IMPROVISING IN A SOUL STYLE

By JJ Wheeler – musician, teacher and record producer

Soul is a popular form of music born in the United States of America, in the late 1950s/early 60s. It’s largely an African-American derived style, incorporating elements of blues, jazz, rhythm and – most importantly – gospel music. Despite many rhythm and blues artists being well versed in gospel music, there was some resistance to blending sacred music with a genre that was considered by many to be ungodly. The resulting blend of rhythm and blues, jazz and gospel, with secular lyrics, came to be known as soul. An early popular example of the gospel influence is in the 1954 hit ‘I Got a Woman’ by Ray Charles. The partly improvised, declamatory style of singing was based on the call and response between preacher and congregation and required a powerful lead singer. The hand claps and simple steps that became a common feature of soul were also straight out of the gospel music tradition. Aretha Franklin, among many others, also began her career singing gospel music.

Soul was made popular by giants of music such as James Brown, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder, initially recording on legendary labels such as Motown, Stax and Atlantic.

Many later styles, for example: funk, hip hop and contemporary R‘n’B, can be considered direct descendants of soul. Today, soul artists still feature in the UK, US and worldwide charts, including stars such as Joss Stone, John Legend and the late Amy Winehouse.

Like many styles, there have been various off-shoots and sub-genres, such as funk, R‘n’B, disco and more closely related categories including neo-soul, psychedelic soul, blue-eyed soul and geographically grouped styles like Detroit soul, Memphis soul, Chicago soul, Philadelphia soul and Northern soul in the UK.

Improvising in a soul style

It’s important to think about the origins and feel of soul music when deciding how to improvise in the style. Soul songs are often simple in harmony and rhythm, but feature catchy melodies and hooks, which stick in the listener’s mind and draw you in. This might be something you wish to achieve in a melodic solo. Another feature is the use of call and response, particularly in vocals, which derives from gospel and African forms of music. This means you need to leave space between phrases for other singers or instrumentalists to reply to a call. Or you may wish to be the person responding, in which case, try to develop a phrase or counter-balance something sung or played by another performer.

Soul generally has a very laid-back feel, with funky grooves. Drummers should keep things simple and focus more on creating the appropriate level of energy and feeling by sitting on the ‘back’ of the beat and delivering clear backbeats on the snare drum. Interest in drum grooves tend to come from basic variations in bass drum patterns, but remember, consistency is the key to a catchy groove. All instrumentalists may wish to think about adding a very slight ‘swing’ to their phrasing, much like we hear in blues music; one of the key styles which influenced soul.

Soul is a hugely emotive genre, and this is most effectively expressed through voice. Singers often use a wide range of rich vocal timbre, expressive in sound and feel, and also in the lyrical content. Songs often describe trials and tribulations, or love stories, including heartbreak. It is important to reflect the content of the story in your performance as a vocalist. Melismas and vibrato are common vocal techniques you might also wish to employ.

Guitarists have used a wide range of techniques and ideas in soul music over the years, but some common techniques are to use upper register chordal accompaniments in a rhythmic manner, as in a lot of Motown classics. You can also play arpeggiated chords for slower tempo soul songs, as in many Otis Redding songs.

Keyboardists may wish to choose a softer voice or padding to accompany a soul style song. Common sounds might be a Hammond-Organ voice or a Fender Rhodes-type sound. Bassists, on the other hand, should think about keeping a warm, clean tone, allowing clarity in their funky riffs and simple, rhythmic bass-lines.