Masterclass · Workshop · Creative Lab
The Art of Solo Guitar
Solo Guitar as a Space for Musical Creation
One guitar, multiple voices. Improvisation, counterpoint, and composition in real time.
A program by Pedro Barboza exploring the creative and expressive possibilities of solo guitar, designed for conservatories, universities, music schools, and festivals.
Guitar as a Space for Creation
The Art of Solo Guitar grows out of Pedro Barboza’s experience as a guitarist, improviser, and composer. The program explores how a small melodic idea can lead to different harmonic relationships, contrapuntal movement, and rhythmic and sonic possibilities, turning the guitar into a space for musical creation.
One of its central concepts is The Guitar as an Orchestra: thinking of the guitar as a small orchestra in which melody, bass, and inner voices can interact, alternate, and develop independently. The focus is on exploring the relationships between these voices and the expressive possibilities that emerge from their interaction.
Through improvisation, musical examples, and live demonstrations, Barboza shares resources that form part of his own artistic language. The session also approaches improvisation as a tool for exploration and composition—a process in which musical ideas are discovered, transformed, and developed through performance.
In the workshop format, participants can experiment with these concepts and apply them to their own playing.
Core Topics
Melody and Motivic Development
Building and transforming melodic ideas through phrasing, variation, and motif development.
Harmony and Voice Movement
Exploring different harmonic possibilities, voice-leading, and relationships between melody and harmony.
Counterpoint and Voice Independence
Interaction between melody, bass, and inner voices through independent movement, alternation, and superposition.
Rhythm and Sonic Possibilities
Articulation, accentuation, register, textures, and expressive resources specific to the guitar.
Improvisation and Composition
Improvisation as real-time creation and a source of new ideas for compositions and arrangements.
What Participants Develop
The session offers tools for expanding the musical possibilities of solo guitar, particularly the relationship between melody, harmony, and counterpoint.
The aim is to expand the guitarist’s expressive resources and support the development of a personal musical language.
- Develop a melodic idea using different harmonic and contrapuntal approaches.
- Build relationships between independent voices on the instrument.
- Use rhythm, register, and texture as creative resources.
- Bring improvisation into their own compositional and arranging processes.
Formats
Masterclass / Lecture-Demonstration
Typical duration: 60–90 minutes.
A session combining live performance, musical demonstrations, analysis of examples, and dialogue with participants. Suitable for larger groups, with no instrumental participation required.
Solo Guitar Workshop
Typical duration: 2 hours.
A participatory format incorporating practical exercises and guided experiences that apply the concepts to melodies, motifs, and participants’ own musical ideas.
Creative Lab / Intensive Session
Typical duration: up to 3 hours.
A longer session offering deeper exploration through demonstrations, guided experimentation, and individual or small-group work.
Formats can be adapted to the goals, level, and needs of each institution.
Who Is It For?
The Art of Solo Guitar is designed for guitarists, students, and professionals interested in solo performance, improvisation, composition, and arranging.
It is particularly suited to guitar departments, jazz programs, conservatories, universities, music schools, and guitar or jazz festivals.
Although the program draws on Barboza’s artistic experience in jazz and improvisation, the resources presented can be applied across different musical styles and languages.
Available in English and Spanish.
About Pedro Barboza
Pedro Barboza is a Venezuelan guitarist, composer, and educator based in Madrid. His artistic work brings together contemporary jazz, improvisation, composition, and Venezuelan musical traditions.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, with a master’s degree in Electroacoustic Composition from the University of Hertfordshire, he has more than three decades of artistic and teaching experience and is the founder of Escuela Itinerante de Música.
He has presented masterclasses, workshops, and educational programs in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, including activities at Berklee College of Music and Montana State University. His teaching is closely connected to his work as a performer and composer.
Visiting Artist Option
The Art of Solo Guitar can be presented as a standalone activity or incorporated into a Visiting Artist program of one or several days, combining masterclasses, workshops, student sessions, and concerts.
It can also be included in the artistic and educational programming of guitar, jazz, and contemporary music festivals.
Bring The Art of Solo Guitar to Your Institution
The program can be adapted to different academic and artistic contexts, from a standalone masterclass to a program combining education and live performance.
Bookings now open.
Get in Touch Directly
Tell me what you have in mind, and I will get back to you with a proposal tailored to your institution.