| Gypsy jazz guitar is a genre based on the music of | | | | As with all music associated with the tag "gypsy" the |
| Django Reinhardt, a guitar player who overcame a | | | | music is usually passed on directly from one musician |
| severe disability to become a legend in jazz music. | | | | to another. The Quintet Du Hot Club came out of an |
| Most people have heard music by the Quintet du Hot | | | | environment where playing music was simply a part of |
| Club de France or one of the gypsy jazz groups | | | | life. Each musician was both student and teacher. And |
| devoted to its style of music. Born in the 1930's this | | | | there were not too many note readers among them. In |
| group with Stephane Grapelli on violin, Django | | | | fact Stephane Grapelli, a classically trained musician |
| Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt and Roger Chaput on | | | | used breaks in the groups playing schedule to tutor |
| guitars and Louis Vola on bass, pioneered the concept | | | | Django in music. So every guitar player wanting to |
| of lead and rhythm guitar. | | | | learn to play gypsy jazz is faced with learning the |
| The group played popular jazz tunes of the time with | | | | music of Django Reinhardt, as played by Django |
| Django and Grapelli alternating on the lead with the | | | | Reinhardt. |
| two other guitars playing rhythm and Vola playing | | | | One element that made Django's music unique was |
| walking bass figures. A drummer was never in the mix. | | | | the fact that, due to an injury in a fire, Django played |
| They also wrote their own tunes, many of which have | | | | the guitar using only the first and second fingers of his |
| themselves become standards. Some of the group's | | | | left hand. This limited the range of notes available to |
| compositions include blue Drag, Minor Swing, | | | | him as he worked his way up and down the fretboard |
| Djangology, Django Rag, Django's Blues, Django's | | | | was severely limited. As a result of his injury, barre |
| Tiger and Nuages. | | | | chords are not found in gypsy jazz guitar music. A |
| The group's violinist, Stephane Grapelli continued | | | | close look at Django's music will tell you he had little |
| making music until his death in 1997 but the figure that | | | | use for sevenths in his music. |
| has proved to be the inspiration of many gypsy jazz | | | | If you want to listen to some contemporary gypsy |
| groups, Django Reinhardt only lived to be forty-three | | | | jazz guitar, American groups devoted to the genre are |
| years old. Gypsy jazz has been behind the popularity | | | | Pearl Django and the John Jorgenson Quintet but |
| of the Maccaferri and Selmer style guitars. The guitar | | | | Europe is still the place where there is most interest in |
| that Django Reinhardt made famous was made by | | | | this music, with groups like Hot Club of Hungary and |
| the Selmer company in Paris based on a revolutionary | | | | Hot Club of France. If you want to learn to play gypsy |
| guitar design by Mario Maccaferri, one of the first | | | | jazz guitar, the ability to read tab would be a minimum |
| generation of classical guitar players. Surprisingly, | | | | requirement because there are many examples of |
| Maccaferri was never familiar with Django Reinhardt's | | | | Django's music available as guitar tab. |
| music. | | | | |