heads

In Friday's tip I spoke of the hook, which is a catchy lick that's played by the rhythm section and BECOMES the groove.

The other most common way to play a catchy lick is to use it as the main lick in a head. The head is the same structurally as any other chorus in a song, it's just the BEST one. The lick is repeated within that chorus, using one of the Chorus Form structures I teach in Improvising Study 1 (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/improvising_study_1_chorus_forms) to make it memorable. continue reading...

Due to the fact that we're not required to study scales and chords to play our instrument (at least at the basic level), playing to non-12 Bar Blues can be a great challenge. Many times the change in the form is very simple once you look at it closer. I've placed at https://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica my transcription of "Watermelon Man." In this blues-based jazz instrumental you can see that Bars 9 and 10 of our standard 12 Bar Blues are played three times (the V and IV Chord) to make this a 16 Bar Blues. continue reading...