Guitar and Vocals

Master the art of jazz guitar accompaniment and solo performance with renowned guitarist Paul Bollenback in this intimate masterclass recorded live at the IAJE Conference. Drawing from decades of professional experience performing with jazz luminaries like Gary Thomas and vocalist Chris McNulty, Bollenback reveals the essential techniques that separate working professionals from ambitious amateurs. Learn the Joe Pass approach to continuous motion in solo guitar, keeping your performances engaging through seamless transitions between chord voicings, walking bass lines, and single-note passages. Bollenback demonstrates how to maintain rock-solid time while playing unaccompanied, addressing common timing pitfalls that plague even experienced players. You'll discover practical polyrhythmic techniques including dotted quarter triplets and 5/16 displacements that add sophistication to your turnarounds without losing the audience. This course emphasizes real-world flexibility over rigid arrangements. Instead of memorizing fixed chord-melody arrangements, you'll develop the spontaneous skills needed for professional situations—whether you're suddenly asked to play solo at a gig, accompanying a vocalist in duo settings, or adapting to diverse musical contexts. Bollenback shares specific metronome exercises for locking in your time feel across quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes, ensuring your swing feel remains consistent at any tempo. Perfect for intermediate to advanced players who want to strengthen their solo guitar capabilities and develop the versatility demanded by today's jazz performance opportunities. Transform your approach from merely playing changes to creating compelling, swinging musical statements that stand alone.