As an accompaniment instrument, the guitar has many virtues, some of which are explained above: mobility, freedom of sound, an interesting sonic spectrum, good grooves, and the financial ability of the venue to hire a smaller group. Throughout history, there have been solo guitar players and solo accompanists, from the original blues players, to the country and Western artists, to the Joe Pass solo jazz types, and even to the rock and pop artists who have gone acoustic and performed as guests on each other’s records. The ability to perform solo guitar is the ability to be a complete player and not be dependent on another musician to fill out your sound palette.

The majority of this course will approach playing solo guitar from the perspective of a jazz standards musical direction, primarily because of the rich harmonic background that exists in much of that music. That does not mean that the player is limited to only jazz harmonic music, but it opens up the possibilities of creating interesting harmonic motion to accompany melody and deliver the whole package with interesting rhythmic groove. Once the player achieves a modicum of success in pairing melody and harmony, the music can go in any direction that the player wishes.

In this course, we will be working on melodic embellishment, harmony as it relates to the guitar fingerboard, rhythm as it relates to different musical grooves, and improvisation concepts to put together a complete solo guitar piece. Listening to the many great solo guitarists will be a part of every lesson.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Create more interesting melodic content, using techniques that include passing tones, upper and lower neighbor notes, and rhythmic variations
• Use creative reharmonization techniques
• Understand rhythm as it relates to different musical grooves
• Use improvisation concepts to put together a complete solo guitar piece

Syllabus

Lesson 1 Notation, Chord Diagrams, Drop Voicing Theory

Lesson 2 Chord Spelling and Melodic Embellishment on Middle Four Strings

Lesson 3 Tensions, Passing Tones, Drop 2 Voicings on the Bottom Five Strings

Lesson 4 Bass Lines and Simple Reharmonization, and Accompaniment

Lesson 5 Intros, Endings, Turnarounds

Lesson 6 In Tempo vs. Rubato, and Diads

Lesson 7 Moving Lead Lines

Lesson 8 Two-Part Counterpoint and More Reharmonization

Lesson 9 Hybrid and Cluster Voicings

Lesson 10 Minor Clichés and Harmonics

Lesson 11 Non-Linear Moving Lead Lines

Lesson 12 Playing in 4ths, Quartal Voicings, and Final Project

Requirements

Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements