It is of course a great question, and deserved a better answer. I am both a
guitar and piano player, and have the benefit of both perspectives.
In all seriousness, the best choice may be to tacet. It is a often
neglected choice for accomplaninying anyone. Why not let the sax player
just play with the drums and bass, or the drums alone, or the bass alone?
The chords from either the piano or guitar may not be necessary with an
outstanding sax player.
The advantage a pianist has is that he can accompany himself without any
support, bass, guitar or drums. If the pianist is adventurous at all with
the harmony during his solo, only a mind reader could make consistent
choices to accompany him on guitar. The holes may be filled with the
pianist's left hand, matching exactly the color and rhythmic momentum of
the solo. A guitarist might take away from the musical moment rather than
add to it. Another consideration is the overall texture of the performance.
For example in a quintet (piano, bass, guitar, drums, sax), if both the
guitar and piano accompany the sax solo, that is five performers at once.
If the pianist accompanies the guitar solo, that is four performers at
once. When it comes to the piano solo, it might be nice as a texture change
to just hear the trio or duo, providing a contrast to the previous music
and a contrast to the melody at the end when all five are playing again.
There are of course times when providing a rhythmic and simple harmonic
foundation actually contributes to the piano solo. The guitarist has to
consider that an amplified guitar can quickly overpower a piano. Simple
single lines (whole and half-note values) following guide-tones may be
tasteful, occasional chords stabbed for emphasis could work. But if the
pianist is covering alot of bases (single line solos and rhythmic
harmonically clear left-hand comping) the guitarist would have to ask
himself if anything is actually musically needed, or is he playing just to
play. I have played with guitarist where there was never a problem, in any
style, and others where it was always a problem.
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Bert Ligon
Director of Jazz Studies
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School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Voice: (803) 777-6565
Fax: (803) 777-2151
http://www.music.sc.edu/Departments/Jazz/
bligon@mozart.sc.edu
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