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“I USED TO HAVE HEADACHES WHEN
I played octaves,” Wes Montgomery told journalist
Ralph J. Gleason in the July ’68

GP, “but the minute

I’d quit, I’d be all right. Now I don’t have headaches.
I’m just showing you how strain can capture a cat and
almost choke him, but after a while it starts to ease
up because you get used to it.”

Even when playing mercurial octave runs, Mont-

gomery was one of the most relaxed sounding gui-
tarists ever recorded, and you’ll find some of his groovi-
est lines in the two albums he cut with organist Jimmy
Smith—

The Dynamic Duo and Further Adventures of

Jimmy and Wes. Tracked in September 1966, both al-
bums featured brassy big-band arrangements by Oliver
Nelson, along with some spectacular, bluesy organ-
trio jams. Both Smith and Montgomery pack each tune
with swinging lines and free-wheeling solos.

Inspired by Montgomery’s sassy octaves in “Night

Train” (from

The Dynamic Duo), this month’s snapshot

is a V7-IV7-I7 turnaround that you can use in any up-
tempo, swinging blues or shuffle. To smooth out the
octave moves—especially when you jump string
sets—use your 1st and 4th fingers to fret these intervals,
whether they span four frets or merely three. By main-
taining a single grip across the fretboard (rather than
shifting between a 1-4 and 1-3 fingering), you’ll be able
to zip from position to position more easily.

To emulate Montgomery’s woody archtop timbres

and slightly distorted tube-amp sounds, use your neck
pickup and roll off most of the highs with your tone
control. Montgomery used his thumb to pluck his
octaves, which makes them sound even thicker. As
you play this phrase, listen to his note choices. Oth-
er than the slurred grace-notes that launch bar 3,
every note is a chord tone.

—ANDY ELLIS g

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Wes Montgomery’s Punchy Octaves