John Lawlor - how a tenor guitar can and should be played

[Scott Tichenor]

Paul Glasse sent this to me. Not much on the web about this John Lawlor cat. I want to know more. Stunning what he achieves on a tenor guitar played with thumb sort of Wes Montgomery style. Love the background for these recordings.

[Scott Tichenor]

His YouTube channel.

[John Kelly]

Thanks for that,Scott. Just off to smash up the tenor now. He has a great style and gets such a great sound in his playing.

[bruce.b]

Great playing!

[FL Dawg]

Sounds like some nice chord melody jazz to me.

[Jim Garber]

Looks like he only has three videos but very nice chord melody playing. On Wives & Lovers he says he tunes down one step. Gets a nice bass that way.

That looks like it might be a modified Harmony tenor. And the kitchen looks like un-modified early 1960s.

[Charles E.]

I wonder what tuning he is using. Is he tuned in fifth's? He really has a nice touch, great stuff.

[markjosephs]

In 1970, when John Lawlor and I were both in our early twenties, we played in bands in the Atlantic City, New Jersey area. John was the first person I met whose main axe was the four string tenor guitar tuned in fifths. I was amazed how he could play Hendrix, Cream, Wes Montgomery, and old time music...anything, really..no limits.
It was because I met John Lawlor that I was inspired to look more deeply into the tenor guitar and founded the Tenor Guitar Registry in 1999 which helped spawn TenorGuitar.com, the Annual Tenor Guitar Gathetings in Astoria, Oregon and the newly formed Oregon non-profit: Tenor Guitar Foundation, all of which would not have happened had I not met John Lawlor 40 years ago.

John's younger brother, Jim Lawlor, is a great drummer, still playing. Jim and John performed as The Lawlor Brothers in the 1970's.

John Lawlor eventually moved back to Philadelphia and was not heard from. I contacted Jim last year and told him to let John know how important he was to the tenor guitar community.

A few weeks ago I saw John had posted his first video, Wives and Lovers. He only recently got a computer, and has a friend take the videos and upload them.

I cannot tell you how personally excited I am to be in touch with this gifted musician. He is most likely the best jazz tenor guitar player in the world. When people heard Jake Shimobukura play the ukulele, they saw the instrument has no limits. I think John Lawlor shows you the same thing. In the hands of a brilliant musician, it has a voice like you never imagined a tenor guitar could have.

I am in touch, now, with John via email and phone. He would like to attend this year's gathering. I'll let you know if that happens.

Meanwhile I am encouraging him to record a CD and keep posting videos.

John is very low tech. If you send me an email letting him know hie you enjoyed his video, I will forward it to him.
markjosephs@mac.com

[Jim Garber]

Mark: Just send him the link to this thread.

[Charles E.]

Mark, did John and his brother ever play in a jazz trio with a piano player named Chris Soey, in south Jersey in the early 80's? By south Jersey I am talking about Cape May -Wildwood. If that is the case, he was the guy that inspred me to take up tenor guitar.

[Charles E.]

After looking at these video's I am certain that it is indeed the tenor guitar player I got to know back in the 80's. He was playing a Gibson TG50 back in the day. I saw Chris Suey a couple of years ago and inquired about John. Chris told me that John had stopped playing out and that he had not seen him for a long time. Chris at the time was playing with another great jazz mandolin-guitar player from NJ, Lew London. I am glad to see John still playing.

[mozart720]

In 1970, when John Lawlor and I were both in our early twenties, we played in bands in the Atlantic City, New Jersey area. John was the first person I met whose main axe was the four string tenor guitar tuned in fifths. I was amazed how he could play Hendrix, Cream, Wes Montgomery, and old time music...anything, really..no limits.
It was because I met John Lawlor that I was inspired to look more deeply into the tenor guitar and founded the Tenor Guitar Registry in 1999 which helped spawn TenorGuitar.com, the Annual Tenor Guitar Gathetings in Astoria, Oregon and the newly formed Oregon non-profit: Tenor Guitar Foundation, all of which would not have happened had I not met John Lawlor 40 years ago.

John's younger brother, Jim Lawlor, is a great drummer, still playing. Jim and John performed as The Lawlor Brothers in the 1970's.

John Lawlor eventually moved back to Philadelphia and was not heard from. I contacted Jim last year and told him to let John know how important he was to the tenor guitar community.

A few weeks ago I saw John had posted his first video, Wives and Lovers. He only recently got a computer, and has a friend take the videos and upload them.

I cannot tell you how personally excited I am to be in touch with this gifted musician. He is most likely the best jazz tenor guitar player in the world. When people heard Jake Shimobukura play the ukulele, they saw the instrument has no limits. I think John Lawlor shows you the same thing. In the hands of a brilliant musician, it has a voice like you never imagined a tenor guitar could have.

I am in touch, now, with John via email and phone. He would like to attend this year's gathering. I'll let you know if that happens.

Meanwhile I am encouraging him to record a CD and keep posting videos.

John is very low tech. If you send me an email letting him know hie you enjoyed his video, I will forward it to him.
markjosephs@mac.com

Hi Mark,

My name is Kevin Beerman. I am John Lawlor's nephew. Im very glad to see you are sharing his talent on here. He was one of the reasons as to why I myself got into the music industry. His amazing natural ability was always so mesmerizing to me and inspired me to pick up a guitar. Even with constant practice, I strive to be even half as good as he. The only thing that we share in common is our having perfect pitch. haha
Anyway, Although I still play guitar, I ended up going to college to study percussion like my uncle Jimmy, who also is fantastic in his own right. Music runs very deep in my family. My mother, Joan (John & Jim's oldest sister) was also an accomplished musician, as a classical pianist, but having us kids put a stop to that. haha.

In any event, even to this day, I still get goose bumps watching Uncle John play. He makes such complexity look so simple.

I want to thank you again for putting his stuff out there (and Julie). I often wish that he would come back out of the woodworks and start playing live again and share his brilliance to the world, but I guess youtube is the first step. I do alot of work with record labels and studios and would be great if you can help me convince him to record something!! The world needs to hear John Lawlor and Uncle John deserves the recognition after all these years of being probably the best tenor player in the world.

Thank you again for this post!

Kevin Beerman
kevinbeerman78@gmail.com

[mozart720]

Actually I just saw Scott was the original poster, so thank you Scott for getting my uncle's stuff out to the public for all to see.

[Grommet]

Thanks to Paul and Scott for posting this. I really love what he is doing on that tenor.

Scott

[NAS]

Absolutey fantastic, John certainly deserves recognition for his superb musicianship. I would love him to record a CD and would be prepared to put my money where my mouth is if it came to needing "crowd sourced" funds to make it happen.

Hearing John's playing has realy inspired me, I think the hunt for a second tenor to keep in standard tuning may be on (current one in GDAE)

[mandrian]

I agree and would like to see a CD out too. I would buy it straight away.

[markjosephs]

We are trying to get John Lawlor come out and give a very rare performance at the 4th Annual
Tenor Guitar Gathering. We urgently need money, so we are literally passing the hat around and asking everyone in the mandolin community and elsewhere to kick in $11 each so we can make this year happen. Visit our site. Please help.
http://www.tenorguitarfoundation.org

[billhay4]

Fine playing and great story.
Bill

[Merula]

What's the closest thing to a new version of the guitar he is playing?

[ambrosepottie]

I read that he's playing a converted 6 string Harmony archtop, so it has a longer scale - 24.9 or 25.5 probably. He thinned the neck and put in a new nut. Most tenors have a 23 or 21 inch scale, new or vintage. John Lawlor purposefully wanted the longer scale and tunes a whole step down from C. To answer your question, there are no current production guitars that I know of similar to what he plays. Breedlove makes a flat top 25" scale though. Very expensive. Of course you could get a luthier to build one. Joel Eckhaus makes archtop tenors and could probably do a long scale.
http://www.earnestinstruments.com/veronica.html

[markjosephs]

I wonder what tuning he is using. Is he tuned in fifth's? He really has a nice touch, great stuff.

John is tuned down a whole step from CGDA. His first note is Bb. If you put a capo on the 2nd fret you get CGDA. John likes the longer neck and took a regular six string guitar and used a hacksaw while the neck was still on the guitar, to shape it down to a four string.

[markjosephs]

John Lawlor and his companion Julie Himes, flew from Philadelphia to Portland, the on to Astoria, Oregon for a rare performance that won the hearts of everyone attending. Google "TGG4 Astoria" to see John perform, as well as other highlights. John is working on his first solo CD ever, and plans to attend TGG5 next year. Best way to keep up is to join the Tenor Guitar Gathering FaceBook page.

[jesserules]

I read that he's playing a converted 6 string Harmony archtop, so it has a longer scale - 24.9 or 25.5 probably. He thinned the neck and put in a new nut. Most tenors have a 23 or 21 inch scale, new or vintage. John Lawlor purposefully wanted the longer scale and tunes a whole step down from C. To answer your question, there are no current production guitars that I know of similar to what he plays. Breedlove makes a flat top 25" scale though. Very expensive. Of course you could get a luthier to build one. Joel Eckhaus makes archtop tenors and could probably do a long scale.
http://www.earnestinstruments.com/veronica.html

Or just search the internet for a plectrum guitar.

[MdJ]

I admire kitchen table surgery, uh, make that kitchen table lutherie, and I hope John just keeps rehabilitating that guitar as it breaks, cracks and ages, even if he does get another instrument. That kay has got a bucketful of character and will always be a unique instrument. I got to play it for a few minute before the KMUN broadcast and it has amazing tone acoustically.

Moistly

MdJ

[Charles E.]

This has to one of the most beautiful tunes I have ever heard on a tenor guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHtyGIaCDwk

Here is some context....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgN79lEa1dQ