How to Compose Counterpoint Solo Arrangements on Guitar

“Counterpoint” is the relationship between 2 or more musical lines. (or voices) This is commonly seen in classical music, particularly in the Baroque period.

I teach this approach to my students that are at or near the intermediate level.
The type of counterpoint I teach is one in which you juxtapose a melody above bass/root notes.

Here are the steps:

1. Pick a song to arrange as a counterpoint solo: some guiding principles for selecting a good song for your arrangement are: pick a song with a melody that has good/interesting “contours” (the way the melody moves up and down and varies note usage) choose a melody on the simpler side and a song that is either relatively slow or that would work slowed down.
   
   
2. ​Pick a key to play your arrangement in: when you're new to this process, I suggest playing songs primarily in the keys of E major, E minor, A major, A minor, G major or B minor. Doing so will offer you multiple advantages that result from accessibility of open strings. (especially the open bass strings: E, A and D)
   
   
3. Decide on the chords (harmony) you're going to use with your melody.
   
   
4. Pick out root/bass notes of the chords and place them on the neck.
   
   
5. Play root/bass notes while voicing the melody. (this will act as a preview of how your solo will sound)
   
   
6. Figure out how to play the melody in close proximity to root/bass notes (at this point, through the process of trial and error, you may be forced to relocate root/bass notes to a different string or relocate a melody note or notes)
   
   
7. Compose your solo from the ground up = note by note, then measure by measure!

After composing a dozen or so of these arrangements, you will find that the whole process will become much easier and it will unlock the fretboard greatly. This is perhaps the most “musical” way to approach learning on the guitar because it forces you to wrestle with the 2 most primary aspects present in a song - the melody and the bass notes of the harmony.

It's also very satisfying and fun to play once you begin to see some results!