Pivoting Techniques 

1. What are you going to learn? 

This course delivers a specific skill set of guitar techniques, the pivoting techniques, to help you develop very creative guitar accompaniments in your songs.

You will learn to make melodies with chords to match the emotional variations of the vocal line, to enjoy yourself even more in music,  and open a pathway that will allow your inner creativity to flow seamlessly and therefore take your songs to a world class level. 

2. What will you be able to do afterwards?

After you have finished the course, the next time you see a Dm chord, you will no longer just strum it, but make it sound like what the pro piano player or orchestra would do, behind the vocalist of a song. 

You will never play a standard chordal shape in the same manner. Your first impulse or option, will no longer be to strum all the strings at the same time, but to choose from other better sounding shapes to create melodic lines that define the groove, the chord and harmonic context.

You will be able  to accompany with more or less intensity, playing chords with one note, two notes or three at a time, with more or less rhythm,  in lower or higher registers, and always creating beautiful melodic lines. 

And, you will also be able to apply the pivoting techniques, in different styles, with different guitar sounds, in different modes and keys.

3.  Does this ever happen to you? 

• Don’t you get tired of always playing your typical chords in the same manner?
• Have you ever felt that a song is boring and thought that adding a new section would solve the problem but it didn’t? 
• Do you ever feel the need to play a second verse with more power but you do not know how to? 
• Have you ever taken your new song to your band, and when they play it, all the accompaniment sounds like just one big sonic mass of chords, where you cannot hear what you play, and need to crank up your guitar or vocals? 

I must say… all the previous has happened to me a lot, and that is why I developed the pivoting techniques that I will share with you. 

3.1 How can you solve these problems and many more?

So, how can you solve these problems and many more? By applying my pivoting techniques, adding extreme melodic value to your accompaniment, reinventing your selected chords and making them pulsate, come alive. 

As a result, your accompaniment will sound clearer, groovier.  It will make the song sound more interesting. Furthermore, the accompaniment can now be louder in the mix and not have to sit in the boring background.  

You will be able to repeat sections of a song and never get tired of them, as you will learn to create variations, to match the emotional contour of the vocal line in the soft and extreme emotions. 

4. How does the course work?

4.1 What do you need to know to take the course?

This course is for songwriters and guitarists of all levels. The examples are written with tabs and standard notation. But, you will further benefit, if you know how to read standard notation. 

You must have an understanding of basic open string chords.  It will also be beneficial if you can sing songs and play chords at the same time,  and, if you can play along the recorded original tracks of your favourite songs.

Have you taken the prerequisite test to see where you are, and to find out what else you would need to work on before signing up for the course ? If not please do so. 

4.2 The Prerequisite Test

Before we begin, we’d like to learn a bit about your level of guitar playing. 

In order to follow the course and benefit from it you need to have:

• A basic understanding of how to read, both music written with tabs and standard.
• A thorough understanding of basic open string chords.  
• The ability to sing full songs and play chords at the same time.
• Transcriptions skills: the ability to hear a melody, play it on the guitar and write it in tab or music notation.

To see where you are, and to find out what else you would need to work on before signing up for the course please do the following two assignments:

1. Download this track and pdf file.

• Learn the melody and chords.
• Record your own version of both melody and accompaniment, and submit as an mp3 file to info@thomaslorenzo.com.au.
• Write the melody with tabs and rhythmic notation and submit to  info@thomaslorenzo.com.au.

2. Submit a recording

Submit a recording ( send mp3 file to info@thomaslorenzo.com.au.) of you playing another song of your choice. You have to decide what the word play a song means to you. Thank you, and have fun!