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the Blues is a tradition that developed in the Deep South at the end of the nineteenth century.
flourished in Post-Emancipation.
classic Blues features a soloist and guitarist.
freedom of mobility was created at the micro-level as Negroes were permitted to travel with some degree of freedom for the first time.
Addition of instruments capable of being played by one or two persons.- guitar, harmonica.
Instruments portable as blues artists were very transient.
Call and response between instrument and person as no group context in Blues.
All dominant chords utilised in accordance with melodic construction.
Most important movement – I7 for four bars followed by IV7 in the 5th Bar.
Blues standardised in to twelve bar form.
Blues had secular text with personal accounts:
1. Lyrics reflected new social conditions of individual hardship.
2. Problems in Inter-personal relationships.
3. Double-entendre sexual messages.
Standardised American English much more pronounced as opposed to WS or NS.
The twelve-bar blues -- the more or less final form of blues -- is constructed so that each verse is of three lines, each line about four bars long. The words of the song usually occupy about one-half of each line, leaving a space of two bars for either a sung answer or an instrumental response (Baraka).
The first line on I7 is repeated on IV7 with the V7 providing a new lyric.
Blues – post-emancipation genre.
Secular lyric.
Solo or two member performance.
Unique harmonic structure.
12 Bar Standard form.
Significantly influential genre.
It is important to note that the Classic or Delta Blues did not only remain in its purest form
Chicago Blues, uses electric guitars and rhythm section (bass, drums) and came about much later. It still however, mostly uses the same 12 bar structure.
Robert Johnson – Delta Blues, W.C Handy (Transcribed Blues), John-Lee Hooker (Delta Blues and Detroit Blues), Muddy Waters (Chicago Blues), B.B King
Robert Johnson Dsc1 and Dsc2.
The Essential Muddy Waters – (e.g. of Modern Blues)
Baraka, Amiri. Blues People: Negro Music in White America. New York: W. Morrow, 1963. Print.
