Chorus forms
Tue, 02/22/2011 - 17:06
The new lessons on improvising (and the related Gary Smith, Mark Hummel/RickEstrin and Joe Tartaglia submissions) are pure gold - fantastic ideas!
When does a repetitive chorus form like AAA become a hook - does it depend on whether the whole band plays the same idea? And how far does the chorus form concept apply to other kinds of chord progressions, like common jazz progressions (not that I can play jazz, but I'm just curious)? It's so much more helpful than the 'tell a story' advice or 'learn your scales first', which is what I've stumbled on in the past when trying to learn guitar.
I'm glad you like the series, it's a passion of mine.
A hook permeates the entire song, and yes, the band (rhythm section) commonly plays the hook as well... the whole song... it essentially becomes the groove. "I'm Ready" is a great example. The lick 2 2" 2, 2 2" 2 is played on the I7 Chord... 4+ 3' 4+, 4+ 3' 4+ is a sequence of it (transposition) played on the IV7 Chord, etc. It's what makes the song special.
An AAA Chord Form can be played on top of a standard groove or to a song with a hook.
Chorus Forms works in 12 Bar Blues and some Blues-based styles such as Rock, Country and Jazz... the form needs to the 12 Bar form though. The principals you learn in this study are applicable to improvising, just not so much the way we use repetition with the 12 Bar Blues.
Studies on Heads and Hooks are coming very soon.