The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened ‘blue’ notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.
Is jazz a blues music?
Jazz music is often much more lively and upbeat than blues music. Jazz is often associated with swinging and swaying movements, lively atmospheres and even abstract, unpredictable noise. Blue however, is melancholic, sharp and slow – and the format of the music can often sound very similar from one song to the next.
Is soul music like jazz?
Various genres of popular Black-pioneered music—gospel, blues, R&B, and forms of jazz—are often grouped together in a category known as soul music.
What is the difference between jazz and soul?
Jazz vs Soul – What’s the difference? is that jazz is a musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation while soul is soul music.
What is the difference between blues and soul music?
“Soul” music shares some of the same harmonic structure of blues, but with emphasis on vocals and elements taken from gospel music. What’s the difference between blues and jazz? Jazz and blues share several common elements but are ultimately different genres of music.
What genre is soul music?
Over time, soul music has incorporated elements of psychedelic rock, jazz, and country music. In turn, soul has become the foundation of new genres including disco, hip-hop, contemporary R&B, and smooth jazz.
What is the difference between jazz and blues?
Jazz and blues share several common elements but are ultimately different genres of music. African American slaves are the roots from which both genres have grown, but jazz is from New Orleans and blues is from Mississippi. The music is structured differently and there are significant differences in timbre and instrumentation.
Is blues a genre?
Folk music
Blues / Parent genre
What type of music is Blues?
The blues is a form of secular folk music created by African Americans in the early 20th century, originally in the South. Although instrumental accompaniment is almost universal in the blues, the blues is essentially a vocal form. Blues songs are usually lyrical rather than narrative because the expression of feelings is foremost.
What influenced blues music?
It was influenced by work songs and field hollers, minstrel show music, ragtime, church music, and the folk and popular music of the white population. Blues derived from and was largely played by Southern Black men, most of whom came from the milieu of agricultural workers.
Is country blues the original blues music?
Many people believe that country blues represents the original blues music as it existed in the South before taking shape as popular music in 1912. However, rural blues recordings of the late 1920s capture professional musicians who heard more than ten years of published and recorded popular blues music.
Are blues and jazz related?
Blues and jazz are closely related; such seminal jazzmen as Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong employed blues elements in their music. Soul music and rhythm and blues also show obvious blues tonalities and forms. The blues have had their greatest influence on rock music.
Why is blue music called blues?
The name of this great American music probably originated with the 17th-century English expression “the blue devils,” for the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. Shortened over time to “the blues,” it came to mean a state of agitation or depression.
What is the oldest blues song?
This allowed him to work as a teacher, while performing music during school vacations. Having always immersed himself in the African American music of his era, Handy eventually began writing songs describing the hardships he had experienced. In 1912 he published “Memphis Blues,” now considered the first blues song.
What is the blues capital of the world?
Beale Street in Memphis, TN. Not only the blues capital of the world, Memphis is also known as – Picture of Memphis, Tennessee – Tripadvisor.
Is blues also jazz?
Blues is derived from Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, and Rock. Jazz comes from Calypso, Funk, Soul, and Swing. It’s important to know that Blues was around before Jazz; thus, Blues can be considered an element of Jazz music.
Is jazz a part of blues music?
Most jazz tunes are purely instrumental, while a blues song always contains lyrics. Blues music was around before jazz, and can be considered an element of jazz music. However, jazz would not be considered a part of blues music per se. Early 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States.
What types of music influenced blues music?
Blues musical styles, forms (12-bar blues), melodies, and the blues scale have influenced many other genres of music, such as rock and roll, jazz, and popular music. Prominent jazz, folk or rock performers, such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Bob Dylan have performed significant blues recordings.
What is the difference between jazz blues and jazz funk?
At a minimum, jazz blues usually include a ii–V progression in place of the simple V chord and a I–VI/vi–ii–V turnaround at the end of the form. Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. Combines elements of jazz and rock.
What is blues music?
The blues form is a cyclic musical form in which a repeating progression of chords mirrors the call and response scheme commonly found in African and African-American music. During the first decades of the 20th century blues music was not clearly defined in terms of a particular chord progression.
What music is called the blues?
“The blues” is a secular African-American musical genre that has had broad influence in popular music. Blues songs deal with a variety of topics and emotions, though it is often mistakenly thought that they deal almost exclusively with sorrow and protest.
How did the Blues become famous?
Another thing the blues became famous for was the wandering musicians associated with the early days of the style. The era of the “songster” began soon after slavery ended, when African-Americans became able to travel and play music to make a living.
Is Blues a vocal form?
Although instrumental accompaniment is almost universal in the blues, the blues is essentially a vocal form. Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories.
Who was the first blues singer?
Sylvester “Curly” Weaver
It’s impossible to trace a first blues singer, but the first recorded blues musician, within the genre which today is recognized as blues, was probably Sylvester “Curly” Weaver, when he recorded Guitar Blues and Guitar Rag in 1923.
Who were the first blues musicians?
The earliest blues musicians existed probably during the latter half of the 1800s, evidenced by the likes of W.C. Handy and Ma Rainey’s memories. Although these musicians never recorded and are remembered like unidentified, “missing” people, they still lay claim to being the first blues musicians.
Who is the oldest blues singer?
1. Bessie Smith (1894) Fittingly for our #1 pick of famous blues singers, Bessie Smith is one of the oldest artists on the list, born all the way back in 1894. Nicknamed the “Empress of the Blues”, she reached the peak of her success during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 30s as one of the era’s most popular female blues singers.
Was Papa Charlie Jackson the first country blues singer?
Many have suggested that Papa Charlie Jackson was the first country blues singer to record, but this is not actually the case. Two artists were before him. On October 24, 1923, in Chicago, Charles Anderson recorded three sides including “Sing ‘Em Blues” which had the same tune as “Baby Seals Blues.”
Who was the first black male country blues musician to record?
The first Black male country blues musician to get the opportunity to record did so as a guitarist, not as a singer. Sylvester Weaver from Louisville, Kentucky went to OKeh’s New York studio, sometime in late October 1923, to back Sara Martin on a couple of songs.
Who is the father of all blues?
W.C. Handy
For his efforts in making Blues famous, W.C. Handy is known as the “Father of the Blues.”
Why is the blues so important?
The social significance of Blues music resides in the revolutionary element of African Americans creating their own aesthetics. Blues music represented the opposing voice that refused to be silenced by oppression and segregation. The Blues expressed this with unprecedented clarity, honesty and simplicity.
Why is the Blues so popular?
Whether you realize it or not, the blues is the foundation of nearly all the most popular styles of music listened to today. The blues isn’t just about the blues. Jazz, rock, country, soul, R&B, funk, and even ska all descended from, developed out of, and were influenced by the blues.
Is the Blues a good instrument to play?
Apart from the fact that the blues is interwoven into a lot of western music and really important to add to your guitar playing skills, it’s also incredibly fun to play and makes you look cool as a guitar player which is certainly not to be taken lightly. May the blues be with you!
What are the two main types of blues music?
Most Popular Kinds Of Blues Music
- Delta blues – this is primarily acoustic involving a guitar.
- Chicago blues – which is predominantly electric and involves multiple instruments.
- R&B – For contemporary and modern music.
What are the categories of blues music?
Now to try and divide the blues into very specific categories is almost silly. The blues “feel” and the blues “tonality” is really everywhere. All types of music have it, and most “blues bands” play a range of styles. It’s hard to define a style as any one “thing” or to put anything into just one category.
Who are some examples of blues musicians?
Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Willie Johnson are examples of artists often categorized as blues musicians for their music, although their lyrics clearly belong to spirituals.
Do blues bands have their own style?
All types of music have it, and most “blues bands” play a range of styles. It’s hard to define a style as any one “thing” or to put anything into just one category. But who can argue that the blues coming out of Chicago and the blues coming out of New Orleans, or Los Angeles, doesn’t have it’s own “feel”.
What is the oldest type of blues music?
This is the oldest type of blues music. It emerged in the southern USA in the late 1800s. It included Country Blues and Delta Blues (referring to the Mississippi Delta). Country Blues does not feature electronic instruments and is entirely acoustic.
Why does blues sound so good?
Blues songs teach us three things: They remind you that you’re not the first to struggle with situations such as relationships or money problems. They give you perspective. You start to think maybe your problems aren’t as bad as you think they are.
Why do people love blues & soul music?
They all love the blues and soul music. The old adage “ A shared sorrow is half a sorrow ” may also explain why singing the blues is so good for us. In song after song, we discover that we’re not alone in our suffering. Everyone makes mistakes, fails or faces obstacles in life.
Is the Blues good will?
And Ellen Reiss shows in this paper that the blues is good will because it arises from the desire to give honest form to one’s complaints, one’s pain—literally to make music out of them!—and to give honest pleasure to other people. This is thrilling—tremendous both as music criticism and as the understanding of every person!
Why do blues feel sad?
The association of the colour blue with feeling sad goes back hundreds of years and plays an important role in the underlying sentiment of many Blues tunes. The precise origins of the Blues are relatively unknown.
How did blues influence popular music in the last 100 years?
The influence of the blues on Popular music of the last 100 years shows how important the blues way of bringing together sadness and pleasure, minor and major is. One great example is “Can’t Buy Me Love,” by Paul McCartney, recorded by the Beatles in 1964.
Where did blues music come from?
Created at the end of the 19th century, blues music is a style of music that is heavily influence by African American history. The original blues music evolved and grew into jazz from the 1920s. Although the blues evolved in the southern states of the USA from the late 19th century, it has lots of musical influences from Africa.
Why is blues music important?
It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres.
Is blues music upbeat?
SO, generically, blues means sad. Musically, Blues is a scale and chord progression that expresses the emotions of being depressed very well, but it CAN have happy lyrics.
Is a song bluesy?
Although there are many songs that are “bluesy”, they are not necessarily blues. Blues refers primarily to a chord progression – not to a mood, tempo, or a sad lyric. Blues in jazz can be any tempo or mood from sad to happy. It’s not the lyrics that make a song blues but its chord structure. Every form of American music has its roots in blues.
Is Chicago blues too upbeat?
Although the words aren’t jolly, the music is upbeat; approaching gospel. A record store would probably file it in the Blues section. More specifically, it is “Chicago Blues”. So if someone says “That’s too upbeat, it’s not the Blues”, who’s right and who’s wrong? Nobody, because it’s just a word.
When did blues music become popular?
blues, secular folk music created by African Americans in the early 20th century, originally in the South. The simple but expressive forms of the blues became by the 1960s one of the most important influences on the development of popular music —namely, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, and country music —throughout the United States.
What are the three main types of blues music?
Although the blues can be categorized in many ways, this portion of the website will focus on describing only three main types of the blues: Work Songs/Field Hollers, Delta Blues and Chicago Blues.
What moods are in blues music?
Its name notwithstanding, blues music can invoke a range of emotions: joy, anguish, triumph, or plain old sadness. As Nina Simone demonstrated, the blues can feel really, really good.
Who are the Moody Blues?
“Progressive rock pioneers turned synthesizer-driven rockers, the Moody Blues have created over 50 years of exhilarating and significant music that has influenced countless musicians and rocked fans around the world. … “This new sound influenced an entire generation of musicians,…
Why should you listen to blues music before sleep?
Blues music has its roots in the US and is known to help ease tension and anxiety. Studies have shown the genre can help improve memory, learning, social and intellectual development. Listening to blues at least half an hour before sleep can help improve sleep patterns.
What are the characteristics of the Blues?
That pressed knife on the strings, plucking style, and repetitive words are all characteristics of the blues. It shouldn’t be lost on us that Mr. Handy described the man as having the “sadness of the ages” on his face. The blues, from the beginning, were associated with a certain amount of sorrow and grief.
Is blues a simple song form?
Chord pattern Blues is based on a simple pattern. “Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel”-Jimi Hendrix. A common form for the blues is a repeating 12 bar form (each bar has 4 beats). This is put together as 3 phrases or sections, each being 4 bars long.
What tempo is blues music?
between 40 and 100 beats per minute
Tempo Information The Blues is generally danced to music in a 4/4 meter between 40 and 100 beats per minute (10 and 25 measures per minute).
What is the tempo of music?
The Tempo of music is the speed of the music. What does tempo stand for in music? Tempo Is The Speed The Music Is Being Played At. When did the blues music come about How did the blues music become the blues music? Know one nows much about the blues music . What is the tempo of music in the blues music? How fast is tempo di blues?
How fast is the tempo of blues music?
Really it depends. It could be slow (60 bpm or less) Q: What is the tempo of blues music? Write your answer… Still have questions? What is the tempo of music in the blues music? How fast is tempo di blues? It depends on the text of music .. Normally it takes 72- 80. What is tempo in music? The Tempo of music is the speed of the music.
What do you know about blues rhythms?
Before we look at blues rhythms, it is important to first cover the basics of rhythm. This general knowledge is critical to understanding rhythm, how you can play around with it, and how blues rhythms are constructed. The first is the beat. This is the pulse of the music that keeps it driving forward.
