The development of rock in the 1970s

Hello and welcome to today's lesson entitled The Development of Rock in the 1970s. Today, we're gonna be looking at how rock developed from its roots in the 1960s, how it built on some of the features that had evolved in that period and how it evolved into a really diverse set of different subgenres. We're gonna then be building on some of that knowledge through our composition task as well. My name's Mr. Norris, I'm gonna be taking you through as we do that. And without further ado, I think we should get started. Our outcome for today's lesson is, "I can create a chordal guitar riff and use a pedal note to develop bass line." So there might be some terms there you've not heard before, and we're gonna explore those as we go. Some keywords. And our first is distortion, which is a fuzzy effect that changes the amplified sound of an electric guitar. It's also called overdrive. Rhythm guitar, this plays accompanying parts, which are usually riffs and chords. Lead guitar, which plays riffs, melodies, and solos in a rock band. Power chord, which is a two-note chord, often used on guitars, which uses the root note and the fifth of a triad chord. And then finally, pedal. And a pedal is a base note that stays the same while the chords change above it. So we're gonna be exploring some of those concepts as we go. The first part of today's lesson then is looking at analyzing 1970s rock. In the 1970s, rock continued to develop, evolving a broader range of subgenres, drawing on many different musical influences and moving away from blues features such as 12-bar blues and walking bass. So whereas rock beforehand was heavily influenced by its roots in blues, in the 1970s, we started seeing a bit of a move away from that. However, it's important to say there were still rock styles that were really heavily influenced by blues, and it still did draw in some of those features as well. One of the key news subgenres was heavy metal. I'd like you to pause my video and have a listen to this clip and try and answer the question, what musical features do you think give heavy metal its very distinctive sound? You can pause my video and have a listen now. Let's review that then. Heavy metal is a style of rock that features an aggressive style of playing and singing. So well done if you picked up on that, that the way the singers sing and the way that the players often play feels quite aggressive, quite intense, quite powerful. It features driving rhythms, repeated rhythms that really give a sense of drive and energy and excitement. Strong, powerful riffs, and this is a recurring theme in all of our rock styles, is the use of riffs. A heavy distortion on guitars. So you'll notice there that the tamra of the guitar, the sound produced by the guitar was very fuzzy, very crunchy and intense. That's all that distortion, that overdrive is being put up. So some other styles of rock also use these features. I'd like you to listen to these two different examples of very contrasting subsgenres of rock from the 1970s, an example of glam rock and an example of some progressive rock. And I'd like you to try and identify which of those features can you hear in these excerpts? So you pause my video, you're gonna listen to those clips, see if you can pick out any similarities with that heavy metal clip you just listened to. Some things you might have picked up on then. You might have noticed that the glam rock clip used driving rhythms, powerful riff and heavy distortions. So there's three commonalities there between the glam rock clip and the heavy metal clip. And the progressive rock clip uses driving rhythms and a powerful riff as well. So some real similarities, even though these styles of rock, these subgenres are really quite different from each other in a lot of ways. So rock in the 1970s also kept the following typical features that we saw in earlier styles of rock, the instrumentation, which is based around vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. 4/4 meter, which is usually the case, although not always. And then finally, repeating riffs. That's such a key aspect of all these different subgenres of rock. And often, these were based on the pentatonic scale rather than the blues scale. So as rock moved away gradually from its roots in blues, we started seeing more less use of the blues scale and a slightly more varied set of scales that we used. Let's check your understanding then. Which of these is not a typical 1970s rock music feature? Is it 4/4 time signature, the use of riffs, use of the blue scale in the melody, or vocals, electric, bass guitar and drum kit? I'll give you a few seconds to work out which one is not a typical feature. And the correct answer then was use of the blues scale in the melody. As we've said there, we started getting much more variety in 1970s rock as to the sets of notes that were used. Whereas in earlier styles of rock, there might be more reliance on blues scales and blues features. I'd like you to list three distinct features of heavy metal. You can just pause my video while you do that. And here are a few things you could have said. An aggressive style of playing and singing, driving rhythms, strong powerful riffs, or heavy distortion on guitar. So well done if you've got some of those there. An important aspect of rock is the interaction between the vocalist and the instruments. I'd like you to pause my video in a sec and you're gonna have a listen to this clip. I'd like you to describe the relationship between the vocalist and the electric and bass guitars here. So how did the two parts relate to each other? How does what the vocalists doing relate to what the guitars are doing? You can pause my video now and have a listen. So you might have picked up there that the guitars and vocalists interact in a call and response. So the guitars play a short riff, then the singer responds with a short vocal line. So there's this sort of question and answer call and response relationship between the two parts. Now this Led Zeppelin song uses a similar technique where the guitar riff and the vocal melody alternate and this creates quite a thin texture. What I'd like you to do is pause my video, have a listen to that thin texture, and then have a listen to the second clip and identify how the parts interact differently later in the song. So we're thinking about how that relationship changes in the same song. Pause my video now and have a listen to those two clips. So you might have identified there that the vocals and the guitars play a similar rhythm to each other at the same time. This creates a thicker texture. So whereas at the start, we've got this color response relationship between them, later on, that relationship changes and what they're doing is playing more together, creating this thicker texture. Well done if you picked up on that. Creating contrast between sections is an important part of any songwriting. And as we've just seen in that example there, it can be done through changing the texture and the relationship between parts. Pause my video again, have a listen to this example. I'd like you to identify what's the role of the guitarist when the vocalist is singing here? So what's the guitar doing underneath the singer? Pause my video and have a listen. So well done if you identified that in that clip, the guitarist is strumming repeated chord. So they're not playing a melody, they're not playing a riff. They're simply strumming repeated chords. And that gives space for the vocalist and the vocal melody to really stick out over the top. This is called the rhythm guitar part. And the role is to create a simple rhythmic accompaniment for the vocals. So the rhythm guitar normally plays these accompanying parts. It doesn't really come to the fore so much, it's more about creating a background and an accompaniment for other parts. Many bands use two guitarists each with a different role in the music. The lead guitar plays the main riffs and the guitar solo. So that's the more prominent one. And when we think about famous guitarists in rock bands, often it's the lead guitarist that is the really famous one, the big superstar, because they're the one that takes the more prominent role. The rhythm guitar provides accompaniment and plays mainly chords and riffs. So they take a slightly more backseat role and provide more of an accompaniment for the other parts over the top. Let's listen to this clip and see if you can describe both the lead guitar and the rhythm guitar part. So try and pick out what those two guitarists are doing. And pause my video now. Let's have a think about that one then. The lead guitar plays a high-pitched improvised solo while the rhythm guitar plays a chordal riff in the accompaniment. So they've got two very different roles. Lead guitar is at the forefront. It's playing the melody, it's doing this improvised solo while the rhythm guitar is playing accompaniment in the background and it's based on a chordal riff. Well done if you picked up on either of those points. Being able to recognize and describe how the parts interact is really important when we're listening to music. Think about some of the examples that we've listened to so far. How might we expect the vocals and other instruments to interact in a rock piece? See if you can think of some of the different ways that they might interact. You can just pause my video while you have a quick think. Well, let's go through some of these then. So three different ways that guitarists and vocalists interact in 1970s rock are call and response. So we've seen that relationship where we'll have, for example, the guitar playing a riff and then the singer responding with a vocal melody and so on. And so alternating texture, it's quite thin. Playing together where they're playing something similar together, creating a thicker texture. Or a vocal melody with strummed chords in a guitar. So there's really clear distinction between the melody and the accompaniment, which also creates a thick texture. The versatility of the electric guitar and its wide range means it can play chords, it can play low-pitched riffs, and it can play high-pitched melodic solos. So it's a very versatile, adaptable instrument. And it's also well-suited to playing strong driving rhythms. If you're a guitarist, you'll know the strumming chords is a really effective way of creating a really rhythmic, really energetic pattern. And so this is a key characteristic of 1970s rock as well. Let's check your understanding. What would you not expect a rhythm guitar to play? An improvised solo, a riff or strummed chords? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer here then is an improvised solo. We would expect the lead guitar to play that. And the rhythm guitar is much more likely to be playing riffs or chords in the background. Which of these is a 1970s rock artist? So Elvis, the Beatles or Led Zeppelin? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer here is Led Zeppelin there, a really iconic rock band of the 1970s. The Beatles, they were at their prime in the '60s and Elvis Presley was even earlier on in the 1950s. So well done if you got that one correct. Task A, you can listen to these examples and answer the questions. For example, one, the questions are what is the role of the rhythm guitar throughout the clip? Describe the interaction between the guitars and vocals once the vocals start. And then list two of the features that are typical of 1970s rock. And then for example two, the name of this heavy metal song is "Rock and Roll." I'd like to describe one feature that tells you that this is heavy metal. And see if you can describe a blues feature that links the song to the style of rock and roll. So thinking back to those features you associate with rock and roll blues and try to pick out a feature that links the two. So you pause my video now and give this task your best shot. Let's go through some of these answers then. So the role of the rhythm guitar in example one was that it plays the riff throughout the clip. So the word there that we're looking for is the riff. Describe the interaction between the guitars and vocals. Well, the guitars play chords during the lyrics, and then they play the riff in the gap between vocal phrases. So they're playing a mixture of chords when the singer's singing and then playing the riff in the gaps. And then two other features that are typical of 1970s rock. That was distortion, driving rhythms, strong riffs, typical instrumentation based on electric guitar, bass guitar, drum kit, vocals, or 4/4 meter. So well done if you've got any of those there for question three. Let's move on to look at question four and five. And here one feature that tells you it's heavy metal. There's a few we could have said, heavy distortion on the guitar, the powerful rhythmic riff, the driving rhythms or the aggressive drumming style. And then finally, the blues feature that links this song to the style of rock and roll is, well, there's two we could have chosen from. There's the use of the 12-bar blues chords. So that 12-bar blues chord sequence is really typical in blues and very common in rock and roll. And there's also the use of blue notes in the blues scale in the melody. So it's interesting there that although this feels like a very different style from rock and roll and blues, there's still those links that take this back to its roots in those styles. Well done if you picked up on those points. And now we're gonna move on to the second part of lesson. And for this, looking at creating a chordal guitar riff. Chordal riffs are common in rock music. To build a riff which uses chords, we can use power chords instead of triad chords. So we can see those two types of chord there. A C triad chord, a C, E, and G. That's our sort of basic chord and that'll be a major chord. And then a C power cord where all we've done is take out the middle note. So to create a power chord, you create a triad, and then just remove the middle note. So you've got the bottom note and the top note of the triad. So a C power chord there is the note CG. They're mostly used on the electric guitar and they sound particularly effective with a distorted guitar sound. So let's have a listen to these two examples here. This is a triad chord with no distortion. (guitar strumming) And now we've got a power chord with distortion. (guitar strumming) So that second sound there is much more typical and much more idiomatic in rock style in the 1970s. To create a power chord riff, we use the chords in our chosen key, and in this case, we're working in A minor. So those are the different chords in A minor. And to turn them into a power chord, we just take the bottom note and the top note of each triad chord. So there's our A power chord, C, D, E, F and G. The most useful chords are the primary chords, which are one, four, and five. So in this case, that would be A minor, D minor and E minor. And chord two is not as effective in a minor key. So you see there that the B diminished chord is grayed out in that little table. And that's 'cause it's quite a difficult one to use well. So we'll avoid using that for the purposes of this. To create an effective chord sequence, start by experimenting with different combination of chords until you find a pattern that you like. So like any composition, this is about trial and error, experimenting until you find something that you like. An effective chord sequence will be four or eight bars long, usually start or finish on chord one, so in this case, A minor. Use mostly primary chords, so in this case, one, four and five, although experiment with some of the other ones as well. And it should avoid chord two if in the minor key. Again, it's a difficult one to use well, so let's avoid it for now. So those are our sort of key success criteria of making an effective chord sequence here. Let's check your understanding. Why is this chord sequence effective? We see the chord names there and I'm gonna play it for you now. Here we go. (upbeat rock music) Just pause my video while you finish your answer. Why is that chord sequence effective? And here's some things you might have said. It's effective because it's four bars long. It starts on chord one. It uses two of the primary chords, chord one and four. And it avoids using chord two. So those are all things that have helped that be an effective rock chord sequence. Well done if you picked up on any of those points, we can then develop the sequence by changing the rhythm. So there in that example we just listened to, each chord was played once and sustained, but we can develop it and make it more interesting by using rhythm. This repeated quaver pattern is a classic rock strumming pattern and it gives the music rhythmic drive. Let's have a listen to that same chord sequence, but using this repeated quaver pattern. (upbeat rock music) So you can hear there that gives it real energy and drive that it didn't have before. And all we've changed is the rhythm that the chords are playing, not changed the notes of chords at all, it's just changing the rhythm. And that's a really typical pattern that one. Now we're gonna watch a video which shows us how to record in chordal guitar riff. Let's have a look. Now I'm gonna record a chord sequence for the second section of my rock composition. My first section, I've got my unison rock riff where I've transposed it to base on different notes. And this section is gonna sound quite different. It's gonna create a bit of contrast, which is really typical of rock styles. For this, we're gonna be basing on power chords and we've already looked at how we form power cords. We take a triad and just take out the middle note. So that would be our A power cord there, A and E, same on G, F, E, D and C. And we'll tend not to use the power chord built on B, because it's a little bit more complicated how we would use that one. So avoid that one for now. Just stick to the ones that are listed there. Okay, so I'm gonna experiment a little bit. I'm gonna try and create a four-bar chord sequence. So that'll go from bar 9, 10, 11, and 12. We'll finish it by this start of bar 13 and then then I'm gonna loop it so that it repeats once, making it eight bars long. And as we always do when we're composing, I'm gonna improvise a little bit to see what I can come up with. See if I can come up with a sequence that I like. So I'm gonna put the drums on and I'll try a few different combinations of chords. (upbeat rock music) That was okay. (upbeat rock music) Try another one. (upbeat rock music) Quite like that one actually, that was A minor, well, an A power chord, and then C and then D and then F. I'm gonna use that. So that's gonna be the pattern of four chords I'm gonna use. So that would make a four-bar chord sequence if I play each one for one bar. Now the only other thing I'm gonna do while I record in is I'm gonna create a pattern based on repeated quavers. So most of what I play is gonna be repeated quavers, because that's a real typical strumming pattern on rock guitar. (guitar strumming) Something like that. It doesn't have to be exactly that, but those repeated quavers are really typical of many different rock styles. Okay, so I'm ready to record and here we go. (upbeat rock music) So something like that will do, I could quantize it if I want as well. There's four bars long, so I'm gonna loop it to make it an eight-bar sequence. And there we've got our chord sequence, have a quick listen. (upbeat rock music) Okay, so that'll do for the purposes of this, A couple things just to note is that for the purposes of this, start your chord sequence on A minor and it'll make sense why we're doing that when we move on to the next task. So use your first chord, use A minor as your first chord. Remember, we mostly wanna stick to primary chords as well. I've used two primary chords there, that's chord one and chord four. And I've also used two chords that aren't primary chords, but make sure you've got at least a couple of primary chords in there. Those, that generally is a good rule to use for chord sequences, although you will find examples where you don't need to do that. And then I've made sure as well that it's eight bars long and it starts at bar nine after the first section that I've already created. To summarize those steps, start a new section, choose your power chords from A minor, start on chord one, which is our A power cord. Create a four-bar pattern that is then looped twice or create an eight-bar pattern. And use repeated quavers. So those are all some steps we can take to make a really effective chord or guitar riff. Let's check your understanding. Which of these chords is least useful in a minor key? One, two, four or five? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer then is chord two. It's a tricky one to use well, so it's easier if we avoid using it for now. Which two are standard lengths for a chord sequence in pop and rock music? Three bars, four bars, six bars or eight bars? I'll give a few seconds to choose your two answers. And the correct answers then are four or eight bars. Those are the really standard chord sequence or lengths or phrase lengths. So for task B, you're gonna compose and record a chord sequence for a contrasting section in your rock composition. Make sure it starts and possibly also finishes on chord one. It uses mostly primary chords and avoids chord two. It's four or eight bars long. It uses power chords and a pattern with repeated quavers. And you've tried different chord combinations to find an effective one before recording. These are the best power chords to use, and without further ado, you can get started on this task. Good luck. Let's move on to the second part of this task. And for this, I'm gonna play you this chordal riff. I'd like to know how does this match the success criteria of the task? Now let's have a listen. (upbeat rock music) So just pause my video while you finish your answer. And let's review this one. So the chord pattern starts on chord one, which is something that we wanted, uses mainly primary chords, and it's four bars long. However, it doesn't use the repeated quaver power cord pattern, so adding that rhythm in would make it even more typical of the style. Well done if you picked up on any of those points. In the final part of today's lesson, we're looking at composing using a pedal. We can add harmonic interest to chord sequences by using a technique called a pedal. Normally, the bass line plays the root of each chord and changes each time the chord changes. When using a pedal, the chords change, but the base note stays the same during the chord changes. So instead of changing with the chords, it stays on the same note. Listen to this example of the same chord sequence with and without a pedal. Those are our chords there, C, C, F and G. Now let's have a listen to it with no pedal. So if you pick out the bass here, you should hear that it changes notes as the chords change. (soft rock music) Now let's listen to it. I notice here that the base note stays on C throughout, so it does not change when the chords change. This is a pedal. (soft rock music) Hopefully there you can pick out that difference between the base note changing notes with the chords and staying on the C all the way through and creating that pedal. Now this is a really powerful tool for making a chord sequence more interesting, because it creates tension and this is because the base and the chords clash. The base is playing one thing that doesn't necessarily match with what the chords are playing. So it creates an interesting harmonic clash that's tension. Usually, a pedal is the tonic note, which is the name of the key. So if a song's in A minor, the pedal will be the note A. This is not always the case, but predominantly, most commonly, this is how we hear pedals used. I'd like you to pause my video and listen to these two examples of a pedal used in rock music. The second one in particular, you'll notice that there's lots of chords change over the top, while the base note stays completely consistent on the same note. So you can have, so you can pause my video now and have a listen to those two. Let's move on. To create a pedal in our second section, we need to find a tonic note and play it in the bass underneath the chords. So as our key is A minor, our tonic note is A. We're gonna watch this video now which shows us how to create a simple pedal by using the tonic node underneath our chords. Let's add a pedal to our second section. So far in the second section from bar nine to 17, I've got a chord sequence based on four chords in the guitar part. I've used an A power chord, a C power chord, a D power chord, and an F power chord. A, C, D, F. Normally, if we're writing a bass line for that in a conventional way, the bass notes would just follow the root notes of those chords. So where I've got my A power cord, I'd have an A in the bass line. Where I've got my C power cord, would have C in the bass line. Where I've got my D power cord, I have D in the bass line. And for the F chord would have an F in the bass line. However, with a pedal, the base note stays the same as the chords change, and normally it stays on the tonic note. So the tonic note is our home note, the first note in the scale of our key. So if we're in the key of A minor, our tonic is gonna be the note A. So instead of changing my bass note, I'm gonna keep A playing all the way through this four-bar chord sequence as the chords change above. I found A on my bass guitar. So I'm just gonna make up some patterns that I think fit with the guitar part there. I might use some long sustained notes. I might do some faster notes as well. Here we go. (upbeat rock music) And I can loop that there. So that's my pedal created. Just staying on A underneath as the chords changing, it creates this really interesting effect where we have the chords changing and the harmonic tension that comes with that. But the grounded bass line staying on one note that in some ways clashes with the chords as well. So it's really effective tool, that. That's how we create a really simple pedal. We can also make the pedal more interesting by using a bass riff that is centered on the pedal note. So it's based around that note, but it's not just using that note. Let's see how we do that. A second type of pedal we can use is a riff-based pedal. And that's where instead of literally just repeating the tonic note and just that note alone, we can create a short riff that is based around that note, but add some other notes in as well. So instead of just playing the note A, I'm gonna try and make up a short bass riff that mostly uses the note A, but add some other notes in as well. I'm gonna experiment a little bit with a few different patterns and see what I like. So I found A. I'm gonna add some different notes from the A blues scale. So remember I've got C, D, D sharp, E, G and A, and I've also got the notes down below. G, E, the ones down here. And I'm gonna make up some short riffs and find one that I like that I can repeat throughout. Here we go. (upbeat rock music) So there were various different ones there and they were all making sure there were lots of A's involved, particularly at the start of each bar. So I would start on each bar on A, and usually finishing each bar on A, and getting, playing lots of A's within my riff to really make it still sound like a pedal, but with the interest added by the other notes as well. So I've got one I like, which is this one. (guitar strumming) I quite like that pattern, I think it works really well. And the long sustained notes really contrast with the repeated quavers as well. So you get these two very different-sounding patterns. Let's record that in. (upbeat rock music) So that's my riff-based pedal and I could just shorten it to four bars. I don't need to record it twice there and loop it. So my riff-based pedal there where I'm mostly using the note A, the tonic note, but also adding in some other notes and repeating a pattern underneath the chords to make it just a little bit more interesting than just the tonic note on its own. Let's check your understanding then. What is a pedal? Is it a chord that lasts for a whole section, a base note that changes while the chord stays the same, or a base note that stays the same while the chords change? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer here then is that it is a base note that stays the same while the chords change. Well done if you've got that. Task C then, you're gonna add a pedal to your chordal riff. Here are the steps. Find the tonic in the key of A minor. Record this in the bass line using a repeated quaver pattern for the duration of your chord sequence. And then to create a more complex pedal, create a short base riff based mostly on the note A. Use any other notes from the A blues scale. And repeat the riff for the duration of your chord sequence. So there's two options there as to which strategy you go for. You can pause my video now and give this your best shot at adding a pedal. For the final part of this task, I'm gonna play you this riff with its base part and I'd like to know how does this base pattern match the success criteria? So here we go. (soft rock music) You can pause my video while you have a go at the answer. Let's review that one then. So the base note changes with the chords. So while it works musically, it isn't a pedal, remember, a pedal has to stay on the same note throughout while the chords change. It starts on the tonic note. So had this continued, it could have been a suitable pedal. Bass pattern was rhythmically interesting and continued the chord sequence. So it works well, it sounds absolutely fine, but if we're going for that pedal, it didn't quite meet that success criteria, because it changed note with the chords. Well done if you picked up on that point. Let's review today's lesson. By the 1970s, rock split into various different subsgenres. Heavy metal was a subgenre that used extreme distortion, aggressive vocals and powerful riffs. Rock bands often vary texture by changing the role of the guitar and its interaction with the singer. Many bands include both a lead guitar and a rhythm guitar, which have different roles in the music. And riffs which use power chords are common in rock music and pedal notes are often used to create harmonic interest as well. So that's the end of today's lesson. Thank you very much for taking part, and I hope you feel like you've got your head around some of these concepts and have made some progress in that composition task there as well. I'll see you in another lesson.