History of Rock Music Final Exam

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A sonic phenomenon where a sound loop occurs between an audio input and output, often producing a swirling, echoing sound. It plays a crucial role in creating innovative soundscapes in rock music.

Wah-wah Pedal

A guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequency of the sound, creating a distinctive "wah" sound that is used for expressive solos and rhythmic playing.

Phasing

A sound modulation effect that creates a sweeping, dynamic sound by mixing two identical signals with a slight phase difference. It adds depth and movement to music, often used in psychedelic and progressive rock.

Fuzz Tone

A guitar effect that produces a "buzzing" distortion sound by clipping the audio signal, often used to create a rich, thick texture in rock music.

Montuno

A musical part or section characterized by a repeated rhythmic and melodic pattern, commonly used in Afro-Cuban music and jazz, providing a foundation for improvisation.

Riff

A short, repeated musical phrase or pattern that serves as a fundamental building block for many rock songs, often played on guitar or bass.

Various Guitar Ornaments

Techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides that embellish melodies and add expressiveness to guitar playing.

Flamenco (rasgueado)

A strumming technique in Flamenco guitar characterized by rapid, sweeping motions of the fingers across the strings, creating a rich and dynamic rhythmic texture.

Tapping

A guitar playing technique where the player uses their fingers to tap the fretboard, producing notes with a percussive quality and allowing for rapid sequences of notes.

Cadenza

A solo passage in music, typically found in a concerto, where a performer showcases technical skill and improvisation, often with free rhythm and elaborate ornamentation.

Power Chord

Chord of the root and the fifth, and sometimes the octave.

Haight-Ashbury

San Fran town. Birth place of counter culture movement.

Extended harmonies

Chords with notes beyond the seventh. Chords like the Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended chords.

Syncopation

A variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur".

Dissonant

Unpleasant, clashing of chords at times.

Polyphonic

A type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice (monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).

Concept Album

A musical album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually.

Mellotron

Electric mechanical keyboard instrument.

Programmatic Music

A. type of instrumental music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative or description of some aspect of world.

MTV

Music Television Network. Played music videos and such.

Musical Fusion

The blending of two or more distinct musical styles, genres, or cultural traditions to create a new, hybrid sound.

Alan Parsons

Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' Abbey Road (1969) and Let It Be (1970), Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1973), and the eponymous debut album by Ambrosia in 1975.

Andy Warhol

Pop Art creator, heavily inspired new wave bands such as Devo.

Jimmy Page

Guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin.

John Paul Johns

Bassist and Keyboardist for Led Zeppelin.

Robert Plant

Singer and lyricist of Led Zeppelin.

John Bonham

Led Zeppelin Drummer.

Kurt Cobain

Vocalist, guitarist, song writer, and founder of Nirvana.

Dave Grohl

Singer / songwriter for Foo Fighters. Drummer for Nirvana.

Krist Novoselic

Nirvana bassist, and political activist.

Billy Cox

Bassist that worked with Hendrix.

Chas Chandler

Producer, manager, and bassists for the Animals.

Ray Manzarek

Keyboardist and vocalist for The Doors.

Jim Morrison

Lead vocalist and lyricist of The Doors.

Malcolm McLaren

Promoter and a manager for punk rock and new wave bands such as New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, and Bow Wow Wow, and was an early influencer of the punk subculture.

Jerry Garcia

Lead guitar and vocalist of The Grateful Dead.

David Bowie

English Art Rock artist.

Syd Barrett

Singer, guitarist, songwriter, and founder of Pink Floyd.

Eddie Van Halen

Van Halen guitarist, known for tapping technique.

Psychedelic Rock

Mid 1960’s counter movement. Hazy, distorted, instrumental focus, talks about drug trips, folk with R&B style.

The Grateful Dead

Early Psych Rock band, heavier edge.

The Doors

Controversial Psych Rock Group. Considered one of the top groups of their genre.

Jimi Hendrix

Psych artist that played in a few groups including Curtis Knight and the Squire, Jimmy James, and Band of Gypsys.

Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Loud, fast, riff based rock music. Simple harmonies and power chords but with wider solos. Band names often with negative imagery.

Led Zeppelin

English Hard Rock band, one of the most successful bands of all time, with some folk and blues as well. Some experimental stuff in their library too.

Jazz Rock

Distortion devices on guitars, horns, vocals, drums, bass, etc, rock rhythm section, emphasis on backbeat, loud, rock signing style, guitar based, extended chord progression, jazz rhythms

Art/Prog Rock

Fusion of rock and classical music. Rejection to the wider rock world as a whole, many classically trained musicians.

Pink Floyd

Prog/Art rock band. Known for The Dark Side of the Moon. Started as a psychedelic group before slowly evolving into an art rock group.

Proto-punk and Punk Rock

Extension of hard rock. Rebellion and anti-art, simple but loud, and text focusing on anti-establishment.

Glam Rock

Hard rock but with a bigger focus on performance and stage presence.

New Wave

Fun party and dance music, like punk but less harsh and critical lyrics.

Alternative

Reaction against techno and new wave, started from college towns. Simple guitar bands and solos, but aggressive rhythms. Lyrics are teen focused.