Exploring Original Creations [Non-Diatonic]

John Stowell plays and breaks down his own non-diatonic compositions, showing where the chords come from and how to improvise through the changes. Rather than presenting chord shapes in isolation, John's approach is to learn new voicings in the context of an arrangement — the way he believes they stick best.

What's covered

• Performances and chord-by-chord breakdowns of "Violin Memory," "Simple Pleasures," and "Tapioca Time"
• Improvising over non-diatonic progressions using chord shapes
• John's pianistic approach: open-string voicings, inner-voice movement, and double stops, influenced by Ted Greene and Jimmy Wyble
• Reharmonizing simple material — a major arpeggio harmonized four non-diatonic ways in "Simple Pleasures"
• Chromatic dominant chords, sus voicings with the 3rd and 4th together, and melodic minor colors
• Hybrid picking (pick plus fingers) for chord melody articulation

The course includes 14 original song sheets as downloadable PDFs — "Always Sometimes," "Blues in J," "Friendly Giant," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Rain Painting," "Shiffletting" (parts 1 and 2), "Simple Pleasures," "Spectrum Rescue," "Springfield Sonata," "Swedish Bingo," "Tapioca Time," "Throop," and "Violin Memory." Several of these compositions appear on John's albums Basement Blues and Destinations. Running time: 1 hour 3 minutes. An advanced class for players ready to expand their chord vocabulary and voice leading.