Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar

Nichols’ playing on “A Taste Of Honey” is an obvious
nod to Chet Atkins (who recorded a similar version many
years ago), where the rest of his program are time-honored
standards every jazz musician knows. His eloquent and
tasteful renderings of Gershwin’s “You Can’t Take That
Away From Me” and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Here’s That
Rainy Day” show a thorough knowledge of harmony and
melodic structure, not to mention an impeccable technique.
“I play the melody and then I’m usually able to
accompany myself with a chord melody in any key,”
Nichols says. “But in the case of solo guitar, I pick a key
that’s sort of in the middle, so you have room to go down
the neck in the bass line, and go up the neck in the melody.
I tend to play the melody the same way, but there’s always
chord substitutes that you can play, depending on what
strikes you at that second – what grabs you. When you’re
playing alone, you’re free to do that. Solo guitar is like a
high wire act. You’re all alone and you have to make it
flow and be in the groove, and never sound like the bottom
fell out.”