There's all types of well-liked music out there. There's rock, and funk, hip-hop, and country, jazz, and folk, and... Plus plenty of music that does not have a name.
But when precisely does a type of music become "blues music"?
You could 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 might get 5 different answers.
- Is it about a certain subject 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 sort of music theory reason at all... Or is it just the "feel" of the tune?
I don't believe you can really answer this query. The music called "blues" is usually different things to different folks. What could be blues to one individual could be rock'n'roll to some other person. If you're a rather serious blues lover you may have a hard and fast line between music that YOU call the blues and other sorts of music.
And others might be extremely obscure about what they call "blues" and not be very finicky about their definition.
The reality is, a blues song is generally played in a certain way. There are grooves that are obviously associated with the blues. And there are certain chords that are linked with the blues. It does not imply that these rhythms and these chords can not be employed in other types of music. It is simply that barely will you hear a blues song that isn't a particular tonality or rhythm.
But if you want to play a slow blues a la B.B. King, then you may doubtless be talking about certain chord types and tonality and perhaps even explicit rhythms. If you inspect B.B. King songs closely you'll definitely see some patterns. There's not a vast number of kinds of songs that he plays. You won't catch him playing a polka as an example. Naturally not. That's not a blues style song.
So...
I assume to be "blues" we ARE talking about certain structures of music. There's shuffles and rhumbas and slow blues that are played in certain grooves. That's just the way it is.
But that doesn't mean that 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 common blues chord progression and add something else to it to turn 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 argue it was just white folk making an attempt to play black music, and when the white folks liked it, the record corporations gave it a new name... So it would sell.
Well we might have that discussion all day 24x7. Where did rock'n'roll come from? Who truly invented it? Is it actually just blues songs played "white"?
Naturally, not. There were lots of great black rock'n'roll artists too. Chuck Berry, actually the King of Rock and Roll, would state that rock and roll was very far from only white. And who can argue that Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley weren't some of the best rock and rollers of all time.
And you might easily disagree that they all came out of the Blues Tradition.
Therefore to those that say that rock 'n roll is just The Blues repackaged... Well they just could be right.
But when precisely does a type of music become "blues music"?
You could 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 might get 5 different answers.
- Is it about a certain subject 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 sort of music theory reason at all... Or is it just the "feel" of the tune?
I don't believe you can really answer this query. The music called "blues" is usually different things to different folks. What could be blues to one individual could be rock'n'roll to some other person. If you're a rather serious blues lover you may have a hard and fast line between music that YOU call the blues and other sorts of music.
And others might be extremely obscure about what they call "blues" and not be very finicky about their definition.
The reality is, a blues song is generally played in a certain way. There are grooves that are obviously associated with the blues. And there are certain chords that are linked with the blues. It does not imply that these rhythms and these chords can not be employed in other types of music. It is simply that barely will you hear a blues song that isn't a particular tonality or rhythm.
But if you want to play a slow blues a la B.B. King, then you may doubtless be talking about certain chord types and tonality and perhaps even explicit rhythms. If you inspect B.B. King songs closely you'll definitely see some patterns. There's not a vast number of kinds of songs that he plays. You won't catch him playing a polka as an example. Naturally not. That's not a blues style song.
So...
I assume to be "blues" we ARE talking about certain structures of music. There's shuffles and rhumbas and slow blues that are played in certain grooves. That's just the way it is.
But that doesn't mean that 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 common blues chord progression and add something else to it to turn 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 argue it was just white folk making an attempt to play black music, and when the white folks liked it, the record corporations gave it a new name... So it would sell.
Well we might have that discussion all day 24x7. Where did rock'n'roll come from? Who truly invented it? Is it actually just blues songs played "white"?
Naturally, not. There were lots of great black rock'n'roll artists too. Chuck Berry, actually the King of Rock and Roll, would state that rock and roll was very far from only white. And who can argue that Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley weren't some of the best rock and rollers of all time.
And you might easily disagree that they all came out of the Blues Tradition.
Therefore to those that say that rock 'n roll is just The Blues repackaged... Well they just could be right.
About the Author:
Rick Honeyboy Hart has played the guitar for several years and is a professional blues guitarist. He's played in many bands and now helps others learn blues guitar chords on his guitar instruction web site.
No comments:
Post a Comment