Contrapuntal guitar is something that most guitarists learn much later in their guitar journey.
Most guitarists learn to play guitar by playing open chords before moving on to barre chords. Then, or maybe in conjunction with barre chords, the guitarist usually learns a pentatonic scale shape which leads them to play rock or blues songs.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is, in fact, how I, and many others I know, started to play guitar. However a real breakthrough for me was to learn about the power of two-part writing – a technique that allowed me to break free from chord grips and see the notes in chords as individual voices.
Two-part writing, or contrapuntal writing, is known as counterpoint. You probably have heard of counterpoint music before in a classical context however counterpoint techniques are not just for classical guitarists – counterpoint is a very powerful creative, compositional tool for all modern, jazz, folk and even rock guitarists.
If you have dabbled with counterpoint before you have to ask yourself – did your lines really interact or do they just sit on top of each other?
Linear Contrapuntal Guitar
The problem is that when guitarists only learn chords their playing can end up sounding ‘blocky’ or ‘too thick’ for the music that is required. These guitarists also think vertically (in one position) and in terms of chord ‘grips’.
Linear contrapuntal thinking allows for more space allowing the music to breathe. It also allows for more horizontal thinking (up and down the fretboard).
A great way to learn about counterpoint is to learn about species counterpoint.
Species Counterpoint for Guitar
Species counterpoint is a method used to teach the basics of counterpoint. By learning and playing the different types of species counterpoint the student will build a great base for applying modern techniques to counterpoint.
There are 5 types of species counterpoint starting with first species counterpoint which is note against note in a 1:1 ratio through to florid counterpoint which is fifth species counterpoint where all the previous species of counterpoint can be used in a composition.
Gilbert Isbin’s course How to Master Modern Two-Part Counterpoint starts with a description of each type of species counterpoint for guitar. Each description comes with video, sheet music, tablature and an MP3 sound file.
How to Master Modern Counterpoint
The How to Master Modern Counterpoint course comes with 40 minutes of video which features sheet music and tablature. There is also a 49 page PDF with all examples and additional information.
After the introduction and species counterpoint section the course moves onto advanced topics such as polytonality, bitonality, sequencing, mirroring, retrograde, interval rows and much more.
Rather than just learning the concepts of species counterpoint, like so many other courses do, Gilbert’s course allows you to compose your own species counterpoint arrangements and then move beyond them using modern harmony concepts.
Gilbert encourages you to learn how to play his examples but he encourages you to write your own arrangements much more. This is a great approach as you learn by doing.
Working with this course you will also learn about phrasing, improvisation, composition and much more all of which you can use in your present musical situation.
You Can Master Modern Counterpoint Now
How to Master Modern Counterpoint is one of the best-selling courses on the Modern Guitar Harmony website so you can explore the course here.
Here is a testimonial from a purchaser of Gilbert’s course;
“The course is concise yet comprehensive, well designed, and is excellent value” – Paul H
So are you ready to dive into contrapuntal guitar and modern counterpoint so that you can be the best player that you can be?
Click Here to Get Started
Read more about Gilbert Isbin Here
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