John Scofield (1951-)

Jazz guitarist John Scofield is one of the top touring / recording / composing jazz artist of his generation. His jazz-rock-fusion and funk albums (noticeably with Medesky, Martin and Wood) brought him to the attention of a wider audience of young people.

Playing Style and Gear

Scofield's trademark sound and voice are instantly recognizable. He blends bebop, funk, R&B, gospel, rock and blues music in a very unique way. Even with his huge melodic and harmonic abilities, the music is never sacrificed.

Technically speaking, John does "something special" with both hands :

The left hand adds to the phrasing and articulation with slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. These devices are used anywhere within his melodic phrases or even while he's comping!

[AKA : Sco is not just "picking every note" or "slurring every note", he's always somewhere in between.]

The right hand picks/strums anywhere between the neck and the brigde, giving a wide variety of tones (brighter to darker) and dynamics at any moment. He also uses the pick in combination with the middle finger for some melodic lines.

Watch him play closely and you'll understand what I mean!

I think the keywords for the Sco sound are :



As for the gear, he uses pedals that any other rock guy would use (overdrive pedals, delay and reverb, chorus and flanger, etc.) and makes beautiful music all the time! Check out his own website for complete gear listing and pictures of his pedalboards.

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