There's all types of preferred music out there. There's rock, and funk, hip-hop, and country, jazz, and folk, and... Plus lots of music that does not have a label.
But when precisely does a style of music become "blues music"?
You might say... "Anyone knows blues music when they hear it." But I bet if you asked 5 folks if a song was a genuine "blues song" you could get 5 different answers.
- Is it about a certain theme that the song is about?
- Is it about a certain scale structure or tonality?
- Is it about certain chords that can be called"blues chords"?
- Is it even any form of music theory reason at all... Or is it just the "feel" of the track?
I doubt you can really answer this question. The music called "blues" is commonly different things to different folks. What could be blues to one individual might be rock 'n roll to somebody else. If you're a rather serious blues lover you will have a hard and fast line between songs that YOU call the blues and other types of music.
And others may be awfully imprecise about what they call "blues" and not be really particular about their definition.
The fact is, a blues song is mostly played in a certain way. There are grooves that are clearly associated with the blues. And there are specific chords that are associated with the blues. It doesn't imply that these rhythms and these chords can not be used in other kinds of music. It is simply that rarely will you hear a blues song that isn't a particular tonality or rhythm.
But if you would like to play a slow blues a la B.B. King, then you may probably be talking about certain chord structures and tonality and maybe even explicit rhythms. If you examine B.B. King songs closely you'll definitely see some similarities. There is not an infinite number of sorts of songs that he plays. You won't catch him playing a polka as an example. Naturally not. That is not a blues style song.
So...
I assume to be "blues" we ARE talking about certain styles of music. There's shuffles and rhumbas and slow blues that are played in certain rhythms. That's just the way that it is.
But that doesn't suggest the blues doesn't evolve.
Remember the famous Muddy Waters line... "The Blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll."
That just about sums it up. You can take a standard blues chord progression and add something else to it to change it into something else again. Isn't that what Elvis Presley did? Isn't that what many early rockers did? They took black rhythm and blues and turned into something rather different.
Some would disagree it was just white folks making an attempt to play black music, and when the white people liked it, the record corporations gave it a new name... So it would sell.
Well we might have that discussion twenty four seven. Where did rock and roll come from? Who really invented it? Is it really just blues songs played "white"?
Of course, not. There were lots of great black rock 'n roll artists as well. Chuck Berry, actually the King of Rock 'n Roll, would argue that rock and roll was very far from only white. And who can disagree that Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley were not some of the greatest rock and rollers ever.
And you could easily argue that all of them came out of the Blues Convention.
Hence to those that say that rock and roll is just The Blues repackaged... Well they just might be right.
But when precisely does a style of music become "blues music"?
You might say... "Anyone knows blues music when they hear it." But I bet if you asked 5 folks if a song was a genuine "blues song" you could get 5 different answers.
- Is it about a certain theme that the song is about?
- Is it about a certain scale structure or tonality?
- Is it about certain chords that can be called"blues chords"?
- Is it even any form of music theory reason at all... Or is it just the "feel" of the track?
I doubt you can really answer this question. The music called "blues" is commonly different things to different folks. What could be blues to one individual might be rock 'n roll to somebody else. If you're a rather serious blues lover you will have a hard and fast line between songs that YOU call the blues and other types of music.
And others may be awfully imprecise about what they call "blues" and not be really particular about their definition.
The fact is, a blues song is mostly played in a certain way. There are grooves that are clearly associated with the blues. And there are specific chords that are associated with the blues. It doesn't imply that these rhythms and these chords can not be used in other kinds of music. It is simply that rarely will you hear a blues song that isn't a particular tonality or rhythm.
But if you would like to play a slow blues a la B.B. King, then you may probably be talking about certain chord structures and tonality and maybe even explicit rhythms. If you examine B.B. King songs closely you'll definitely see some similarities. There is not an infinite number of sorts of songs that he plays. You won't catch him playing a polka as an example. Naturally not. That is not a blues style song.
So...
I assume to be "blues" we ARE talking about certain styles of music. There's shuffles and rhumbas and slow blues that are played in certain rhythms. That's just the way that it is.
But that doesn't suggest the blues doesn't evolve.
Remember the famous Muddy Waters line... "The Blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll."
That just about sums it up. You can take a standard blues chord progression and add something else to it to change it into something else again. Isn't that what Elvis Presley did? Isn't that what many early rockers did? They took black rhythm and blues and turned into something rather different.
Some would disagree it was just white folks making an attempt to play black music, and when the white people liked it, the record corporations gave it a new name... So it would sell.
Well we might have that discussion twenty four seven. Where did rock and roll come from? Who really invented it? Is it really just blues songs played "white"?
Of course, not. There were lots of great black rock 'n roll artists as well. Chuck Berry, actually the King of Rock 'n Roll, would argue that rock and roll was very far from only white. And who can disagree that Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley were not some of the greatest rock and rollers ever.
And you could easily argue that all of them came out of the Blues Convention.
Hence to those that say that rock and roll is just The Blues repackaged... Well they just might be right.
About the Author:
Rick Honeyboy Hart has played guitar for a few years and is an experienced blues guitarist. He's played in numerous bands and now helps others learn blues guitar chords on his guitar instruction website.
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