BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
5579 / 18210 · Workshop 39 — “Watermelon Man”: Blues-Funk Vocabulary, Dominant Vamps, Riffs as Harmony, and Making Repetition Feel Inevitable Instead of Boring← prev⊞ allnext →

39.9Level 2 — tonic riff before tonic chord

Instead of playing F7 as a block:

use a riff such as:

F-A♭-A-C

F-A♭-A-C

This immediately introduces the blues conflict between:

A♭ = minor 3rd

A = major 3rd.

That tension is central to blues language.