Diving Into the Blues

It’s Saturday morning, and you’re sitting in your favorite coffee shop, maybe reading a good book, maybe meeting up with a friend….what’s that music playing in the background? Probably blues. Now it’s Friday evening, and you just got off work. You head to your favorite bar for a beer with your coworkers, and again, the music they’re playing? It’s blues. Blues lends the perfect balance of emotional lyrics and soothing melodies that just makes you want to both get up and talk to people and also sit down and take things slow.

What is blues, and where did it come from?

Blues is a genre of music easily identified by components like its walking bassline (the steady bass

part that “walks” between the chords in a chord progression and keeps the song moving forward), microtonic notes (the blues-y sounding notes which exist in-between the semitone notes played on a piano), melismas (when multiple notes are sung during a single syllable), and call-and-response lyrics. Blues groups usually have someone playing the guitar (these days usually electric), as well as drums, double-bass, brass instruments like a saxophone, and a vocalist.
Blues music got its start in the Deep South of the United States right after the American Civil War. According to Lamont Pearly Sr. of the African American Intellectual History Society, blues is a genre inspired by the call and response of African American spirituals and work songs from the times of slavery, but itself is more the expression of freed slaves and their descendants. While the emancipation proclamation ended slavery in the United States in 1863, African American people in the US faced years and years of overt violence and discrimination in the following Jim Crow era, and many blues songs from this period tell the story of those hardships and the perseverance of African American people. As blues has evolved over time, it has developed into more than simply expressing gloom, as the name ‘blues’ might imply, but rather is music made for ‘chasing the blues away'.

There are dozens of different subgenres of blues music like Delta blues, Chicago blues, or Soul blues. Each of these blues types have their own unique sound, and many evolved in a specific city or region of the country. Other types of blues music, like blues-rock, were created by artists taking inspiration from different music genres.

What’s the difference between blues and jazz?

Blues and jazz have a lot in common, but they are not the same thing. Blues was a predecessor and inspiration for jazz, thus explaining the similarities. They use pretty much the same instrumentation, and both genres welcome improvisation. Blues, however, tends to be a bit more structured than jazz music. Blues songs usually stick to a small number of chords, while jazz is more likely to involve a larger variety. Some blues and jazz musicians even joke that, “A blues guitarist plays three chords in front of thousands of people, and a jazz guitarist plays thousands of chords in front of 3 people.” Furthermore, while jazz and blues welcome unconventional time signatures and improvisation, in blues, improvisation frequently takes the form of individuals taking turns playing a solo. In contrast, an entire band might improvise and play off each other simultaneously in jazz. Another key difference is that blues almost always features a vocalist, while jazz bands can frequently be only instrumental.

Is blues making a musical comeback?

People usually think of blues as a more old-fashioned type of music—reserved for smoky blues bars and clubs with an aging audience—but like most forms of art, the music industry trends are cyclical. Just like high-waisted jeans and record players, the trends that had once faded into the background can become popular again. While you might not be hearing blues music taking over pop radio stations anytime soon, a fair amount of popular songs are taking inspiration from blues music. John Mayer is one example of a popular modern musician whose music shows clear blues influence. Some classic rock songs that you may know and love might even be covers of blues songs written back in the early 1900s! For example, Led Zeppelin covered the song “I Can’t Quit You Baby” on their debut album, but the song was originally written by Wilie Dixon and recorded by Otis Rush in 1956. Next time you’re listening to your favorite songs by artists like Alicia Keys or Beyonce, be sure to listen for melismas and other blues techniques originally introduced by musical icons like BB King and Billie Holiday!

How can you learn about blues?

This fall, CCM is excited to introduce our newest course, Shufflin’ the Blues, taught by CCM faculty Michael Dinallo. Dinallo will be guiding students through an exploration of all sorts of different subgenres of blues music, from Chicago to Texas and more. Each ninety-minute class, Dinallo will spend the first half hour teaching about a song specific to that week’s class, and then for the last hour, everyone will learn to play the song together and, as a group, explore the many different musical interpretations of the piece. For more information, check out your other options!