Why I Love Blues Music And Blues Guitar
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012It is hilarious. I never realized it until I got into my 40’s. But I've always got moved by blues music.
And I assume the reason I never realized it is usually because I never had the label to put on the music I loved.
You see back in the 1960’s when I was really getting into bands they didn't have all of the labels that we applied to musical artists today. Back then the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin would play all kinds of music. It was just “Stones Music” or “Zeppelin Music”. Those great bands combined blues with rock'n'roll and their own musical ideas and feelings. It was only later when I wanted to dig into their music more that I began to realize they were listening to old blues musicians for their ideas.
Actually, plenty of the words of Led Zeppelin songs were thieved from old blues songs. Why their huge hit “Whole Lotta Love” just about takes the words from Willie Dixon song “You Need Love”. Nicking blues words was fairly common in those days.
But I'm getting off course.
I started to play guitar back in the late 60’s. Back then I was playing all kinds of music on my guitar. I played Grateful Dead songs, Beatle songs, Rolling Stones songs, and even people rock songs. Each one of them had songs that pulled inspiration from the blues. At last I turned into a full time blues guitarist and had my personal blues bands.
Take The Loving Spoonful. At best they could be represented as a folks rock band. Their hits included Summer In The City, Do You Believe In Magic, and Daydream. But one of my favourite songs was a blues tune called Sportin Life that was on their first album. It was an old conventional tune and the writer isn't known. But I still play that blues number to this day. It's part of my ordinary blues repertoire.
Just proves that back in the 60’s the artists would play all sorts of music and the blues was a common thread in many bands playlist. It took the Blues Brothers to turn the world on to the whole history and way of life of the blues. Thanks to Elwood and Jake for turning us on.
But again I get off the track.
What was it about the blues the made me adore it? I've given that some thought and here is what I think makes The Blues special.
It’s Simple
The musical structure of the blues is very simple. Sometimes a song is made of only three chords. And the chords are played in a very straightforward pattern, often made from twelve bars. For people that understand the principle of music the chords are the I, IV, and V of the chords of any specific key. Those Roman Numerals are shorthand for the 1st chord, also known as the root or tonic chord. The 4th chord in the scale often referred to as the subdominant or “4″ chord. And the 5th chord of the scale, AKA the dominant or “5″ chord.
It’s Emotional
Although the basic scale utilized in blues is a standard pentatonic scale, most notes are often played “blue”. By that it means some notes are raised slightly to make an engaging strain. This creates the specific feeling that all blues music brings. It adds strain and a “moaning” feeling to the track. This is tough to describe in notes a sheet of music, and as in several emotional communications, words don’t appear to do it justice. But anyone that has heard a blues melody knows what I'm talking about.
There’s Lots of Variations
This blues harmonic structure can be applied to many different beat pattersn. The rhythms can be standard, or funky, or shuffles, or latin in feel. This “groove” outlines whether the blues is from Memphis, West Coast, New Orleans, Kansas City, or Chicago… Or anyplace in between.
But the truth is there isn't any way to explain why I like the blues. It’s a mixture of many things. The tonality and the rhythms are part of it but those by themselves can never describe why The Blues moves me. It is just a feeling.
And when you think about it…
Can we really communicate why you adore a sunset, or being at the shore, or what makes an individual attractive?
No we can’t
We just feel it!
Rick Honeyboy Hart is a longtime blues guitar player and online marketer. He likes studying about the history of the blues and teaches blues guitar and thinks about the times when he had his blues band Honeyboy.
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