Module 12: Standards and formLesson 1advanced⏱ 75 min + form counting with every tune you play

Song forms and roadmaps

Take apart the 12-bar, 16-bar, 32-bar AABA and ABAC forms, learn to keep your place in them while improvising, and read roadmaps (repeats, vamps, codas, tags) at speed.

Why form comes before everything else

When a band falls apart on a standard, it is almost never because someone played a wrong note. It is because someone lost the form: they played the bridge a bar early, took one chorus too many, or missed the cue for the ending. Harmony and vocabulary can be sketchy and the music still works; if the form goes, nothing works. Experienced players know where they are in the tune at every moment without thinking about it, the way you know which word you are on in a sentence. This lesson builds that sense deliberately, starting from the shapes most standards use and ending with the roadmap signs that tell you how the band travels through them.

You already read repeats, endings and D.S. al Coda from the page (Reading chord charts and lead sheets). Here the aim is different: to feel the form when there is no page, in the middle of a solo, with the drummer playing across the bar line.

The 12-bar blues: form as three four-bar phrases

The blues is the shortest common form and the best place to learn form counting, because its twelve bars fall into three four-bar phrases with a clear job each: the first phrase sits on the tonic, the second moves to the IV chord and comes back, the third is the cadence (ii–V, or V–IV in older blues) and the turnaround. Play the Bb jazz blues below with shells, and say the bar numbers aloud as you play. The text markers show the three places you must always know: bar 1, bar 5 (the IV chord), bar 9 (the ii chord). If you can feel those three landmarks you can never be more than a bar or two adrift, and you will recover at the next landmark.

\tempo 132
.
\ts 4 4
\ro :1 (6.6 6.4 7.3){ch "Bb7" txt "1: I"} | (6.5 6.3 8.2){ch "Eb7"} | (6.6 6.4 7.3){ch "Bb7"} | (6.6 6.4 7.3) |
(6.5 6.3 8.2){ch "Eb7" txt "5: IV"} | (6.5 6.3 8.2) | (6.6 6.4 7.3){ch "Bb7"} | (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} |
(3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7" txt "9: ii"} | (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} | :2 (6.6 6.4 7.3){ch "Bb7"} (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} | \rc 2 (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} |

In numerals: I7 | IV7 | I7 | I7 | IV7 | IV7 | I7 | VI7 | ii7 | V7 | I7 VI7 | ii7 V7. The 12-bar blues and the jazz blues covers the variations; what matters here is the phrase structure. A blues chorus has exactly three "sentences", and a well-shaped blues solo tends to follow them: statement, restatement over the IV, answer over the cadence.

Blues forms are also where you meet the first stretched versions of a form: the 24-bar minor blues in 6/4 (Footprints), the blues with a bridge, and the 16-bar blues of some older tunes. They all keep the same landmarks; only the bar counts change.

16-bar forms

A 16-bar tune is two eight-bar phrases. Usually the two phrases begin the same way and diverge in the last four bars, the first ending on a half cadence or a turnaround and the second on the tonic. Tune Up, Blue Bossa, Summertime and Doxy are 16-bar tunes; so is Giant Steps. The original 16-bar form below in F is built on that model: both phrases open identically, the first phrase closes on the turnaround and the second takes a detour through the IV chord and a backdoor cadence (iv7–bVII7–I, studied in Common progressions in standards) before it settles.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:1 (1.6 2.4 2.3){ch "Fmaj7" txt "phrase 1 (bars 1-8)"} | :2 (0.6 0.4 0.3){ch "Em7b5"} (0.5 0.3 2.2){ch "A7"} | :1 (5.5 5.3 6.2){ch "Dm7"} | :2 (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} (3.5 3.3 5.2){ch "C7"} |
:1 (1.6 2.4 2.3){ch "Fmaj7"} | (1.5 1.3 3.2){ch "Bb7"} | :2 (5.6 5.4 5.3){ch "Am7"} (5.5 5.3 7.2){ch "D7"} | (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} (3.5 3.3 5.2){ch "C7"} |
:1 (1.6 2.4 2.3){ch "Fmaj7" txt "phrase 2 (bars 9-16)"} | :2 (0.6 0.4 0.3){ch "Em7b5"} (0.5 0.3 2.2){ch "A7"} | :1 (5.5 5.3 6.2){ch "Dm7"} | :2 (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} (3.5 3.3 5.2){ch "C7"} |
:1 (1.5 2.3 3.2){ch "Bbmaj7"} | :2 (1.5 1.3 2.2){ch "Bbm7"} (6.5 6.3 8.2){ch "Eb7"} | (1.6 2.4 2.3){ch "Fmaj7"} (5.5 5.3 7.2){ch "D7"} | (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} (3.5 3.3 5.2){ch "C7"} |

Sixteen-bar tunes are short, so the head is usually played twice and solos go by quickly: at a medium tempo a chorus lasts about thirty seconds. Count the choruses as well as the bars; it is easy to lose track of how many you have played.

The 32-bar AABA

Most standards from the 1920s to the 1950s are 32 bars in four eight-bar sections, A A B A. The A section is the tune's main idea; the bridge (B, also called the release or the middle eight) provides contrast, almost always by going somewhere else harmonically; the last A brings you home. I Got Rhythm, Take the "A" Train, Satin Doll, Body and Soul, Misty, Have You Met Miss Jones and Well You Needn't are all AABA. The example below is an original AABA in Bb assembled from the two most common building blocks: an A section made of turnarounds (the rhythm-changes model, studied in detail in Module 10) and a bridge that is a cycle of dominants, III7–VI7–II7–V7, two bars each. The chart uses the Real Book layout: the A section once with first and second endings, then the bridge, then the last A written out.

\tempo 160
.
\ts 4 4
\ro :2 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7" txt "A"} (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} | (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} | (5.5 5.3 6.2){ch "Dm7"} (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} | (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} |
(1.6 1.4 1.3){ch "Fm7"} (1.5 1.3 3.2){ch "Bb7"} | (6.5 7.3 8.2){ch "Ebmaj7"} (4.6 4.4 5.3){ch "Ab7"} |
\ae 1 (5.5 5.3 6.2){ch "Dm7"} (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} | \rc 2 (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} |
\ae 2 :1 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7"} | (6.6 7.4 7.3) |
(5.5 5.3 7.2){ch "D7" txt "B"} | (5.5 5.3 7.2) | (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} | (3.6 3.4 4.3) | (3.5 3.3 5.2){ch "C7"} | (3.5 3.3 5.2) | (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} | (1.6 1.4 2.3) |
:2 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7" txt "A"} (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} | (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} | (5.5 5.3 6.2){ch "Dm7"} (3.6 3.4 4.3){ch "G7"} | (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} |
(1.6 1.4 1.3){ch "Fm7"} (1.5 1.3 3.2){ch "Bb7"} | (6.5 7.3 8.2){ch "Ebmaj7"} (4.6 4.4 5.3){ch "Ab7"} | :1 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7"} | :2 (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7" txt "to top"} |

Three things to notice about how an AABA behaves in performance:

• The two A sections are not identical. The first ends with a turnaround that leads back to the top (first ending); the second ends on the tonic to prepare the bridge (second ending). Soloists use that difference: the second A "closes a door" before the bridge opens a new one.
• The bridge is the place where people get lost. It starts a new harmonic world, often with a chord that is not in the key (here the III7). If you cannot hear the bridge coming, you will play A-section vocabulary over it. The cure is to know the first chord of the bridge of every tune you play and to hear bar 16 as a springboard.
• The last A usually ends with a turnaround, so the chorus runs straight into the next one. On the final chorus the band replaces that turnaround with an ending (Playing in a group).

ABAC and other 32-bar shapes

The other great 32-bar family is ABAC: two sixteen-bar halves that begin the same way (A, eight bars) and end differently (B and C). All of Me, Fly Me to the Moon, There Will Never Be Another You, On Green Dolphin Street and Days of Wine and Roses are ABAC. The halves usually behave like the two phrases of a 16-bar tune at double the length: B ends on a half cadence or a turnaround into the second A, C ends on the tonic. Because there is no bridge, there is no obvious harmonic signpost in the middle; the signposts are instead the two places where the A material returns (bar 1 and bar 17) and the point where C departs from B (often bar 25). Play ABAC tunes thinking in sixteen-bar halves, and listen for the moment of divergence.

Other shapes you will meet:

• ABA' or AB forms where the second half is a varied repeat of the first. Many Jobim tunes work this way.
• Through-composed tunes with no exact repeats: Stella by Starlight is usually described this way (32 bars whose sections share material but never repeat exactly), and many Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock tunes are through-composed. For these you have no choice but to learn the whole chord sequence as one long sentence.
• Longer forms: Cherokee is a 64-bar AABA with sixteen-bar sections; Night and Day is 48 bars. Count them in sixteens.
• Tunes with a different solo form: some heads are played over an intro, interlude or extra bars that are dropped for solos. Know which bars belong to the head only.

Counting form while you improvise

Counting bars one by one works at slow tempos and fails at fast ones; by the time you have thought "twenty-three" the bar is gone. Professionals count in larger units and lean on landmarks. Build this in layers:

1. Feel the four-bar phrase. Most melodies, most comping patterns and most drum fills are organised in fours. Practise improvising in exact four-bar phrases on the blues: four bars of playing, four bars of rest. Motifs, development and your first solos started this; now make the phrase length something you never have to think about.
2. Feel the eight. Two fours. In an AABA the eight is the section. Say the section letter under your breath on the first beat of each eight. Many players also tap the section changes with a foot or nod on them until the feeling is automatic.
3. Know the landmarks. For each tune: the first chord of the bridge, the first chord of the last A (or of the C section), and the last two bars (the turnaround). If you know these, a lapse in counting costs you at most a few bars.
4. Listen to the bass and drums. The bass player usually plays the turnaround in a recognisable way, and drummers often set up the bridge with a fill. Treat those as cues, not as the only thing keeping you in the form.
5. Count the choruses. Decide in advance how many you will take, and keep a count on your fingers if you must. Losing the chorus count is as bad as losing the bar count.

A practical drill: put on a recording of a standard you know, do not play, and say the section letters out loud through the entire track, including through the piano solo and the drum trades. When you can do that with three tunes you have never heard before, your form counting is in good shape.

Roadmaps: how the band travels through the form

The form is the map; the roadmap is the route the band takes through it on this performance. A standard roadmap for a small group is: intro, head (once, or twice for a 12- or 16-bar tune), solos (each soloist takes one or more full choruses), optional trading with the drummer, head out, ending. Every element has conventions, and they appear on charts as signs:

• Vamp: a short progression (one, two or four bars) repeated "until cue", usually as an intro or under a spoken announcement. The cue is a nod from the leader or the melody starting.
• Repeat signs with a times count ("3x") around a section, and first and second endings that differ on the last pass.
• D.S. al Coda / D.C. al Coda for jumping back and out, as in the earlier lesson.
• Coda: a written ending appended to the last chorus. Common ones extend the final cadence, go to the IV chord, or hold a chord for a rubato finish.
• Tag: the last two or four bars repeated, usually three times, before the final chord. "Tag it" means exactly this and it is called on the spot.
• "Last A" or "from the bridge": on the head out, some bands play only the bridge and last A (half a chorus) instead of the whole form.

The example below strings together a vamp intro, the last four bars of a tune and a written coda. Read it as a route: vamp four times (or until cue), the last phrase of the tune, then jump to the coda bars and finish.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
\ro :2 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7" txt "vamp until cue"} (3.6 3.4 3.3){ch "Gm7"} | \rc 4 (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7"} |
(1.6 1.4 1.3){ch "Fm7" txt "last four bars of the tune"} (1.5 1.3 3.2){ch "Bb7"} | (6.5 7.3 8.2){ch "Ebmaj7"} (4.6 4.4 5.3){ch "Ab7"} | :1 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7"} | :2 (3.5 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7"} (1.6 1.4 2.3){ch "F7" txt "to Coda"} |
:1 (6.5 7.3 8.2){ch "Ebmaj7" txt "Coda"} | :2 (6.5 6.3 7.2){ch "Ebm7"} (4.6 4.4 5.3){ch "Ab7"} | :1 (6.6 7.4 7.3){ch "Bbmaj7"} | (6.6 5.4 7.3){ch "Bb6"} |

Exercises

1. Blues landmarks. Play the Bb blues example for five choruses, saying only "one", "five" and "nine" at the landmarks. Then play it with your eyes closed, then with a recording of a blues at a faster tempo (Bag's Groove, Tenor Madness) while you say the landmarks.
2. Two phrases. Play the 16-bar example, then improvise over it in exact eight-bar phrases: one phrase of playing, one of rest, for six choruses.
3. Section letters. Play the AABA example and say the section letter on the downbeat of each eight. Then play the form with a different comping rhythm per section so that you can hear the sections change.
4. Bridge spotting. For ten AABA tunes from the repertoire list, write down the first chord of the bridge and the chord that precedes it. Sing that transition.
5. Form listening. Pick three recordings of tunes you do not know; identify the form (12, 16, AABA, ABAC) by ear and count the number of solo choruses each player takes.
6. Roadmap reading. Play the roadmap example from memory, then rearrange it: vamp twice, play the last phrase twice, then coda. Say the route before you play it.

Quiz