here's a stupid question...

[bumbleBur2slow]

okay if i have some double bass music (jazz) and i want to play with a guitar . . . what does the guitar play? i have never played with a guitar that isn't telling me what to play, so i have never had to find this out.

[reedo35]

If the Bass is playing the Melody, the guitar Comps chords to that melody.

[Mushroo]

In most jazz, the assumption is that each player knows how to create his/her own part. An experienced jazz guitarist can improvise an appropriate accompaniment given a set of chord changes and a general style or "feel."

What is the music in question? Your own compositions, something out of a Real Book, ?

[E2daGGurl]

Guitar often plays rhythm when you're melody-ing. It can be as simple as one whole note chord played per bar, or a more complex rhythm based on the melody - sort of like what you do when you accompany someone else, only with chords.