soloing

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.

In most songs we're used to hearing the harmonica and band start together, with maybe a little pickup from the harmonica. The licks fit nicely within the 12 Bar Blues and are generally intuitive to play... to feel where they belong in the form. continue reading...

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...

"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...

"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.

The Af Af At Chorus Form is a great example... continue reading...

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.

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...

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.

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...

In "Rocker" Little Walter plays the opening four-bar lick thee times. This creates the first of five common Chorus Forms, known as A A A. The lick is played (A) and then it's repeated two times (A A). Pretty cool that you can play one lick over all of the chords of the 12 Bar Blues and it still works.

Take a listen to LW's "Juke" and figure out which Chorus Form he's using in the opening chorus.