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A student performs onstage with an electric guitar during a live concert at USC Thornton School of Music, accompanied by other musicians on drums and bass under stage lights.

Guitar Seminar: Jazz, Rock and Beyond

Become a Summer Trojan and earn college credit.

Program Overview

Students in this course spend much of their time in a lab setting, breaking into small groups to drill and practice new information and concepts.

Assignments and repertoire are consciously chosen to meet students at their various levels, while growing their skills. Students will take master classes with USC Thornton’s studio guitar faculty, as well as field trips to Los Angeles’s local music venues. T

here will also be numerous opportunities for students to flex their performance muscles, including two final formal concerts open to family and friends, which will showcase new material learned in class.

A group of students wearing safety goggles holds unfinished wooden guitar bodies inside a workshop, smiling after a hands-on instrument-building session.

Key Information

Topics of Study

Theory
Improvisation
Technique
Sight-reading
Songwriting
Rehearsal techniques
Tone production
Entering the music profession

Learning Highlights

Memorize all major key signatures
Be able to identify intervals theoretically
Demonstrate all notes on the guitar thoroughly and play a note recognition exercise through circle of fourths
Sight-read music on the guitar at Level 2 on the Sight Reading Factory
Learn 10 jazz compositions
Demonstrate major and minor triads on the guitar
Prepare and perform both a rock and a jazz piece live with an ensemble

Requirements

Students must bring their own laptops
Students must create an audition video to be considered for this course, which should include:
- The applicant’s version of the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” by Joseph Kosma. Applicants should demonstrate their ability to play the melody, accompany with chords and improvise a solo.
- A selection of the applicant’s choice, in any style that best demonstrates their guitar playing abilities

The video should be no longer than five minutes
It can take place in either a solo or group setting, or with a pre-recorded backing track
Applicants should make sure to frame themselves in the center of the video, so our team can see and hear them play

Week	Focus	Key Topics	Assignments and Activities
1	Fretboard Organization	CAGED System; improvisation techniques	Field trip to Los Angeles area performance venue.
2	Prepare for Rock Show	Rehearsal and performance techniques	Performance at Carson Soundstage.
3	Harmonic Study	Triads; seventh chord voicings	Refinding repertoire and applying new harmonic.
4	Prepare for Jazz/Classical Performance	Repertoire; rehearsal techniques	Final concert.

The most valuable aspect of this course was the motivation and inspiration it provided, as us students not only learned massive amounts of theoretical and applicable information about the guitar, but the professors and experiences on campus pushed us all to work on those things and get better.

— USC Summer Programs student participant