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    Herry Rajasa
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    American blues music developed in the late 1800s in the Mississippi delta region, influenced by African American musical styles and European American songs and tunes. Early blues was performed by solo singers accompanying themselves on guitar or banjo, known as country blues. In the 1920s, as many African Americans migrated to northern cities like Chicago, city or Chicago blues emerged using additional instruments like bass, drums, and harmonica. Classic or vaudeville blues from the 1920s featured female blues singers accompanied by jazz-style ensembles. Boogie-woogie piano blues also developed in the early 1900s. The blues is characterized by its AAB lyric form, twelve-bar structure, standard chord progression, and use of blue

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    American blues music developed in the late 1800s in the Mississippi delta region, influenced by African American musical styles and European American songs and tunes. Early blues was performed by solo singers accompanying themselves on guitar or banjo, known as country blues. In the 1920s, as many African Americans migrated to northern cities like Chicago, city or Chicago blues emerged using additional instruments like bass, drums, and harmonica. Classic or vaudeville blues from the 1920s featured female blues singers accompanied by jazz-style ensembles. Boogie-woogie piano blues also developed in the early 1900s. The blues is characterized by its AAB lyric form, twelve-bar structure, standard chord progression, and use of blue

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    35 views3 pages

    McGraw-Hill - American Blues Music

    Uploaded by

    Herry Rajasa
    American blues music developed in the late 1800s in the Mississippi delta region, influenced by African American musical styles and European American songs and tunes. Early blues was performed by solo singers accompanying themselves on guitar or banjo, known as country blues. In the 1920s, as many African Americans migrated to northern cities like Chicago, city or Chicago blues emerged using additional instruments like bass, drums, and harmonica. Classic or vaudeville blues from the 1920s featured female blues singers accompanied by jazz-style ensembles. Boogie-woogie piano blues also developed in the early 1900s. The blues is characterized by its AAB lyric form, twelve-bar structure, standard chord progression, and use of blue

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    of 3

    American Blues Music

    • Folk and Traditional Styles

    American Blues Music


    Perhaps second only to jazz, American blues is one of the most influential music
    styles to develop in the United States. Now played and heard around the world at
    concerts, in clubs, on recordings, and on the radio, the blues has left its mark on
    countless musicians and fans through the years. In the United States, the blues
    influence has trickled into nearly every musical style. Even more, the blues has
    developed distinct styles in different regions around the country, from Texas to
    California, Mississippi to Illinois.

    Early Blues

    Though a precise origin of the blues has never been determined, most scholars
    agree that the blues as we know it today probably developed in the late 1800s in
    the Mississippi delta region. African American music forms like field hollers,
    spirituals, and work songs all likely contributed to early blues music, while the
    songs, ballads, and tunes of European Americans played a role as well.

    The first blues musicians were singers who generally accompanied themselves on
    guitar or banjo. This so-called "country blues" was popular throughout the
    American South around the turn of the 20th century and into the 1920s. Guitarists
    like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Heddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Lizzie "Memphis Minnie"
    Douglas, Charlie Patton, and Robert Johnson defined this gritty, earthy sound with
    lyrics that spoke of heartbreak, wandering, and loss.

    City Blues

    In the 1920s, following the migration of many African Americans to the northern
    cities, numerous blues musicians settled in Chicago. In this urban environment, a
    new form of blues was born, often called "city" or "Chicago" blues. Instruments
    were added to the ensemble, such as a bass, drums, harmonica, and sometimes
    saxophone. In the 1940s and 1950s, the electric guitar took over, and solo
    improvisation became an integral part of blues performances. Artists like Sonny
    Boy Williamson (harmonica), Muddy Waters (singer/guitarist/songwriter), Howlin'
    Wolf (singer/guitarist), and B.B. King (singer/guitarist) from Memphis all
    represented this new style.

    Classic Blues

    Another important style of the blues that is often overlooked is called "classic" or
    "vaudeville" blues. Classic blues developed in the 1920s with the advent of
    recordings and centered mainly on female singers, who were accompanied by
    jazz-type ensembles that could include a guitar, banjo, piano, bass, trumpet, and
    drums. As with many pop songs today, classic blues songs were mostly composed
    for the singers by other musicians, including Louis Armstrong and Clarence
    Williams. Classic blues singers like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Mamie
    Smith sold hundreds of thousands of records during the 1920s.

    Boogie-Woogie and Jazz Blues

    Boogie-woogie, another influential blues style, was performed largely on the piano
    and developed in the early part of the 20th century. Pianists like Clarence
    "Pinetop" Smith, Roosevelt Sykes, and Meade Lux Lewis were some of the well-
    known musicians who performed in this style. With its "stride piano" octave left-
    hand playing against right-hand syncopated melodies, boogie-woogie had a large
    influence on early jazz as well. Jazz blues, in which jazz musicians perform blues
    tunes in a jazz style with an emphasis on improvisation, continues to be a very
    important part of jazz.

    The Music Behind the Blues

    Despite many exceptions, blues music can be broadly described by four major
    characteristics: AAB form, twelve-measure metric pattern (often called "12-bar
    blues"), a standard harmonic structure, and the use of "blue" notes (defined
    below). In the AAB form, a four-measure phrase is sung, immediately repeated
    (often with some variation), and then answered by a different phrase. For example:

    Boll Weevil, where you been so long?


    Boll Weevil, where you been so long?
    You stole my cotton, now you want my corn.

    Within this twelve-measure pattern, the basic chord progression is generally I-IV-I-
    V-I or I-IV-I-V-IV-I. As in many African American styles, vocal inflections and
    ornaments are an important part of the blues. Shouts, grunts, and vocal melismas
    can be heard even in the earliest blues recordings and help give the blues its
    signature sound. "Blue" notes are also integral to the blues. Scholars agree that
    the influence of the African music heritage on American art persists to this day in
    aspects such as blue notes. Blue notes are slight, microtonal inflections on
    pitches. When played on guitar or sung, these notes often fall in between
    chromatic notes of the Western scale. In notation, they are often represented by
    flattened third, fifth, and seventh scale degrees.

    Amazingly, though blues music formed over 100 years ago, little has changed in its
    traditional performance practice, or in its popularity. It continues to endure with an
    endless supply of new performers and countless fans who appreciate its
    consistent appeal.

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