Lesson 48

Notes to Lesson 48

Lessons 48 and 49 are devoted to the "Groove Riff". I don't hear so many Groove Riffs among most groups I get to hear live these days. But still they are a lot of fun. In fact, these two lessons (which should have really been combined into one) are in my top five favorite list of this course.

Basically, a Groove Riff is a 4-bar simple riff that is repeated three times to get a 12-bar theme. The harmony can be either a Vamp or, most likely, a Blues progression. I tried to come up with a 12-bar vamp and all my efforts ended up sounding like Mickey's Bop Blues Progressions we studied in Lesson 21. Mickey gives us a sample Groove Riff that I've just added one of the Blues progressions that I slightly modified. I think of Groove Riffs like I do turnarounds used, for example in Rhythm Changes. That is, we take a short phrase and develop it into a tune.

What I'd like you to do, is to take Mickey's Groove Riff and re-harmonize it with some of your favorite Blues progressions or any Vamp that you can get to fit 12 measures. Note how the character of the tune depends on the total.

I've added two bonus "Groove Riffs" as additional examples:

Bags' Groove is a groove by Milt "Bags" Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Milt's instrument is a vibraphone and the rapid intervals are much easier to play on the vibes or a piano than on the guitar, so I've left the MIDI instrument as the vibes. Note that Milt plays this in F.

Trane's Blues is a groove by the great John Coltrane. It's in Bb and it fits well on the guitar in the 3rd position, like the Lesson 47 riffs.

With the workload of the last few weeks, especially last week, we're probably ready for a lesson that is more fun than stress. Enjoy, and make sure you use any extra time filling your Standards portfolios. Please share any of your creations that you are proud of!

Oh by the way, remember the 12 "Riff Blues" we created in Lesson 38 and I asked if anyone knows what they are? Now you do!

Just keep it FUN!