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Book Review: 8 Contrapuntal Etudes for Jazz Guitar by Hristo Vitchev

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Hristo Vitchev has been gradually building his reputation as an accomplished jazz guitarist. In addition to his lyrical and virtuosic playing on various records, he has also been documenting his teaching material via his previous book, Between the Voicings (reviewed here) and via his video at Jazz Guitar Society.

All the 8 etudes present a variety of technical challenges for the driven jazz guitarist. If you’re a fan of guitar players like Ted Greene, Jimmy Wyble, Julian Lage, Antoine Boyer and John Stowell — these etudes will provide you hours of study material.

Although the book itself is a seemingly slim volume at 19 pages, do not underestimate the difficulty that awaits you within!

Many of the etudes show various ways of interpreting these standard jazz chord progressions. The beautiful dissonances and tension resolutions are both challenging for the ears and the fingers. As I attempted them, I found new ideas that inspired me to write my own little exercises.

There stretches, unusual fingerings and sustained notes provided me with a lot of harmonic & guitar food for thought. I also watched Hristo’s performance videos of Etudes #3, #4, #7 and #8 to soak in the sound (at performance tempo).

In conclusion, I think this book would be a valuable addition to any serious guitarist’s virtual bookshelf. If you’re into solo guitar & contrapuntal guitar styles, this is a must buy.

Pros: Great material in compact volume!
Cons: None.
TLDR: If you’re into contrapuntal & solo guitar playing, this book is a valuable resource to challenge both your technique and musicality.

This book was a gift from Hristo to me. Thanks Hristo!

How to Buy:
You an get this book here:
https://gumroad.com/l/aMwef
Please do mention you found out about the book here too! 🙂

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Filed Under: Music Theory, Practice Secrets, Video LessonsTagged With: country guitar, country guitar licks, country licks, doug seven, sizzling guitar licks, video guitar lessons

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