My Favorite 7-String Jazz Guitarists

When it comes to 7-string guitar players, George Van Eps is the king of all. By far. No questions asked. He literally invented the concept of 7-string jazz guitar by drafting the specs for the first 7-string archtop with the luthiers at Epiphone back in the 1940's. George Van Eps had so much talent, imagination, and ingenuity, I doubt his skills will ever be matched. There are a few that come close. To name a few of my favorites: Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Ron Eschete, Lenny Breau, Jimmy Bruno, Victor Baker, Alan de Mause, Howard Morgan, Ted Ludwig, and Jimmy Foster. There are many more, but these are my favorite 7-string players.

Archtop Guitars in New Orleans

So I finally started a blog. It's really just going to be a place where I talk about guitars. Archtop guitars, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, jazz guitars - these are my favorite things. For my first post, I want to let you in on a little secret I discovered in New Orleans. I heard about some amazing hand-made guitars that are custom built by a luthier named Jimmy Foster. I have seen some of his guitars on eBay, and they look amazing. However, when I visited his website, I noticed that Jimmy Foster is also an amazing 7-string jazz guitarist, as there are several recordings of Jimmy playing one of his custom 7-string archtop guitars. While the traditional jazz guitar has 6-strings, Jimmy plays jazz guitar with an extra string: a low A. This allows him to play bass lines in the style of George Van Eps and Bucky Pizzarelli. He's got several models, including archtops, solid body electric guitars, and acoustic guitars. There are several well-known guitarists who play Jimmy's guitar, and Paul Simon is one of them. Jimmy even took the time to make some videos of himself making a guitar. It's pretty cool to see all the different tools that he uses. Anyways, take a minute to check out his site: www.fosterguitars.com