What Is Blues Music?

Blues, almost every music lover or a music enthusiast is familiar with this genre. Some of us have vague knowledge of the Blues, while some of us know a lot about the Blues. There are also many who know nothing about Blues. And, there also many who confuse Blues with R&B or Blues-Rock, which is also form of Blues but they are not the authentic Blues. To be precise, Blues is the parent genre of popular genres like Jazz, R&B, Boogie-Woogies, Rock & Roll. Not only Blues must be credited for the entire evolution of music, Bluegrass, Western Classical, Western Folk, Appalachian folk music are equally responsible for the evolution. So, we can say that Blues music is everywhere nowadays, in the entire pop music industry because of the heavy influence of Rock, Jazz and R&B in the popular culture. However, the form of music we listen to now might have evolved from Blues but it can’t be termed as Blues music. Blues has evolved and is still evolving; there is the birth of new evolved music genres almost every decade. So what music is genuine Blues music? I can write all the musical details and bore the fuck out of you but I won’t do that. However, I will have to give some insight, a little background.
 

Son House

Blues is an African-American music that formed around the time of slavery and flourished during the time of Civil War, eventually became popular across the states in the 1910s. The music was originated in the southern states of America where there was massive population of African-American slaves working on cotton fields, railroads, levee camps and other jobs where the white rich landlords required hard labor. The Blacks were slaves, they were treated as property, not as a person. The landlords never paid them but just kept them alive so that they could work another day. Nonetheless, the Blacks were human beings and like any tribe they lived among their own race, under strict supervision of the landlords. In these small community the Blues flourished as a form of music that the Blacks used to expressed their sorrows and their misery through their songs. The African culture is highly affiliated with music and recreation. Even as slaves, they worked together in group and as they worked they sang songs of their work. This type of singing in group in cotton fields and railroad tracks or mines were recorded by many musicians and locals, it was called field hollers. The negros sang about their work, they sang about their life, their home and this was all done in a harmony. There always used to be a leader who first hollered the song, then the other workers followed the song by signing the same line but all together. By this manner, the men & women used to feel that energy of working in group but their life was not simple, not even after the end of slavery. The Jim Crow laws and lynch mobs completely segregated Blacks from the White towns and neighborhoods; they were now victim of racial discrimination, poverty, illiteracy, police brutality and diseases of all kinds. The segregation laws forced Blacks to build their own church, schools and other prerequisites but they were poor and illiterate, furthermore completely ignored by the government, bullied by landlords, threatened by lynch mobs and survived under the mercy of landlords who still employed black labors because they were cheaper, reliable and fast workers. The Blues was their song, their sad songs of all the suppression they were facing even after the emancipation proclamation. 

In these songs, the singer sang their misery in a loud voice singing a line first then his guitar accompanied him as he would pick the notes, many times the notes used in vocals are similar to the notes picked in guitar, this style is known as call and response which became very popular. Generally, the singers and guitar players used the blue notes (a musical term) - The added flatted 3rd, 5th, 7th in the major scale. These notes kind of gave the singers a bluesy feeling, which they used to express their feelings in guitars. The songs were in a common chord progression of 12 bars progression or sometimes 8 bars progression. Later, the young generation used blue notes for bends and slides in guitars. In the 50s, blues went electric as Bluesmen began making blues music using electric guitars in urban towns like Chicago. From Chicago, Blues was eventually surpassed by R&B (Rhythm & Blues), Soul and Rock & Roll. It was again revived by Blues-Rock where many new rock bands began covering old Chicago/Delta blues music using amplifiers and effects with heavy solos that stunned the whole world. The demand of skilled guitar players was high as everyone got into Blues-Rock. Blues-Rock became the new face of Blues but the Blues-Rock didn’t had that feeling which we can find in authentic Delta Blues or Texas Blues music, mostly because they were covered by new generation who had very little experience of racial discrimination and many of them had no experience. Nonetheless, they revived those old blues which were going to be extinct or forgotten. 

What Differentiates Blues from other Genres?

Well, the answer is simple, the blues progression and blues major scale. The Blues Chord progression are of three major types - the 12 Bars Blues, 8 Bars Blues & 16 Bars Blues. Out of these, 12 Bars Blues is the most popular one. 

In a major scale table, the I (tonic), IV (sub-dominant), V (dominant) are used for Blues progression. It is used in a formal order. 

I (tonic note) is used in first 4 bars

IV (sub-dominant) is used in next 2 bars

Again I (tonic) is used in next 2 bars

Then, V (Dominant) is used for 1 bar

And, IV (sub-dominant) is used of 1 bar

Ultimately, I (tonic) is used for 2 bars

Altogether there are 12 bars, so the name 12 bars blues progression. This whole thing won't make any sense until you are familiar with Major Scale tables. In R&B and Rock N' Roll, this progression is altered and modified which isolates them from being Blues.

There is also Blues Major Scale table that adds the b3, b5 and b7 as I've mentioned above, with these notes added in the original major scale table, it becomes Blues Major Scale which is used in Blues music for soloing or just picking notes.

                           Here are some famous Blues songs

My Home Is In Delta – Muddy Waters

Walkin’ Blues – Eric Clapton’s version

Pony Blues – Allman Brothers Band

Hell Hound On My Trial – Robert Johnson

John The Revelator –Son House’s version

Smokestack Lightinin’ – Howlin’ Wolf

Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker

There Must Be A Better World Somewhere – B.B King

Soul Of A Man – Blind Willie Johnson 

Red House – Jimi Hendrix

Key To The Highway – Big Bill Bronzy

Five Long Years – Eddie Boyd

Love Struck Baby – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Still Got The Blues -  Gary Moore