How to Play Guitar in a Big Band: Guitar Book & CD

This book cuts through the isolation of learning jazz guitar by grounding improvisation in the real demands of ensemble playing. Rather than generic jazz licks, Sneider anchors every concept in the sound and feel of actual big band styles, from Count Basie's swing to contemporary voices like the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. The included CD transforms abstract advice into audible examples you can hear and absorb before sitting down with a real section.

The music swings with the weight of real arrangements, not playback band backing tracks. You hear how a guitar voice fits among saxophones, brass, and bass; how a solo lands differently in Basie swing than in a Latin chart or contemporary ECM-influenced setting. The recorded examples breathe like actual ensemble playing.

Jazz guitarists stepping into their first big band setting, whether in a university jazz orchestra, community ensemble, or rehearsal band. This is equally valuable for experienced soloists who need to understand how to voice and voice-lead within the constraints and opportunities of large ensemble arranging.

• Study how your comping voice moves in relation to the horn lines and rhythm section. The recorded examples show precisely where space lives in big band texture.
• Listen across entire solos on the CD, not just individual phrases. Big band guitar solos succeed through continuity and story, not isolated moments.
• Pay attention to the dynamic range Sneider demonstrates. A guitar solo needs to breathe within an ensemble that includes multiple saxes and trombones; knowing when to pull back matters as much as when to burn.
• Experiment with the suggested approaches to different jazz styles on the CD before locking into one interpretation. Latin, swing, and contemporary contexts each demand different rhythmic feels and harmonic choices.

Use this as a private studio resource for students joining a big band for the first time, or as assigned listening and preparation material in a jazz ensemble course. Faculty directing jazz orchestras can recommend it to guitarists who are still finding their voice in the section, particularly before tackling more advanced or unusual arrangements.

• Comping rhythm and voice leading in big band texture
• Solo construction that serves ensemble balance and arranging intent
• Stylistic differentiation between swing, Latin, and contemporary jazz vocabularies
• Listening to horn lines and rhythm section as context for guitar voice placement
• Harmonic and melodic phrasing that fits large ensemble sonorities