Posted Fri, 03/13/2015 - 09:55 by David Barrett Admin
What is the soloist doing when he attempts to "build"? Actually the ideal process hardly ever takes place--that is, it is hardly ever the case that a conscientious soloist plays a thinking solo for a hard-listening hearer, but when this does happen, the key process is memory. The soloist has to establish for the listener what the important POINT, the motif if you like, is, and then show as much as he can of what it is that he sees in that motif, extending the relationships of it to the basic while never giving the feeling he has forgotten it. continue reading...
Posted Thu, 03/12/2015 - 09:23 by David Barrett Admin
In the book Improvising Jazz by Jerry Coker there's a quote author by Richmond Browne that "The listener must come our right around 50% of the time" in regards to guessing where the music is going next. Ruminate on that important statement and I'll elaborate tomorrow.
Posted Thu, 02/26/2015 - 10:11 by David Barrett Admin
Now take a listen to John Lee Hooker's famous "Boom Boom." A harmonica approximation of what he plays is 4-dip 5 4' 3 2 2" 2 and the band follows with 3 4+ 3 2 2" 2 (Bb harmonica). Using yesterday's information, see if you can figure out what's going on, especially where each of John Lee's licks start in time.
Posted Mon, 02/23/2015 - 12:00 by David Barrett Admin
Take a listen to the first lick of Little Walter's "Juke." Though there's some technique going on, essentially he's playing 2 3 4 5+ 6+ 6+. The 2 (or 3+, we don't know for sure) 3 4 5+ happens before the downbeat of the first bar... this is called a pickup. What is it picking up to?... 6+ in this case... the first note of Bar 1 and the Root Note of the I7 Chord. The second 6+ is a reiteration of the 6+, so it's not new information and not structurally important. continue reading...
Posted Fri, 02/20/2015 - 09:38 by David Barrett Admin
"Can what you play (when you don't repeat your "A" lick) still be cool if it doesn't use a theme?" Absolutely. This where the importance of using phrasing can be vague to new improvisers. They CAN play lick, after lick, after lick, and as long as the licks are cool (pitch, rhythm, texture, dynamics, etc.), the solo is cool. But, "Will it be memorable?" No. We can remember the experience of the solo, which in itself IS valuable, but if you want the listener walking away with a cool hook/melody, you need to repeat it enough so that it can stick with them. continue reading...
Posted Thu, 02/19/2015 - 10:17 by David Barrett Admin
"What happens when you don't repeat your A lick... can it still be considered phrasing?"
Nope. Repetition is at the core of phrasing. Without repetition you're playing lick, after lick, after lick, after lick.. after lick.. after lick... after lick... after lick.... after lick. Get it? All change is sameness, boring. At the core of all that is melodic, or that which is story telling, a recurring theme must be present. Change cannot happen without repetition.
Posted Wed, 02/18/2015 - 10:01 by David Barrett Admin
We've studied five Chorus Form Types...
1) AAA
2) Af Af At (AAA with Fills)
3) AAB
4) Af Af B (AAB with Fills)
5) A B/A C
What do they all have in common? They all start with a lick, labeled "A." What you do with that "A" lick after it... in other words, how you repeat it... determines the Chorus Form type.
What happens when you don't repeat your "A" lick? Can it still be considered phrasing? Can what you play still be cool if it doesn't use a theme? Will it be memorable?
Ponder this and we'll discus this further tomorrow.
Posted Fri, 02/13/2015 - 09:23 by David Barrett Admin
In Little Walter's "Off the Wall" he plays a two-bar lick (A) that repeats to fill up the first line of the 12 Bar Blues. He then takes that lick and sequences it to the IV Chord to play a version of that lick, but now relative to the IV Chord (B). When the I Chord returns in Bar 7 he again repeats his main theme lick (A). In the last line, like the AAB Chorus Form, he changes his lick to bring the chorus to a close. This Chorus Form known as the A B/A C Chorus Form.
There are three ways to treat the B (lick found on the IV Chord, Bars 5 and 6)... continue reading...
Posted Thu, 02/12/2015 - 08:58 by David Barrett Admin
Now take a listen to the head of Little Walter's "Off the Wall." Your clue is that A (the main theme) is two bars long. Note how it's treated on the IV Chord (Bars 5 and 6), this is important to our discussion tomorrow.
Posted Wed, 02/11/2015 - 09:36 by David Barrett Admin
In Little Walter's "Juke" you hear him play the opening one-bar lick for four bars (A), then repeats those four bars (A), and then move away for the last four bars (B). This is called the AAB Chorus Form. If the opening lick, labeled "A," does not take up the entire line, then there's room to throw in a fill, labeled "f." The last line's fill is a turnaround and is labeled as 't." This makes the Af Af At or Af Af Bt Chorus Forms. AAB is the standard rhyme scheme for blues vocals. In the space you play harmonica fills... this is the Af Af Bt Chorus Form idea. continue reading...