While blues music uses several instruments, the guitar is undoubtedly front and center for any band. The genre pioneered new styles in guitar-playing, and its broad musical influences combined to create a truly unique and unheard of sound. Rock music takes its cues from blues, and its footprints are easily visible from Led Zeppelin to Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Allman Brothers.
Feel the Blues! Check out some great blues and broaden your musical landscape. Want to take a blues piano course? Other subgenres are defined by their development within a certain place, such as Chicago blues and Delta blues. Blues originated in the Deep South after the US Civil War in the 19th century, evolving from the oral tradition of African American work songs and spirituals, which featured the call-and-response patterns that are still prominent in blues today.
It came into mainstream popularity in the s when it also developed its common AAB lyric pattern. Blues songs were centred around the pain of loss and injustice but also expressed the victory in outlasting these painful experiences.
The music also originated with a slow tempo that has since become faster with its increase in popularity. Blues is a predecessor to and foundation of jazz. While there are some elements that overlap, jazz and blues use similar features in different ways.
The factors that are associated with blues music include:. The structure of blues music is still heard today in lots of different genres of music. The bar blues sequence is the most used chord progression in blues music. It was developed by African-Americans who blended European music with African music.
The combination of those cultures and sub-cultures created what would become the blues. Early precursors that paved the way for blues music include work songs , field hollers , spirituals , folk ballads, and minstrels. Delta blues is a term for early blues that refers to a specific geographic location, the Mississippi Delta. Typically, delta blues was performed with only one vocal part and one guitar sometimes the piano ; often the musician would perform alone by singing and playing at the same time.
It was played in rural, informal settings—like a porch or a bar—and was not widely distributed through media. Lyrics were centered around things seen in the country—fields, trains, manual labor, etc.
Out of the relatively few recordings that are still in existence from this time, many were done in the field by researchers like Alan Lomax instead of commercial recording companies. Robert Johnson is one of the most famous American artists of all time. He was a mysterious delta blues singer and guitar player who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in order to play guitar better. Very little is known about Johnson, who died in at age 27, so his music and persona have developed a legendary mysticism in American folklore.
During the same time, blues music existed in the northern U. The ensembles resembled early jazz instrumentation, the locations were in cities, and some artists experienced commercial success. Northern blues music contained characteristics derived from African music, but overall sounded much more refined and European when compared with delta blues. Watch Handy perform that song on the Ed Sullivan show in Out of these early types of blues music, the delta blues would be the one with a more lasting impact.
The first major development of the blues came in the middle of the 20th century. Urban blues is the term used to describe blues during that time, which resulted from several changes.
Secondly, by the mid-twentieth century, technology had changed the musical landscape. Electric instruments, vocal amplification, improved recording techniques, record players, and radio revolutionized the way people created and experienced all music, including the blues.
The urban blues introduced a new type of blues ensemble. Piano, harmonica, and especially drums and bass were frequently seen during performances instead of only a single voice with a guitar.
The guitars that were being played were now electric instead of acoustic. Following the evolution of the blues, Muddy Waters was born in Mississippi and became a prominent blues musician in Chicago.
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