Chordal Arranging, Soloing and Comping – Volume II | Steve Herberman

This class on Contrapuntal Improvisation for pickstyle and fingerstyle guitar was live from the IAJE in NYC.

A refreshing alternative to block chord soloing, Steve walks you step-by-step through techniques to expand your playing into 2 and 3 part multi-line improvisation.

Written examples begin with the basic principles of contrapuntal music playing and progress towards melding single note lines seamlessly into modern chordal structures. Add these vital and flexible concepts into stream of consciousness improvising. This type of playing sounds great in a bass/guitar duo or guitar/bass/drums trio.

Break out of those chord boxes and let your creativity flow!

All contrapuntal improvisation examples are written for 6 string guitar and are easily adaptable to 7 string guitar.

“This is a mind-expanding class. There are 6 pages of written examples, many based on the same sample tune approached with different types of counter melodies.

Also very helpful and inspiring are the many beautifully improvised and clearly explained examples. Several devices are discussed like improvising against chromatic cliche-lines like Root-7-b7-6 etc or 5-#5-6 and playing arpeggio-based countermelodies against a held note. This class, in conjunction with Steve’s Van Eps-Style classes and the Inner Line class, represented a bit of a breakthrough for me and are revolutionizing the way I play and approach the instrument, from trying to combine chords and melodies, to juggling independent lines inside an organic improvised arrangement. Superb stuff!”

Improvising in the chord melody style can be taken to new heights when inner lines are employed that are musical and played with finesse. This class deals specifically with inner lines, or lines that are played between a melody note and a bass note.

The melody and bass notes are important providing the necessary framework for solo chord melody playing. As an alternative to the common chord form approach to chord soloing this class examines how to make something unique and musical happening between the bass and melody.

The inner line concept can be a satisfying way of personalizing one’s chord soloing. Often the success of a good inner line depends upon choosing a good melodic line that resolves well and having a good flexible technique to make the line seamless, maintaining the independence of the two parts.

A flexible technique can be achieved by practicing the studies set forth in this class so that true improvisation in this style can happen naturally. Using principles that were inspired by the materials George Van Eps outlines in his harmonic mechanisms books, some of the lines will be given a bebop/hardbop update.  I’ll demonstrate the types of fingerings employed to make these lines happen between 2 outside sustained notes.

The class makes it possible for the guitar player to improvise more interesting arrangements in the chord melody style. Be prepared for a true left hand finger workout leading to much greater finger independence!

“Amazing masterclass! It’s full of usefull information. The arrangement on “Stella by Starlight“ is breathtakingly beautiful and also plays a lot of different ways to approach it. Also, there is a lot of written examples that you really can use and shows real situations to play them in a context!

Anyway you can’t miss him playing “Darn that Dream” in al lot of different ways!

I’ve learned a lot from this lesson and there is still a huge lot for me to learn from it. Really useful for the solo guitarist!! The arrangement of “Stella” is already on my repertoire with great success! Don’t miss it”

This class is an introduction to Baroque-style counterpoint filled with harmonic resources to aid in the ability to compose and improvise within this style. Focusing on contrary motion and the authentic cadence employing secondary dominants, cycles and modulations, the written exercises are designed to help get strong compositional elements in the ears and hands of the player.

Once the finger mechanics and harmonic concepts have been practiced, two-line improvisation in this style can occur more easily.

We’ll be dealing with quick harmonic rhythms, chords lasting one or two beats and played in cycles resulting in music with forward motion that contain interesting modulations.

Highlights of the class include:

• Single note Baroque-style etudes,
• 2-part exercises in contrary motion,
• melodic embellishments,
• conversational bass techniques,
• cycle 4 and cycle 6 target chords using secondary dominants. IV V I
• cadences in various keys,
• chromatic counterpoint in contrary motion,
• an original arrangement of All cadences in various keys
• chromatic counterpoint in contrary motion,
• an original arrangement of All The Things You Are written as a Baroque/Jazz hybrid for 6 string guitar with additional pages included for 7 string guitarists.
• The class comes with 21 pages of written material in standard notation.
• Any player wishing to get deeper into composing and improvising in the Baroque style will not want to miss this class!
• 65 Minutes
• 21 Pages of PDF materials

This continuation of Contrapuntal Triad Pairs part 1 features open voiced triads played in a conversational chord-melody style. The active eighth note melodies weave in and out of all 3 voices creating musical lines in the upper, middle, and lower voices. Two sets of triad pairs are used over altered dominant seventh harmony in short II-V-I examples and also on longer 8 measure etudes that feature the all important II-V-I progression in both major and minor keys. The two triad pair sets used are two major triads one whole step apart and two minor triads one whole step apart.

For variety the augmented triad is also used in addition to some four part chords. The sets of triad pairs presented here give the player a concrete approach to achieving great sounding altered dominant sounds coupled with the rich sound of open voiced triads, minor sixth chords and minor major seventh harmony.

All of this is explained in the video and outlined in the musical examples. An analysis of the examples are given on this jazz guitar instructional video to help the player understand the material and to encourage the guitarist to compose and improvise in this style.

Throughout the class tips are given to be able to tap into the triad pairs easily without relying on any intermediate steps that can sometimes interfere with creative flow. This fun and challenging class will surely steer the guitarist down some interesting roads with new chordal twists through weaving melodic lines. Fingerstyle or pick and fingers technique is necessary to be able to play most of the examples.

• 13 pages of written materials notated in both TAB and standard notation with fingerings.
• Running Time: 90 minutes