After recording remarkable albums in a group setting such as For Django (1964), Joe Pass (1929-94) made solo recordings in November 1973 that changed the history of mainstream jazz guitar. Pass used fingerstyle as well as a pick, playing standards that came out on the album Virtuoso #1 (1974). Using an electric archtop, Pass put down tracks through an amplifier, and, after the amplifier broke down, acoustically, giving a trebly presence. The album highlights his energy and drive, as he supports the melody and variations with mobile voicings ranging from two to the full six strings. He retains a rhythmic momentum, filling the space by creating a variety of block chords, broken arpeggios, and bass lines, and switches to playing single-line passages with the pick, delineating the harmonies in his improvisation.

One of his best tracks, "Night And Day," bubbles with enthusiasm. After the chord melody intro, Pass brings it into time and swings with a mixture of chords and lines suggesting the structure. He strums rhythmically and, while soloing, keeps fragments of sustained bass notes and partial voicings to underpin the melody where possible. He builds the piece, using a short section of bass notes before ending with poignant harmonies. On "Stella by Starlight," Pass plays the melody over attractive chords and improvises melodic variations with altered voicings. He often hits the guitar powerfully, and his single lines have heavily accented notes and a crisp picking sound.

Soloing

Pass' soloing mixes altered arpeggiated harmonic bop lines and scalar fills, and he often interchanges seamlessly between his upper- and middle-register soloing and bass lines. This can be heard on the uptempo "How high the moon," which has an inventive linear solo and some highly charged strumming. He is inspired by standards that have modulations between different tonal centers, such as "Cherokee," and "All the Things You Are," with its full chord melody and bass lines moving through constantly shifting modulations. On this, he juxtaposes many different techniques while keeping to the shape of the tune and the harmonic changes.

Subsequently, Pass released a series of virtuoso albums. Interesting tracks include his own compositions such as "Blues for Basie" (1976), and "Sultry" (1977), which has classical influences with deep emotional voicings arpeggiated over powerful bass notes.

While working solo, Joe Pass also played in duos and groups, producing some of his finest material in a trio with Oscar Peterson, and backing great jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Solo jazz blues

Solo jazz playing is based on developing variations around fundamental harmonic sequences. Blues is a key vehicle. In jazz, three-chord blues evolved and has been replaced by a number of more complex sequences, using II-V approaches to pivotal chords and 'V substitution. The example below is a set of variations with bass lines around the following core twelve-bar sequence:
 /E7 /A7 /E7 /Bmin7 E7 /A7 /A7/ E7/ C#7/ F#min7/B7 /E7 C#7 /F#7 B7/ / In the example below, a standard bluesy E7#9 chord has a bass line starting on the open E string, rising in steps to hit the root note of the A7 chord. This links up to a repeated E7#9 with a descending bass line which moves to a Fmin7, B9 substitution. There are chordal variations on A7 and chromatic links from E7 to C# 7l5#9 before the piece revolves around turnaround chords in the last four bars.