gloufman
Verified buyer
05/31/26
Perfect
Harp Guitar Repertoire
Technique, performance and harmonic insight for 7 original compositions
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About this course
"The image of Stephen Bennett embracing his harp guitar is the one that tends to linger. In what is becoming known as the Golden Age of Guitar Luthiery, it's easy to overlook the fact that this is also the Golden Age of Guitar Playing. With six strings or more, as one of the most original and prolific composers and arrangers for the guitar on the current scene, Stephen Bennett is clearly a part of the latter heritage."
-- S. Rekas
If you haven't yet experienced Stephen Bennett's golden touch, treat yourself now to a few of his performance videos on TrueFireTV and then have a listen to a few samples from Stephen's classic rock, harp guitar In-A-Gadda-Da-Stephen.
Already "experienced" and ready to go for the gold yourself? Packaged as an interactive video course, Harp Guitar Repertoire features 3 1/2 hours of video performances, measure-by-measure breakdowns, tab, notation and technical insight for seven of Bennett's original tunes composed specifically for harp guitar: Oregon, Elephant's Dance, November, Issoudun, The Eye of God, Sea Rose Beach and Tenochtitlan.
"In this TrueFire course, I present seven of my compositions that many people have asked me to teach over the years. I think they will serve you well in expanding your own approach to the instrument. I love these tunes and believe that they really showcase the harp guitar with six additional sub-bass strings beyond the usual six of the guitar. These tunes will make your instrument sing. And if you are playing them particularly well, who knows - maybe you'll make someone smile or shed a tear that they weren't expecting to."
If you've never played harp guitar or are just a beginner, Bennett's Harp Guitar Basics is a better option for getting a grip on the instrument. "My objective with Harp Guitar Basics is to take you through a series of musical arrangements to get you acquainted with my approach to the harp guitar. I start with the assumption that you already have at least some minimal experience playing finger-style on a standard 6-string guitar. But even if you have never played guitar and somehow have wound up with a harp guitar, you will still be served well by the simple arrangements presented in the course."
The harp guitar dates back a couple of centuries, and the instrument has facilitated the composition and performance of an impressive range of classical, parlor and folk music (check out Gregg Miner's Modern Organology of Historical and Modern Harp Guitars). Today, however, an impressive group of world-class acoustic and fingerstyle players has adopted the instrument and given birth to a new generation of contemporary harp guitar music that has sparked great interest from listening audiences the world over.
Stephen Bennett is widely respected as one of the most versatile and original guitarists performing today. With nearly 20 CD recordings to his credit, Bennett is a prolific composer who consistently garners critical praise and audience enthusiasm for his recordings and live performances.
P.S. If you don't yet own a harp guitar, there are now some very affordable options on the market due to its rising popularity amongst players. Holloway recently introduced a Stephen Bennett model that you can pick up very reasonably.
-- S. Rekas
If you haven't yet experienced Stephen Bennett's golden touch, treat yourself now to a few of his performance videos on TrueFireTV and then have a listen to a few samples from Stephen's classic rock, harp guitar In-A-Gadda-Da-Stephen.
Already "experienced" and ready to go for the gold yourself? Packaged as an interactive video course, Harp Guitar Repertoire features 3 1/2 hours of video performances, measure-by-measure breakdowns, tab, notation and technical insight for seven of Bennett's original tunes composed specifically for harp guitar: Oregon, Elephant's Dance, November, Issoudun, The Eye of God, Sea Rose Beach and Tenochtitlan.
"In this TrueFire course, I present seven of my compositions that many people have asked me to teach over the years. I think they will serve you well in expanding your own approach to the instrument. I love these tunes and believe that they really showcase the harp guitar with six additional sub-bass strings beyond the usual six of the guitar. These tunes will make your instrument sing. And if you are playing them particularly well, who knows - maybe you'll make someone smile or shed a tear that they weren't expecting to."
If you've never played harp guitar or are just a beginner, Bennett's Harp Guitar Basics is a better option for getting a grip on the instrument. "My objective with Harp Guitar Basics is to take you through a series of musical arrangements to get you acquainted with my approach to the harp guitar. I start with the assumption that you already have at least some minimal experience playing finger-style on a standard 6-string guitar. But even if you have never played guitar and somehow have wound up with a harp guitar, you will still be served well by the simple arrangements presented in the course."
The harp guitar dates back a couple of centuries, and the instrument has facilitated the composition and performance of an impressive range of classical, parlor and folk music (check out Gregg Miner's Modern Organology of Historical and Modern Harp Guitars). Today, however, an impressive group of world-class acoustic and fingerstyle players has adopted the instrument and given birth to a new generation of contemporary harp guitar music that has sparked great interest from listening audiences the world over.
Stephen Bennett is widely respected as one of the most versatile and original guitarists performing today. With nearly 20 CD recordings to his credit, Bennett is a prolific composer who consistently garners critical praise and audience enthusiasm for his recordings and live performances.
P.S. If you don't yet own a harp guitar, there are now some very affordable options on the market due to its rising popularity amongst players. Holloway recently introduced a Stephen Bennett model that you can pick up very reasonably.
What you'll learn
- Apply double hammer-on technique (simultaneous on two strings)
- Master sympathetic string techniques for atmospheric effects
- Play the complete arrangement of 'Sea Rose Beach' on harp guitar
- Play 'The Eye of God' complete arrangement on harp guitar
- Create voice leading effects by letting notes ring into each other
Release date: 01/27/2011 • 3h 35m runtime
Sample lessons
Issoudun
Introduction
Issoudun
Performance
Issoudun
Verse Breakdown
Issoudun
Chorus Breakdown
What's included
48 lessons • 7 charts
Repertoire for Harp Guitar
Thanks for your interest in the harp guitar - and in my approach to these instruments. In this TrueFire project I present seven of my compositions for you to learn. They are pieces of music that people have asked me over the years to teach and also that I think will serve you well in expanding your own approach to the instrument.
I love these tunes and believe that they really showcase the harp guitar. I say that in full awareness that there are a number of different types of and approaches to the harp guitar. The instrument that I'm talking about has six additional sub-bass strings beyond the usual six of the guitar. These tunes, if played properly, will make your instrument sing. And if you are playing them particularly well, who knows - maybe you’ll make someone smile or shed a tear that they weren’t expecting to. These are good things and music at its best, I think.
In addition to adding to your repertoire, I think that you will likely benefit from absorbing these pieces. Some of the musical ideas here will serve you well in other places and situations.
Have a great time with them. As always, I welcome your feedback.
Best,
Stephen Bennett
I love these tunes and believe that they really showcase the harp guitar. I say that in full awareness that there are a number of different types of and approaches to the harp guitar. The instrument that I'm talking about has six additional sub-bass strings beyond the usual six of the guitar. These tunes, if played properly, will make your instrument sing. And if you are playing them particularly well, who knows - maybe you’ll make someone smile or shed a tear that they weren’t expecting to. These are good things and music at its best, I think.
In addition to adding to your repertoire, I think that you will likely benefit from absorbing these pieces. Some of the musical ideas here will serve you well in other places and situations.
Have a great time with them. As always, I welcome your feedback.
Best,
Stephen Bennett
Oregon
I can hear the words "I'm going back to Oregon" in the opening phrase of this tune. And so should you hear that in your own playing of this piece. I never wrote lyrics for the whole thing (and probably never will) but still, I think the melody sings. Keep that sense of lyricism in the melody as you learn this.
As I write this text while listening to this performance of Oregon (several months after recording it), it occurs to me that the tempo could be a little slower. Or not, your call.
As I write this text while listening to this performance of Oregon (several months after recording it), it occurs to me that the tempo could be a little slower. Or not, your call.
Oregon
Note the fingering of the initial D chord. If you're not used to playing this fingering of it, you should get that way. It's the best way to make certain things happen, including what you need for this tune!
Do nail the first phrase of the tune before going on. It will feel good to be able to do so and it will feed your need to learn more!
Be sure to absorb what I say about how you've got the 3 different endings to the initial phrase.
Also - the bit where I talk about how the addition of the B sub-bass string to the ordinary D chord form creates a new chord of Bm7 - that is an important realization to have about the harp guitar. If you maintain the plain old D chord on the guitar and play a G sub-bass, you have a Gmaj9. Play a C sub-bass with the D and you have a D7/C (a D7 with the 7th in the bass). The point being that you can get some mileage - in your compositions and your arrangements - out of this idea.
Do nail the first phrase of the tune before going on. It will feel good to be able to do so and it will feed your need to learn more!
Be sure to absorb what I say about how you've got the 3 different endings to the initial phrase.
Also - the bit where I talk about how the addition of the B sub-bass string to the ordinary D chord form creates a new chord of Bm7 - that is an important realization to have about the harp guitar. If you maintain the plain old D chord on the guitar and play a G sub-bass, you have a Gmaj9. Play a C sub-bass with the D and you have a D7/C (a D7 with the 7th in the bass). The point being that you can get some mileage - in your compositions and your arrangements - out of this idea.
Oregon
This is pretty straightforward stuff. One note however: I am using the terms "verse", "chorus", "bridge", etc. even though they more clearly refer to a song: by which I mean a tune with lyrics. There are no lyrics in these tunes - but we still have to speak about sections of the tunes in some fashion. I could call them the "A" section or the "B" section but I'm choosing not to. That is for a couple of reasons. One: I think of my melodies lyrically and so it makes sense to me to talk about the structure of the tunes in that sort of way. By extension, I try to make my melodies sing. And that ain't a bad thing for a melody to do now, is it?
Oregon
Well, what do you know? There I am starting out this section talking about the lyricism of the melody. I guess I think it's important, huh? Well, it is.
Oregon
All I'm doing here is playing an accompaniment part on the 6-string guitar so that you can have a little fun. (I'm really not here solely to torture you or to spread my tunes over the globe in my never-ending quest towards world domination). I got the idea to include this because I play this tune sometimes with other people. By brother Jim is a wonderful pianist and we sometimes play it together. I had to figure out what to play to accompany him when he took the melody. My participation in the International Guitar Night tour of 2010 provided another opportunity to do this tune as a duet. Then I sometimes performed Oregon with my friend Itamar Erez, a brilliant musician from Israel. When he took the melody, I played something very similar to what I show you here. So - if you've got a friend who can play this part, then you play the harp guitar part and voila - you've got yourself a duet. Have fun!
Oregon
Here I play a duet with myself to show you how it can sound. I know, I know: two of me is entirely too much!
+ 41 more lessons
Reviews
3 results
GaryHighland
Verified buyer
12/09/22
The best place to start the harp guitar adventure
I've been listening to Stephen music for over a decade and now that i finally have my harp guitar, this course is the best place for me to start the adventure. Stephen explains his songs in a perfect manner. All the little details, accents, intonations etc come to light. If you want to play these songs just like Stephen does than this is the course for you.
JThompsonUK
12/25/21
Harp guitar repertoire.
If you have seen this and the other course, unless you are a current player of harp guitar and just looking to learn some more of stephen bennetts tunes, then it will likely be worth looking at the harp guitar tips section towards the end of this course... It would likely have been useful to put this at the start of the video for most people? I built my first harp guitar in early 2k's and didn't know about these courses as hadn't been following the harp guitar community for a few years due to illl health. I recently linked the community on FB but this will undoubtedly be inspiration to restring mine and get experimenting again :)
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