Counterpoint has always been something that fascinated me as a guitarist. From the time I started playing simple two-part Bach pieces to the point when I discovered Jimmy Wyble’s materials, I’ve always been curious about how a guitarist would approach learning counterpoint, and of course more importantly: how to develop the facility to use it in improvisational solo guitar playing and solo jazz guitar.
This new course by Christian Miller provides a framework that combines both developing your technique and ears at the same time. The coolest thing about the course is that this is a really step by step guide to developing these sounds on the guitar.
The course is divided into 8 modules and includes two bonuses:
- Introduction
- Basic Drills – Up and Down the Scale
- Diminutions on Standards
- More Diminutions
- Canons
- Counterpoint Etudes on Jazz Standards
- Using Counterpoint to Arrange Melodies
- Jazz Harmony and Modern Counterpoint
- Bonus First Steps in Baroque Improvisation (A 7-step 41 page bonus PDF)
- Bonus: Deep Dive with Christian Miller (A 77 minute Deep Dive video)
The introduction section gives us an opening framework for Christian’s approach for the course. Going into the second module, Basic Drills – Up and Down the Scale, we get exercises in both major and minor keys to get basic tonal contrapuntal moves. These include patterns that teach us to move the bass voice and treble voice independently in different ways. We also get a 45-page PDF booklet that delivers the course info so you can still review without having to rewatch the videos each time.
Moving into the Diminutions on Standards module, we get to see the earlier drills we worked on in the context of standard jazz chord progressions. The next module, More Diminutions Lesson continues with variations of what we saw in the previous module. By the time you reach this module, if you really worked on this, it would really be enough ideas for interesting contrapuntal solo guitar sections (if you perform solo gigs, or if you do solo guitar introductions for your band’s performances). But, there’s more!
In the next module, we discover more about Canons with examples from the classical repertoire. Following that, in the Counterpoint Etudes on Jazz Standards Lesson module, Christian presents us with etudes on Confirmation & Yesterdays. This further solidifies the material we have studied so far.
In the second last module, Using Counterpoint to Arrange Melodies Lesson, we are introduced to various contrapuntal textural possibilities when arranging melodies in a contrapuntal texture. This is a literal goldmine of ideas if you ever wanted to get out from doing straight up chord melody solo guitar arrangements all the time.
The final module, Jazz Harmony and Modern Counterpoint Lesson culminates everything we’ve seen so far, and takes it outside from the baroque-sounding ideas we worked on. Finally it ends with how you can take the initial two-part ideas and shape into four part textures.
And that was the course! But what about the bonuses?
The first bonus that we get is a 41-page eBook entitled, First Steps in Baroque Improvisation. This provides us more insights into baroque contrapuntal ideas. Honestly I reckon most guitarists will already have more than enough to study in the main course, but for those who need more, you have this!
The second bonus is a 77-minute Deep Dive video from the author. It goes into Baroque material and the relationship to modern solo jazz guitar. He shows how to explore two-voice texture (melody and bass) through exercises. He also discusses hybrid picking, Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, and helps connect traditional contrapuntal methods with modern jazz harmony in a solo jazz guitar playing context. This deep dive gives us a chance to internalize the material in the course even more.
In conclusion, this course is probably a good fit for the jazz guitarist who has done the whole chord melody solo jazz guitar thing, and wants to get more contrapuntal textures, but has no idea where to start. The cool thing about this course is that it’s more step by step than diving into something like Jimmy Wyble’s materials (which is amazing, but requires more time to digest). The way I look at it, this is a great way in to get some counterpoint on your fingers faster. It’s good stuff!
Pros: Step by step material, lots of written exercises and etudes. Video examples are short so it’s easy to rewatch the demonstrations.
Cons: Material is really taught by text underneath the video, not explained on camera. Which is a funny thing for me to say, because one of the pros of the course is this made the video shorter.
TLDR: Want some counterpoint in your solo guitar playing? Let Christian Miller save you some time figuring this stuff out on your own. He has this figured out WAY MORE than most people!
Get the course here! (affiliate link)
Thanks to Marcel of Modern Guitar Harmony for giving me access to the course for this review! Although I received complimentary access to the course, my reviews reflects my personal honest experience of the material.
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