Johnny Smith Guitar Tab Books, Chord Melody Solos, Arrangements, Transcriptions, Lessons

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The Hank Mackie Solo Guitar Collection

 Johnny Smith Plays "Round Midnight"

   The eclectic Johnny Smith approach is based on the colorful mixture of his diverse musical passions. He has regularly cited Spanish classical guitar maestro Andres Segovia and French Gypsy jazz guitar innovator Django Reinhardt as his main guitar influences. A self-taught guitarist, Johnny Smith developed his powerful technique as a youth playing along with The Chesterfield Supper Club Band on the radio. An important aspect in his background is the very early hillbilly country music he learned to play as a member of The Fenton Brothers -- his first professional band in 1939.

 Johnny Smith Plays "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair"
  
    Johnny Smith is one of the original virtuosos of the electric guitar. From the sweeping three octave runs of "Moonlight in Vermont," "Tea for Two," and "Easy Living," to the super quick articulate solos that differentiate "Tabu," "Jaguar," "I'll Remember April," "Un Poco Loco," "Samba," "'S Wonderful," "Tickle Toe," "Three Little Words," and "Time After Time," Johnny Smith's intricate yet listenable single note jazz guitar improvised solos are the stuff of legend in the history of guitar lore - jazz or otherwise.

   Exacting precision and technique expertise have long been hallmarks of the Johnny Smith jazz guitar methodology, nevertheless these factors have been constantly held in check by his sense of taste and clarity. Jazz guitar virtuoso Barney Kessel once summed it up nicely along with his now famous observation: "No one in the world plays jazz guitar better than Johnny Smith".

 Johnny Smith Plays "Autumn Nocturne"

   Johnny Smith is one of the most distinctive jazz guitar chord melody players in any kind of genre. Envision the jazz chord voicings of pianists Art Tatum and George Shearing combined with the impressionistic harmonic colors of Claude Debussy, performed and understood on an electric guitar and you have an inkling of how Johnny Smith improved the status of the guitar as a chordal instrument.

   Quintessential jazz guitar chord melody moments in Johnny Smith's Royal Roost recordings feature "Moonlight in Vermont," "Yesterday," "When I Fall in Love," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "You Don't Know What Love Is," "Villa," "I'll Remember Clifford," "My Romance," and "The Lady Is a Tramp." An early recording of "Autumn Leaves" finds Johnny Smith developing a flamenco inspired atmosphere with spectacular arabesque, double-timed passage performances and classically inspired chords on acoustic guitar. And the unusual chiming harmonics in the theme of "It Never Entered My Mind" make the recording worth the price of admission alone.

  Johnny Smith Plays "Tenderly"

   In retrospect, an incongruous Royal Roost record like "The Man With The Blue Guitar" appears an obvious example of Johnny Smith's broader musical pallet. This 1962 recording featured him in a solo guitar context for an entire album creating his plectrum magical sounds along with an assorted set of standards, classical, and folk pieces. Here his gorgeous tone, touch, and technique on the instrument are directed at well known Broadway show tunes by Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and others, modern day works by Debussy, Scriabin, and Ravel, and unique arrangements of older folk tunes like "Shenandoah" and "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair." Further proof of Johnny Smith's eclectic nature was displayed on his "Phase 2" album (Verve Records) of the 1960s. This "jazz" record album featured the maestro's take on often neglected pop tunes like "Exodus," "Don't Sleep In The Subway Darling," "This Guy's In Love With You," "Sunny," "Light My Fire" and "Yesterday".