Soloing and Reharmonization Strategies for Standards

John Stowell is joined by guitarist Randy Vincent — friends and duo partners since the 80s — for a class on soloing and reharmonization over standards. Using Gone With the Wind, they trade choruses, react to each other's harmonic and melodic choices, and then break down what they heard, with each also comping for the other to demonstrate accompaniment techniques.

What's covered

• Implied time and displaced rhythms — suggesting the pulse without stating it
• Voice leading and improvised chord melody inside a solo
• Dyads, contrary motion, pianistic and drop 2 voicings, and altered dominant chords
• Moveable shapes used as altered dominants
• The importance of space in both soloing and comping
• Motivic development in solos
• Reharmonizing the diatonic progressions of a standard with new voicings

An advanced class for players who want fresh variations on standard diatonic progressions, new chord voicings, and solo lines — with influences like Bill Evans, Lenny Breau, Ted Greene, and Jim Hall woven through the conversation.