Wes Montgomery

• Play with the thumb only — the mellow, dark tone is entirely due to using the fleshy thumb pad rather than a hard plastic pick. A pick will not produce the same character
• Neck pickup always — any other position is too bright for the Wes tone
• The octave technique: play the melody on the first or second string and simultaneously sound the same note an octave lower on the third or fourth string. The intermediate strings are muted by the fretting hand
• Single-note lines first, octaves as the climax — Montgomery typically built through single notes → octaves → chord melody as the improvisation developed
• Chord melody playing: the top note of each chord is the melody. All other chord tones fall below. Use drop-2 voicings for the most comfortable chord-melody approach
• Keep the amp completely clean — any overdrive changes the thumb-plucked attack character. Clean at all volumes
• Study "Four on Six" and "West Coast Blues" for the essential Montgomery vocabulary — these two tracks contain the majority of his signature phrases
• Swing feel is everything — the most technically accurate notes without swing feel sound nothing like Wes. Tap your foot on beats 2 and 4 and emphasise the space between notes
• The tempo is always relaxed — Montgomery's playing feels unhurried even at fast tempos. Never rush a phrase

Wes Montgomery is the most influential jazz guitarist of all time — he invented the thumb-only plucking technique, pioneered octave playing as a compositional device and swung with a fluency and warmth that no subsequent player has equalled.