Essential Blues Elements
The most common chord progression, and basic lyrical framework, in blues music is based on this number of measures.
What is 12 bar Cord progression?
This simple, portable instrument was a staple for early blues musicians, allowing them to travel the Delta region and sing about their experiences without drawing the attention of authorities.
What is the acoustic Guitar?
This blues legend's music was heavily influenced by his experiences as a field hand, where he witnessed the social hardships and racial tensions that would later inspire his songs like "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Mannish Boy."
Who is Muddy Waters?
Unlike blues, which often focuses on personal sadness and hardship, 1970s rock frequently explored topics of rebellion and this more social and generational form of discontent.
What is a youth rebellion, or general discontent?
this blues legend also had a career as a DJ in Memphis.
Who is B.B.King?
The lyrical structure of many traditional blues songs follows a three-line, call-and-response pattern, with the first line repeated and the third line providing a resolution.
What is AAB structure?
Starting in the 1920s, a recording market known as "race records" specifically marketed blues music to this demographic that was growing in Northern cities during the Great Migration.
What is African Americans?
After moving to Chicago in 1943, this Mississippi-born bluesman switched from acoustic to electric guitar, becoming a foundational figure in the sound that would come to be known as Chicago blues.
Who is Muddy Waters?
Unlike the blues, which traditionally used acoustic instruments and a simpler sound, 1970s rock embraced a louder and more electrified sound with a prominent rhythm section and lead guitar.
What is a louder more electrified sound?
This left-handed blues guitarist, though unrelated to the more famous B.B. King, was known for playing a right-handed Gibson Flying V upside down to achieve his unique sound.
Who is Albert King?
In a 12-bar blues, the use of this vocal technique is often paired with bent notes, creating a musical dialogue that tells a story of hardship and hope.
What is Call-and-Responce?
n 1954, President Eisenhower, a former general, opposed Senator Joseph McCarthy's crusade against communism and publicly condemned McCarthy's aggressive and intimidating tactics during televised hearings.
What is the Army-McCarthy hearings?
This Delta bluesman's short, enigmatic life and two recording sessions in the 1930s cemented his legend, with many stories claiming he gained his musical talent by selling his soul to the devil.
Who is Robert Johnson?
While rooted in the 12-bar blues progression, many 1970s rock bands expanded upon this traditional structure by incorporating additional sections, such as a bridge, to create more complex song arrangements.
What is a more complex song structure?
his blues legend's guitar, nicknamed "Lucille," is famously named for a woman who was the cause of a 1949 nightclub brawl that nearly cost him his life.
Who is B.B.King?
Named for their sound rather than any strict numerical value, these pitches are often flatted at the 3rd, 5th, and 7th scale degrees to give the blues its characteristic plaintive, melancholic tonality.
What is Ghost Notes?
This event saw millions of African Americans move from the rural South to northern cities, a migration that shaped urban blues and was described in Muddy Waters' "Long Distance Call" and many other songs
What is the Great Migration?
Sonny Boy Williamson's 1951 song "Fattening Frogs for Snakes" used the metaphor of a predator and its prey to critique the oppressive system that kept Black sharecroppers in perpetual debt to landowners.
Who is Sonny Boy Williamson?
While blues primarily features a shuffle rhythm, 1970s rock, often evolved from the blues, largely adopted this more straightforward and driving rhythmic pattern.
What is a straight rhythm?
This person famously has a guitar named Lucy
Who is Albert king?
Double Jeopardy
This regional blues style, characterized by a complex fingerpicking technique influenced by ragtime, evolved along the East Coast and included artists like Blind Boy Fuller.
What is Piedmont Blues?
"Poor Man's Blues" from 1928, recorded by this "Empress of the Blues," critiques economic inequality and the societal cost of ignoring poverty.
What is Bessie Smith,Ma Rainy, and Mamie Smith?
I don't have to worry about my meal ticket when I have a wife" is a sardonic lyric from this bluesman's 1956 song, "How Much More," which is considered a coded critique of the systemic economic exploitation faced by African Americans in the Jim Crow South.
Who is Howling Wolf?
Unlike blues, where the rhythm section traditionally served to support the guitar or vocal melody, 1970s rock prominently elevated the drums and bass to this more dominant, rhythmic force.
What is a groove or back beat?
Albert King's 1961 instrumental hit "Hide Away," which was later covered by Eric Clapton, is famous for borrowing licks from two distinct sources: Hound Dog Taylor and the theme from this TV show.
What is Peter Gunn?