“When I listened to Danny Gatton’s mind-boggling licks, I realized that they depended on a different technique. It just wasn’t possible to flatpick most of them”: Josh Smith presents a crash course in hybrid picking and fast-paced jump blues soloing

Josh Smith.

Jump blues is a style that dates back to the 1940s and was the precursor to R&B and rock and roll. It originated in the big bands of artists like Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton, and is always played up-tempo. 

When musicians took the style outside of the big band context to pioneer its use in smaller combos, it helped lay the foundations of R&B, and was the bridge between the old and the new.