I'm a woman and even I manage to do it... hahaha!

[GmIaBrScOoN]

Hah Pastrami

[s2p3r]

joe pass + joe satriani = joe pastriani

[jacktharippares]

mmmm pastrami

[jazzdog2]

hahahah

[s2p3r]

too bad old joe already passed away. we'll miss you and your wonderful music.

[LoveTruck]

I can't find any videos of joe playing with a pick, where are they?!?!?

[kifani1]

he doesnt use picks I dont think, I think hes only finger style

[LoveTruck]

no he definitely does, I finally saw a dvd of him playing with a pick about last week. The reason I wanted to see it because I've heard when he cross's strings he always starts with a downstroke, Gypsy jazz style, and it has been confirmed, he does. He has pretty amazing chops with a pick as well.

[LoveTruck]

hey I found one of joe with a pick on youtube, check these chops out.

The title: Joe Pass-NHOP "Oleo"

SMOKIN!

[kifani1]

k thx

[pommermann]

Yeah its the tape, still joe owns it. Has anyone noticed his uncanny similarity to mario from mario bros? I sure picture him yellin a mamma mia! at the end of the clip.

[NalaRegeork]

Maybe the creator of the character was a Joe Pass fan. Cartoonist do stuff like that every once in a while :)

[beezerk1]

I actually saw Joe play this guitar at the 1991 Frankfurt Musik Messe Gibson booth (He turned down a blonde L5). Shortly thereafter Gibson changed the name from Epiphone Emperor to Joe Pas signature model. Coincidence?

[doublearejazz]

joe is great !

..you wonna see how to improvise on bach music..?

look for vid: "bach sarabande jazz guitar" ..

you ll be surprised..!

:-) !!

[hargoni]

One of the things people are not getting here is that this is the Epiphone Joe Pass guitar and it sounds much less grand than the Gibson guitars Pass actually plays. When you get a guy this great and the guitar sounds this bad it tells you a lot.

[cuiqueiro]

Better luck next time dude.

[Ratteg]

I think that Joe doesn't play anymore. Since he's been dead sicne 1994.

[maytagasm]

hahaha the thing you aren't getting here is that it sounds much less grand because it's old vhs dude. that tremolo sound? isn't supposed to be there.

it's old garbled tape. :)

[ni53co]

It's an old tape, badly converted before being sent here. That's why the sound is so ugly. If you look here for Matt Otten videos you'll change your mind about the guitar.

[coopfromhell]

i love jazz.. especially wen joe pass holds his guitar''

[stevetheguitarman36]

check out this jazz guitar player! search DHT trio

[jcaff89]

CHECK

[16YearsInHell]

this sounds great

[geoguy50]

I saw Joe Pass live and close-up in Hartford, Connecticut in the mid-eighties. No tricks, no band, just one of the greatest solo-jazz guitarists of all time!

[jmcljazz]

not quite the greatist one of the greatist the greatist guitarist is Lenny Breau the canadian boy... There is lenny Breau then there is everyone else.. Joe pass...Amazing!!! Chk out lenny's "Live at Burbon Street.. then tellme who is the best

[mreddieOFBRADFORD]

joe pass. unbelievably gifted

[scottj2112]

Haha, hes so cool. Everytime i hear something of Joe's that i havent heard before im just amazed. Im attempting to transcribe all of the Virtuso #3 album. about 8 hours as yeilded 2 songs, total. Joe was, still is the finest player around. RIP

[sosyalit]

great performance ,)

[chrismatthewman]

perwer7 - you are a top nerd so stfu u dickhead. joe pass is amazing.

[perwer7]

No. I just meant that it is a part of the Jazz player image to smoke.

[perwer7]

A jazz guitarist has to smoke. If you don`t smoke, you aren`t a jazz guitarist

[Extracelestial]

Are you trying to suggest Joe can't smoke? 'Cause Joe can smoke!

[iconoclast616]

And he'd still be with us if he hadn't smoked. What a waste!

[hoopsencyclopedia]

JP is the greatest ever. Improvisational skills and musical knowledge are unsurpassed.

[L4CES]

I mean to write can hang with "Joe" and typed you by accident in my previous comment. Listen to Limehouse Blues on Virtuoso II. There's so much more to guitar playing than speed. Joe was blazing fast with a pic, later in his career he was more likely to play with his fingers and play solo. In a trio or quartet setting playing single note lines he was incredible. He and Wes Montgomery are arguably the best jazz guitarists ever and yes that is taking into account the Gypsy jazz guitarists.

[improvisations]

you got it man!

[deadwoodmountain]

A lot of the newer Gypsy jazz guitarsit admit that Joe Pass is a great influence. Angelo Debarre, Rosenbergs...Gypsy Jazz players don't do the walking bass, melody, and chords all at the same time the way Pass did it.

[L4CES]

Furthermore Lord Kazama, Gypsy guitar playing can be awesome, but let's face it the Gypsy scale and the over-emphasized vibrato and "four to the bar" comping can get repetitive. There is more depth to Joe's playing than most Gypsy guitarists. Only the great Django and perhaps Bireli can hang with you. Someone posted a vid of Joe playing Donna Lee with NHOP. Maybe you should listen to that. It seems you judge guitar playing by speed.

[L4CES]

Lord Kazama. I have to seriously disagree. Joe Pass was better. First off this video is a lessons video, geared towards the intermediate guitar player. It had tabs, and the licks Joe did had to be "playable". Secondly, this is not a good sounding guitar. This is a cheap Korean Epiphone that he got paid to play for the vid. Joe Pass would never use this kind of guitar in a concert.

[lordkazama86]

meaning, he is a wow great player. Perhaps the only non gypsy who deserved to be on the top 10 best list. But he is subpar compared to Gypsy guitarist. He stated it, and it is a fact. You can't argue it. But I still respect and love Pass for it. He is far beyond anything else other than Gypsy.

[improvisations]

firstly, this is with his fingers. secondly, he uses the same picking techniques that many gypsies do. thirdly he is a bebop improviser, bebop improvisers are called upon to do much more than to just run scales or the geometric figures that so many gypsy players play.

You should go listen to Joe Pass: Virtuoso if you haven't already and then consider your statement. Most of that is with a pick and it is ASTOUNDING.

[Resiliance]

He IS subpar compared to gypsy guitarists with a pick. But gypsy guitarists are by far subpar to Joe Pass when it comes to chordal soloing. And yes, improvisations, you're correct, gypsy lines are mostly fairly simple figures. It all evens out. No need to get in a fuss.

[improvisations]

Perhaps. But I won't agree that 'He is far beyond anything else other than Gypsy.' The lines on Virtuoso are so incredibly perfect and complex, both harmonically and technically (including the picking!) that I think he can hold his own.

[BluPup8]

For the viewers at home, nobody gives a fuck about gypsies, now back to the mindless banter.

[lordkazama86]

lol.  I was being sarcastic jackass. But he is not as good as your average Gypsy Swing/Jazz player. He even stated he wasn't. And that he idolized django reinhardt for it. And Django had 2 fingers...bottom line Joe Pass has a different type of skill

[lordkazama86]

ya he is great, but he is subpar with a pick. All Gypsy Jazz players own him...

[TBoblp]

subpar? What the hell do you consider par?!?

[DARU37]

Is there a Guitar TAB available from this video ?

[lawrence148]

Great Jazz Blues!!!

[gatesofdelirium]

my man Pass has rythm

[Astroxtl]

god he is my hero!

[ratten123]

i`m thankfull for every piece of pass on Y-tube