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Acoustic Crossover: Soloing

Concepts and Approaches for Crafting Compelling Acoustic Guitar Performances

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Acoustic Crossover: Soloing
Corey Congilio

Corey Congilio

Educator

acoustic, acoustic blues

Genres

About this course

Whether you’re an electric guitar player that also performs on acoustic from time to time, or you’re exclusively an acoustic player …. your approach and technique for soloing on the acoustic is really quite different than soloing on electric.

In this Soloing edition of Corey Congilio’s Acoustic Crossover, you’ll play your way through 10 “acoustic soloing” performance studies, each of which will highlight a particular approach or concept that you can easily incorporate into your own acoustic soloing immediately.

”Truth be told, I'm really excited about this course. There's been plenty of times over the years where I've had to play acoustic guitar on a show where I had to take a solo. What I found early on was that traditional electric guitar licks and riffs didn't translate to the acoustic guitar. I had to figure out a way to incorporate open strings and licks as well as harmonized lines to really stand out.

Each example in this course will give you tips on how your own acoustic solos can stand out in a band situation. We’ll cover open position licks, sliding thirds, Chet-style open string licks, and seventh chord inversion tricks. We’ll talk about targeting tones of a one four five, phrasing for acoustic solos, low down drop-d approaches, capos, legato, and other effective approaches for acoustic soloing.

I’ll first explain the approach and then we’ll apply it over a backing track for demonstration purposes. I’ll break down all of soloing performance studies for you in detail as well. There's plenty of styles here as well. As you progress through the course you'll collect valuable ideas that will help in whatever musical situation you find yourself in.”

You’ll solo over an Eagles-style groove in G, a breezy acoustic groove in D, a delta blues-inspired study in A, and a classic country waltz. Next, you’ll work on a bluegrass-inspired country progression in G, a “less is more”, singer-songwriter inspired solo study, a Waylon Jennings inspired open D groove, as well as solo over contemporary guitar-driven pop tracks with lots of open string triads and atmospheric sounds.

Corey 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 performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your acoustic and let’s solo with Corey Congilio!

Corey Congilio's Preferred Gear

Below is a list of Corey Congilio's preferred gear including guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, and more. What you see in Corey's lessons may or may not be this actual gear, but if you are trying to capture Corey's sound and tone, the gear listed below is recommended by Corey and it's a great place to start!

Guitars

Amps

Pedals

Accessories & More

What you'll learn

  • Use alternate tunings and capos for soloing
  • Apply 10 different acoustic soloing concepts across various musical styles
  • Solo effectively over different groove types and progressions
  • Incorporate open position techniques into acoustic solos
  • Develop appropriate phrasing for acoustic guitar context
Release date: 04/09/2020 • 2h 14m runtime
intermediatelate intermediateacoustic guitarguitarsoloingimprovisation
Start Course
Sample lessons
145 Battered & Fried
145 Battered & Fried
Overview
145 Battered & Fried
145 Battered & Fried
Performance
145 Battered & Fried
145 Battered & Fried
Breakdown
Placing D Blame
Placing D Blame
Performance

What's included

42 lessons • 19 charts • 10 Jam Tracks

Acoustic Crossover: Soloing
Truth be told, I'm really excited about this course. There's been plenty of times over the years where I've had to play acoustic guitar on at show where I had to take a solo. What I found early on was that traditional electric guitar licks and riffs didn't translate to the acoustic guitar. I had to figure out a way to incorporate open strings and licks as well as harmonized lines to really stand out. Each example in this course will give you tips on how your acoustic solos can stand out in a band situation. There's plenty of styles here as well. As you progress through the course you'll collect valuable ideas that will help in whatever musical situation you find yourself in. Thanks for going on this journey with me to improve your acoustic soloing chops!
G Scales in Open Position
You'll be using open chords quite often when you're playing acoustic guitar. There's nothing better to accompany them than an open string scale. The open G major and G major pentatonic scales are utilized often for playing bluegrass, country, folk, rock and more. We'll use both of these ideas here next and, maybe even sneak in a minor pentatonic idea!
Easy G Pickin'
I crafted this solo over a track that's similar to The Eagles song Take It Easy. I've always loved how the electric guitar solo in that tune weaved in and out of the chord changes. I'll do that type of playing over this track and throw in lots of cool ideas and techniques that will keep you busy. Let's get pickin!
Easy G Pickin'
Ok, let's saddle up for this country rock example that sounds like it came from California circa 1979!
Easy G Pickin'
The scales we discussed will come into play immediately. The double stops in the beginning you'll use forever so, learn them and slide them! Notice how I intentionally hit chord tones as well. Lastly, the banjo roll idea is another gem you'll want to add to your bag of tricks!
Using Major and Minor Thirds
I often teach students about using major and minor third intervals. Incorporating these ideas helps to add spice to a solo that may be relying on single line licks and riffs. I'm using open strings in from the D major scale, as well as major and minor pentatonic. There's been plenty of times I've had to play a Jimmy Buffet island feel song and soloing with these tools can really add a nice touch. Give it a shot!
Thirds at the Buffett
We're in the key of D for this example and this solo has some fun ideas you can add to your tool box. I particularly like the open string lick that cascades. Have fun with that lick and the entire solo!

+ 35 more lessons

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Reviews

12 results

silasv

Verified buyer

10/01/25

Excellent study in beginner solo lead

This is the exact level of challenging but achievable for me. It's very easy to follow and he helps to put everything together in a way that makes sense. I love the combination of styles. Just want was needed!

Marklai456

Verified buyer

07/30/24

Very useful! I wish I had bought this course earlier. The exercises provided are really cool, which give me some new ideas about soloing.

petepaimen

Verified buyer

02/08/21

Great course for every acoustic player!

tpaull

Verified buyer

07/06/20

Exactly What I Was Looking For!

Corey Congilio demonstrates his great versatility, as both a player and a teacher, as well as his technical mastery in a wide range of genres, on both electric and acoustic guitars. In this excellent acoustic based course Corey offers up 10 musical adventures, in a variety of styles, each with its own particular technique and challenges. I've only started working on a few of these so far, and I can already tell the difference it's making in my playing. I have no doubt that the effort to master some or all of these little gems will add considerable 'sparkle' to any acoustic player's abilities.Thanks, Corey!

alessiamartis

06/30/20

Acoustic Crossover

This course's amazing. Corey is a sublime player both on electric and acoustic guitar and a passionate teacher. In this course, I've found some useful techniques and great tips. It's a soloing course which combined rhythmic and melodic concepts in addition to beautiful backing tracks. Thanks TrueFire to allow us of this magic learning experience with such incredible players.

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