Student Reviews: Lenny Breau Style: How to Comp While Soloing

“Lenny Breau: Comping/Solo (Steve Herberman)”

I just worked through this lesson a couple of times. It's terrific. I hear Lenny Breau and think how could anyone do that?! Then you get this lesson from Steve Herberman who is rare in that he can communicate difficult ideas and concepts in clear ways. This does not mean he makes things easy, as this lesson has challenges he notes. Steve is just great at helping to break things up into manageable portions, and then demonstrate possibilities for approachingthe challenging aspects. Once through this, even in a rough way a couple of times, I can hear the beauty in my playing that I associate with Lenny's. That's rewarding in itself, but knowing I can go back and have Steve walk me through wherever I want is what makes this a great lesson—that, and Steve's approach to teaching which I see as guiding the player to find his/her voice, and offering encouragement in the process.

Another inspiring class from Steve. Packed with clear and musical examples and a practical approach that got me using this technique straight away. The benefits of this approach go well beyond the skill of accompanying yourself, as it is extremely useful for building voicings that, having 3 and 7 at the bottom, will support well any extension. This technique comes up time and time again in Steve's classes (and his playing), for example in his comping in 4/4 class, when he talks about building voicings 'on the fly' by adding to the 3&7 block. Highly recommended!

I was aware of the idea of voicing partial chords on the lower strings while soloing on the higher strings, but this class really got me started on using his concept RIGHT AWAY! What seemed nearly impossible is now a regular part of my playing style.