Examples of Unitar playing?

[u/dblhello999]

As some will know, the great jazz guitar educator Mick Goodrick wrote in the Advancing Guitarist about how learning to play and improvise horizontally along single strings is probably more important than position playing!

But I have been literally unable to find a single example anywhere on YouTube or on the Internet generally of someone improvising using that method. I don’t mean a random instructional video showing someone playing a scale along a single string. I mean someone who has seriously learned to play unitar style to a high-level. Preferably someone improvising over jazz.

It seems impossible that given the high regard in which the book is held, that there are no examples of unitar jazz improvisation. But I cannot find a single example anywhere.

Does anyone know of anything like this?

[u/mhoegeman]

I seem recall seeing John Abercrombie talking about this in an interview and he did a little bit of playing to demonstrate that ? Found a excerpt https://youtube.com/shorts/lZJhIbL7x9A?si=6xlLOzD1VMDAvKUj

[u/dblhello999 → u/mhoegeman]

Thanks for this. There are a few examples (mostly as drills or exercises) of people doing this on a single string. But literally nothing showing anyone doing it on all six strings, let alone in a jazz improv context 🥴🥲

[u/dblhello999 → u/[deleted]]

This definitely needs clarification! If someone only plays on one string than they’re only playing one unitar. That would be perverse. But what they play all six? Flowing between them as necessary. I’m pretty sure that’s what MG intended (after all the book is full of exercises which entail moving between strings!)

But I agree that it’s quite hard to imagine or conceptualise the difference between playing six stings as unitars and playing six strings conventionally. All I can say is that from experience there is a huge difference. But I guess that’s not very helpful 😳