Questions tagged [blues]

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States around the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States around the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent (minor 3rd to major 3rd) in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound.

(from Wikipedia)

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Is there such a thing as a minor blues scale?

I have learned the Blues scale as 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7. I'm looking at a chart "Stolen Moments" (in the RealBook) and it says to solo on C Minor Blues. Is the minor blues the same as the Blues as I've described above? So the notes would be: C, Eb, F,…
PatS
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Can blues be upbeat and cheerful?

Maybe this is a stupid question, but I quite like the sound of common blues patterns - however I find it hard to see how one might use them in a church context where one is expressing praise, worship, awe, thankfulness, etc. Can any form of music…
Mr. Boy
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Does playing 12 bar blues require two players and two instruments?

I am trying to play the 12 bar blues. From the manual I use, the idea seems to play the chord progression (CCCCFFCCFGCC) and at the same time it is possible to improvise or use some existing patterns on the pentatonic scale (halftone intervals…
h22
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Why does “Alice's Restaurant” sound like Blind Boy Fuller?

Many Blind Boy Fuller songs have a similar riff, including What's That Smells Like Fish Rag, Mama, Rag Truckin' My Blues Away I Crave My Pig Meat Get Your Yas Yas Out Baby You Gotta' Change Your Mind and Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant sounds a…
Mark Dominus
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Why aren't there "fake books" for blues?

A lot of jazz is heavily improvised, and I know that many musicians typically rely on fake books and their progressions to build improvisation on top of. My question is, why aren't there fake books for blues? It would seem to be a pretty great tool…
tarun
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What is the relationship of the chords in the bridge section of the song Lenny

In the song Lenny by SRV, there is a bridge section where the chords do not follow the traditional harmony, i.e. I ii iii IV V vi vii-dim Why does this sequence of chords work harmonically and how do they resolve to one another? B6 --> D6 --> G6…
user29030
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Structure of the song "Bring me my shotgun" by Lightnin' Hopkins

Bring me my shotgun by Lightnin' Hopkins is a blues song but is it really a 12 bar blues? If you want to write a blue song like this one should you really look at the 12 bar blues and its chord progressions? Is that the way to write songs like…
user20754
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R&B Album 2016 poss. 2015

I’m trying to find out what album is was/is…young African American singer, sounds a lot like Robert Cray, the album cover was black & white with him smoking on the cover…..anything? This album hits hard. Could’ve been 2015 as well. Also, it was…
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what kind of 12-bar is this?

I came out with a sort of 12-bar-loop, but it's not one "classical blues progressions", like these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-bar_blues#Variations Here's the harmonic pattern: 1 2 3 4 Bm D A G F# Bm D …
ccampisano
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