We’ve said on numerous occasions that to truly get the authentic rhythm guitar sound in a big band, one has to play on an acoustic archtop guitar (if you missed why, check out this lesson)

However, acoustic archtops can be very expensive, and if you’re director of a high school band, your guitarist may only have an electric guitar for the job. How do you handle that, and how to you approximate the correct rhythm guitar sound?

James Chirillo, who plays guitar for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, offers some insights here: