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The Blues
Characteristics and History
The Blues Definition

Blues is a vocal and instrumental form
of music based on the use of the blue
notes and a repetitive pattern that
most often follows a twelve-bar
structure.
Musical characteristics



Call and response shouts
Use of blue notes or “flatted notes” or
“bent notes”
Lyrics talk about:
– Love loss
– Oppression
– Cruelty of authorities
– Harsh realities of life
The beat/rhythm of the
blues



On the back beat of 2 and 4
Syncopated rhythms
Examples
The Blues Scale

Scale
Melodic structure



The blues scale.
How do you compose & play a blues
scale?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq
LXxfqXZlw
Blues Chord Progressions


12 bar blues
Chords played over a twelve-bar
scheme: 1, 4, 1, 5, 4, 1…..(5 )
7
Origins


Evolved from an unaccompanied vocal
music and oral tradition from African
Americans
Evolved from spirituals, work songs,
field hollers, shouts and chants as well
as rhymed English and Scots-Irish
narrative ballads.
History


The Blues were born in the North
Mississippi Delta following the Civil
War.
Influenced by African roots, field
hollers, ballads, church music and
rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups
and Celtic/Irish folk lyrics and tunes.
Pioneers of Blues


Bessie Smith
http://www.history-ofrock.com/blues.htm
Pioneers

Robert Johnson
Pioneers

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John Lee Hooker
B.B. King
Muddy Waters
Blues’ Influence

Country, Rock and Roll and R & B
The History of the Blues


View the following clip of “The History
of the Blues”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRwXVNt0
i3k&feature=related
Compare and Contrast


Listen to the following blues music
from the past and present.
Compare the music. What do you hear
that is similar? What do you hear that
is different?