Heads and Hooks
I think the Chorus Forms idea at the end of each lesson is a brilliant concept - really helps with improvising. I just bought Blues Harmonica Jam Tracks and Soling Concepts #3 (can't find the others in the UK yet) to be able to work on this further. Couple of questions about hooks and heads:
First of all, I understand that a head is the main melody, lasting a chorus. And a hook is a shorter melodic 'statement' that gives the backing rhythm its unique feel. Just to check that I've got this right, would it be fair to say that, generally speaking, Muddy Waters tends to use hooks rather than heads?
Secondly, is it more common to find songs with heads OR hooks, rather than both together?
And would you go about writing a hook in the same way you'd write a head - by applying the chorus forms and experimenting?
You got it... yes, yes and maybe. At the center of a head or hook is a cool lick. If you use CF to make the lick into a great chorus, then it's a head. If you use that same lick and sequence it (transpose it) to the other chords and play it throughout the chorus (which would be the A B/A C CF) AND play it through the entire song, then it's a hook.