Video Review: Lorne Lofsky – Soloing and Comping in a Pianistic Style

This class is pure content! Canadian guitar master Lorne Lofsky demonstrates how to combine voicings and lines in a pianistic style. Lorne goes right into the lesson from the get-go. In fact, I dare say that I got enough to work on within the first five minutes of the video alone. We begin with quartal harmony before going into shell voicings, adding notes to standard chords shapes. Lorne not only demonstrates each of the voicings but explains how to vary them texturally and rhythmically. What grabbed my attention was the beautiful and flowing touch that Lorne had on his guitar throughout the video.

There’s a strong emphasis on discovering the different harmonic possibilities by self exploration. Lorne reiterates this a fair bit in the video. He shares a lot and I mean A LOT of exercises to develop one’s voicing vocabulary. I definitely would recommend anyone watching this video to do so with either a digital or real notepad in hand to write down all the exercises.

It’s important to see this applied to see this on guitar especially at Lorne’s level of mastery. I definitely notice the Bill Evans and Lenny Breau influences in Lorne’s playing. I have definitely learned a lot from this video and am planning to revisit the video to dig into more exercise ideas.

All in all, there’s a lot to digest in the video so I would definitely recommend taking time going through it all. Watching Lorne play using the concepts are a real highlight as he demonstrates the benefits of using his thumbpick and fingers. I got a lot of paying close attention to his right hand technique. Lorne is a real master!

To close the video, Lorne performs a superb version of Autumn Leaves that acts as a summary of the topics covered. He also explains the various techniques he uses so that we can also start applying the concepts in our own performance. What a fitting close to this amazing master class!

PROS: Beautiful playing, a treasure trove of knowledge filled with lots of high quality practice ideas.
CONS: So much information that it may overwhelm some folks! To overcome this, be open to watching this video perhaps in small portions at a time.
TLDR: Recommended for intermediate or advanced players. If you want to play with a more pianistic approach, this video will give you a lot of ideas and practice strategies to develop your skills.