The Craft of Accompaniment 101

Transform Your Strumming

Apply Creative Arranging skills to your playing and drive each song to your own unique magical realm.

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Get your promotional FREE 30 min assessment and experience the course. 

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Accompaniments that STAND OUT

A g pedal note over the F and G chord

Songwriters, are you at that stage in a band or recording where strumming is not enough? 

Have you ever wondered how Hendrix, Ed Sheeran, Clapton or Frusciante (RHCP) come up with those fantastic accompaniments?  And why do they sound so good?

Discover the techniques they use and master the craft.

A Clearer Sound

Apply Arranging Techniques

# Make your vocals shine even more. 
# Create better grooves.
# Create a unique band sound. 
# Sound big like a piano player.
# Layer groove tracks that complement the piano bass and help the vocals.
# Make your song explode with more energy, learn to create a climax.
# Define chords in a variety of styles: latin, afro, funk, blues.

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Would you like to experience in person the result of the course?

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Complete the Course in 3 steps

Master the art in 3 simple steps and 12 weeks of rewarding work.

#1 Hear and Play

Learn the new sounds, play them.

# 2 Develop Your Skills

Practice in context, achieve fluency.

#3 Inspire

Create and record your professional guitar tracks.

Always with a Teacher

Learn in very small groups and always with a teacher to guide you.

Where it all started, my story 

I am the published author of the leading textbook on Arranging and Orchestration in the Spanish language. 

These courses teach you the craft of how to apply these techniques to the guitar accompaniment.

Read about why I wrote this book.

 I have always felt music to be the magical pathway that connects space and time with others. 
When I started playing in bands I always felt frustrated by a lack of clarity between the…..

Read More

 

Thomas Lorenzo Director Creative Guitar Academy
Thomas Lorenzo

Head of Music

El Arreglo un puzzle de Expresión Musical Thomas Lorenzo

Interviews

Before enrolment students must undergo a free interview to assess their skills.
These are some of the questions asked.

I know my scales and chords, so what am I going to learn ?

It’s not about scales, nor chords, it’s about how to use them behind the vocals. 

It’s not about creating fills norlicks, it’s about defining the groove and sounding good on your own.

Listen to Hendrix or RHCP,  take out the vocals, you will hear that the accompaniment sounds impressive and groovy.  It sounds good on its own. This course teaches you the how and the why.

Why does my strumming sometimes sound blurry in a band?

The general rule is that when you have two sustained harmonies, for example the piano and you, naturally when you play chords they become one sound and you will not hear yourself with clarity and should not.

So you need to break away from this option of layering sustained sounds and explore other arranging techniques applied to real time accompaniment.

In my courses you will learn the techniques and the craft of how to apply them.

I am not a vocalist will this course help me?

You just need to be able to hum the melody and play the chord options at the same time to naturally choose what sounds good, if not you will get in the way of the vocalist.

I would like to sound nicer when I am accompanying my vocal line with open string chords, like Ed Sheeran does. How can I learn to do  this?

You can copy Ed Sheeran and create something similar or instead learn all your options and then choose what you prefer to layer.

Chords can be played with one, two notes or more at a time, with open or closed triads, with pedals, ostinatos, long and short tensions, in top middle and inner voices and so on. 

What you can do is already out there in text books of arranging and orchestration but not the how to do it while someone is singing. This is a craft you will learn.

Next starting dates

Group Online Courses

Level 1

Tuesdays at 11 am (GMT+10 )starting Abril 23: Three spots left.

Level 2

Thursdays at 10 am (GMT+10 ) Abril 25: Two spots left.

Level 4: The Craft of Accompaniment

 Fridays at 10 am (GMT+10 )starting Abril 26: Two spots left.
Fridays at 11 am (GMT+10 )starting Abril 26: One spot left.

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