Prog Rock

Lesson on Progressive Rock

Hi. In this lesson, we're going to start talking about progressive rock. Now, this is the music that I grew up with in the 1970s, and it was really an exciting musical time.

Characteristics of Prog Rock

One of the things about prog rock was that it deliberately set out to break all of the conventions of the three-minute single. In prog rock, you could do pretty well whatever you wanted:

• Go down any musical direction
• Draw on any outside influence you wanted
• Use any kind of time signature

And that's something we'll look at in the next lesson.

Influences on Prog Rock

Going back to the idea of drawing on influencers, a lot of classical music found its way into prog rock because it was kind of more intelligent in a lot of ways. Many of the musicians who played in prog rock had big musical ideas.

Spotlight: Eddie Jobson

One of the best violinists who found his way into the English prog rock scene was Eddie Jobson. He started off with a band called Fat Grapple.

You may think I've made that name up, but no, it was a real band!

I think Eddie Jobson was around 16 years of age when he was playing with Fat Grapple. They were supporting a band called Curved Air, which was a wonderful band featuring a violinist named Darrell Way.

Interestingly, Darrell Way was about to leave the band, and so was the keyboard player, funnily enough.

At this particular gig, Eddie Jobson found his way into the changing room where Curved Air were. He got out his violin and played them one of their hits, which was Vivaldi, a tune they'd written that incorporated Vivaldi music into prog rock.

He played it amazingly well, and they were extremely impressed. In no time at all, he was in the band.

Dual Roles and Future Success

Not only was he playing violin in the band, but he also took the keyboard player's place. So, he was doing both jobs. This versatility was part of the reason for his future success, as he played in a whole load of different successful prog rock bands, including:

• Roxy Music
• Frank Zappa
• King Crimson
• Bill Bruford

If you're looking for someone to inspire you to play violin in prog rock, then Eddie Jobson is really the guy.

Assignment

Your assignment for this lesson is to practice and learn the tune Antonio.

• Play along with the backing track.
• Also, look up Curved Air and find their song Vivaldi, and listen to that.