Contrapuntal Improvisation 1

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!”