Solo Guitar Handbook

Playing solo guitar arrangements on the gig, or even just for family and friends is something every guitarist aspires to be able to do. Most players think you have to learn how to play bass lines, rhythm, and melody simultaneously like a fingerstyle or classical guitarist does. But there’s another very effective approach that any player can master and that’s what Fareed Haque’s Solo Guitar Handbook is all about.

”I’ll show you a very simple, logical system for creating solo guitar arrangements which you can play with a pick, or with your fingers. You can use this system to craft folk, blues, pop, and even jazz solo guitar arrangements for any of your favorite tunes.

I don't really like calling this approach to solo guitar a "system", it's really just what you do to learn a song on any instrument. I'm just organizing it a bit, so we don't skip any steps. Maybe we can call it a natural process, not really a "system". Learn the melody, learn the basic chords, put 'em together. Build fancy chords and chord progressions from the simple ones, add an intro, outro runs, and fills, and there you are!”

Fareed organized The Solo Guitar Handbook into four sections. In the first section, Fareed presents three Solo Arrangement Basics: Learn the Melody in Multiple Keys, Learn the Basic Chords, and How to Put the Melody and Chords Together

The second section features Fareed's Principles of Chord Arrangement: Sub a Third Above or Below, Lead to Any Chord with Its Dominant, Any Chord Can Be Dominant, Any Minor or Dom Can Be a ii V, Any Dom Can Become a ii V, Sub or Lead with a Tritone, Tritone Subs, and Chord Embellishments.

In the third section, Fareed presents a series of lessons focused on Sweetening the Arrangement: Intros: How to Begin, Adding Fills & Runs, Adding an Ending, and a full arrangement of Amazing Grace.

In the fourth and final section, Fareed guides you through a series of lessons to craft a complete Solo Arrangement for Whispering: Learning the Melody & Basic Chords, Whispering: Basic Arrangement, Applying the Chord Arrangement Principles, Whispering: Jazz Harmony Arrangement, Sweetening Ideas for the Tune, and then finally a full arrangement of Whispering.

Fareed will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way.  You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples and performance studies. You’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let’s perform some solo guitar with Fareed Haque!