You have hit the nail on the head when the likes of Django Reinhardt started to play Electric Guitar they at that time were looked upon by the purists of the time as the spawn of the very devil himself We have seen the same across so many differing styles of music Take folk music for instance generally seen by other genres as singer standing with a finger in one ear creating their harmonies in their heads. I played in a folk band that broke the mould we had a 20,000watt PA System and used Electric Guitars and Keyboards. Country Music banned electric Guitars in the Opre until after the Death of the great Hank Williams. Garth brooks uses a 100yard stage and runs across it like a man possessed classed as country but more akin to ZZ Top. I have worked with some great but unknown visionaries. One upon a time I played guitar in a electric Guitar Scottish dance band that was primarily Fiddle and Accordion based However one of the accordion players used a basic midi system again that was frowned upon by the Scottish Buttons & Bows society,.as Midi was somehow cheating. I know from my own use of midi guitars it takes a bit more knowlege to use. Jazz Guitarists love to use Reverb on their guitars. yet would never dream of using a wah wah pedal or and Ibanez Screamer. so why is one added effect better than say another. I have seen jazz guitarists use the likes of a Chapman tapping stick or a 7 or 10 string guitar. most instruments and sounds have evolved over the years. What makes a Jazz sound????? sound like Jazz. Midi is the greatest underused tool in the musical tool box. One of the preferred amps of Jazz guitarist is the Roland and Roland Cube which now has a midi input allowing the change of many and varied amplifier types. When I changed from a Marshall I changed to? Line 6 Spider Valve a relatively cheap amp and having inbuilt Multi FX. My peers told me I should use a bigger name and better brand. and they ran off lists of brands from Peavey to Roland and from Yamaha to Carvin some even mentioned that I should get a Bogner. at least until I pointed to the badge on the front of my 2x12 Combo. I owned a Bogner spider Valve by Line 6. the front end of the amp (the input stages with the FX built in) was designed and made by Line 6, the output stage was a pure Valve amp and cab designed for line 6 by Mr's Bognor and co. and when played Next to a "Real Bogner" in a clean (No FX) setting Not only did they sound the same but the Line 6 actually had more headroom by a country mile. The point being is we first need to be convinced before we change. and that also refers to the Brand Name of the Guitars we buy and use. This is one of the places where Jazz Guitarist tend to stand head and shoulders above the other Genres. If you play Rock then you probably play a Gibson/Fender/Ibanez guitar.
If you play Country then you probably play a Gretsch/Martin/Fender Guitar. Folk you will play a Martin or a similar guitar. Now I know from the number of people who have bought my guitars (at least the "Ordinary Guitar using standard Pickups) that the Jazz fraternity are quite happy to buy outside the box. A Jazz guitarist wants a Guitar to be the best tool in his tool box and not the mass produced in some Chinese factory and hand made guitar will always have that individual quality. to name a couple of Jazz Guitarists who own some of my guitars "Freddie Piriotta, Frederick Wisdom."? So fundamentally it is all about changing the stick in the mud mindsets??
