band excitement heads hooks and breaks

The Hook is like the Head in respect to it being the main theme of a song, but as you found out yesterday, the head is an entire chorus in length and is played in the opening and closing of a song. Inversely, the Hook is a short lick, commonly one to two bars in length, that permeates the entire song. The head is played by the lead instruments and the rhythm section commonly plays a standard groove (shuffle, swing, etc.). continue reading...

Let's dig deeper into those essential song elements I spoke of yesterday. The HEAD is the main theme of a song. It's commonly a chorus in length (one time through the form... 12 Bars for the 12 Bar Blues and 8 Bars for 8 Bar Blues) and played in the opening chorus (sometimes twice) and at the end (though not always at the end, it has become commonplace to do so).

I used Jimmy Smith's "Chicken Shack" as an example yesterday. Here's the link to my transcription of the head for the harmonica: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/chicken_sha... continue reading...

How do you get ALL of the members of a band involved with a soloist while performing? Here are two great tools a soloist can use now… continue reading...