MUSC 32300 - Commercial Applied Guitar - Jazz/Blues

This course is private instruction to promote and cultivate advanced guitar techniques with emphasis on Jazz and Blues, including an introduction to real-world commercial applications that include sight reading, improvisation, scales and arpeggios, chord-melodies, and style-appropriate soloing.

Preparation for Course
P: Department permission required. Restricted to students admitted to a program in the School of Music.

Cr. 2.
Notes
May be repeated for credit.
Lab fee for material costs and studio maintenance.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. Map and apply position/neck-wide major, melodic minor, and blues vocab (guide-tone arpeggios, chord-scale pairs, pent/blues, bebop tones) to create coherent choruses; defend note-choice and voice-leading.
2. Sight-read and interpret standard notation through VII-IX position including syncopations, tuplets, cut-time, and articulations; choose fingerings that preserve lines.
3. From chord charts/Nashville/Real-Book lead sheets, realize comping parts and create a chord-melody for an AABA or 12-bar form; justify reharm/voicing choices.
4. Select and adapt equipment/tone (pickup, amp EQ/gain), demonstrate idiomatic voicings (3-7 shells, drop-2/3, 9ths/13ths, altered dominants) and techniques (swing feel, shuffle, bends/vibrato, slides, double-stops), and evaluate style fit.
5. Prepare and perform a working set (e.g., one blues head, one standard, one contemporary groove tune), analyze form/harmonic function, and reflect on phrasing and space.
6. In combo, plan and integrate roles-set-ups, kicks, dynamics, fills, background figures-while locking with bass/drums and assessing blend/time.
7. Render solo pieces that mix homophonic/polyphonic textures (bass-line + chords + melody), chord-melody intros/endings, and shape phrases with articulation and dynamic contour; defend fingering/voicing decisions.