common chord vamps

What does the term vamp imply to you? Is it a new term? Well it hopefully won't be after you finish cruising through this page. Harmonically, it is usually a couple of chords that move back and forth or around in a cycle, that generates a groove or musical ambience. Often used as an intro, the vamp sets the tone for the musical composition being performed. So often in performance situations, someone in the group will call a tune, then say, "vamp on the last two chords as an intro." In the middle of the tune, when the dance floor is jammed, the leader might say "vamp on this section", this usually implies to extend the tune by repeating the full cycle of the section chosen, to keep the folks out dancing etc. At the end of the tune, you might "vamp on the intro changes" to take the tune out. Composers with a new musical idea not fully formed might get together with other players at rehearsal and say, "vamp over these changes and lets see what we come up with." Cool so far? So, a vamp generally implies a cycle, a looping of music, usually 2, 4 or 8 bars that players use in various musical situations.

With these ideas in mind, the following examples are simply a few common chord vamps from the everyday world of the American musician. They range through various styles and back and forth between the major and minor tonalities. If you come across something you dig, maybe write an original tune with it, maybe run it through the cycle of fourths to cover all the keys, if its in a minor color, maybe try it in the major. Maybe try it through a blues filter? Your call, all of this is for all of us to use, to make cool music with and share the universal goodness of music with those around us.

This first idea simply establishes a tonal center as One then moves to Four then back. It's kinda gospel, kinda folk, kinda country and a little bit of rock and roll. Example 1 in C major.

Same idea, One to Four, but in the minor tonality. Example 2, in C minor.

Another common and cool idea is to vamp back and forth between chords a whole step apart, in either the major or minor tonalities. Example 3, in C major, tonic and flat Seven.

Color this tonic / flat seven vamp blue and create a common blues dance machine, check out Benny Golson's "Killer Joe" for a jazz / blues taste. Here is the same intervalic idea in the minor tonality and going the other way. Example 4 in A minor.

Here is a cool, sort of more modern style vamp, essential to the Latin and jazz players. It combines both the major and minor colors together. I love this groove, here in A minor moving down by half step to Ab major. Example 5. Samba like...

Lets alter this last groove a bit. Here we simply evolve the first chord from minor to major, and move up by half step. This is a common enough vamp in Bossa Nova and Latin / Samba flavored music. Moving from A major to Bb major. Example 6.

This next vamp is the ultra common and cool cadential motion of the Two / Five cell. It also makes for a great vamp in all sorts of grooves. Here we use this cell in a techno - funk format. Example 7.

"Won't You Take Me To Funky Town?" Needless to say, there have been tons of variations on this vamp over the years. One common variation is to "double up" the Two / Five into Three / Six / Two / Five, which is a very common intro, outro and chord progression in tons of tunes. Example 8, in F major.

Lots of ways to play with these last two vamps. The Two / Five and the Three / Six / Two / Five cells can become important compositional components for the creative musician.

This next idea, simply based on dominant harmony, is a blues based funk groove, popular to the pencil and granola dip dancers worldwide. Again, pleeeeaaassse, "Won't You Take Me To Funky Town?" Example 9, thinking E blues.

Do you have a better idea of the term vamp and some of the musical elements it might imply? Hope so. Here is a menu of related topics. So pick and click and off ya go!

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." Sun Tzu