Chorus forms and solo harmonica song writing
Hi David,
I have been thinking about song writing and specifically solo pieces. My question is regarding if some of the chorus forms are more appropriate for a solo harmonica piece than others.
To me AB/AC and AAB seem very appropriate (the two chorus forms used in Solo harmonica study 4 "Quiet world") but AAA and the chorus forms with fills does not seem quite as "right" to me. AAA to me works very well when there is a band playing backup since the A gets the change from the backup but that is missing when you are playing solo. The chorus forms with fills also feel more appropriate when there is singing or a band playing.
What are your thoughts on this?
Best regards
Fredrik
Thank you David.
This helps me a lot. I can see AAB with fills would work as well.
What do you think of the ABC chorus form i a solo harmonica piece. I'm thinking it could be a nice contrast in the middle of the song as "solo" but make sure that the C is a very strong V-IV-I + turnnaround to bring it back so to speak.
Yes, that works. ABC is not a Chorus Form really, because it uses no repetition, and Chorus Forms is the principle of how repetition is used in soloing, but it's an accurate way of thinking about the phrasing... three different licks. ABC is not bad, and is used a lot, but if it's used exclusively, because the player is unaware of the other Chorus Forms, that's a problem. So, yes, ABC is a good one to use, and yes, a strong V-IV-I and turnaround is a great idea.
Morning Fredrik. Yes, that is what I've observed as well. AAB with fills is good too. The A B/A C is the best because it's playing all of the chord changes in the twelve bar blues, helping to outline the form as you play. A B/A C is also the winner for slow blues with a band.