How Has Blues Influenced Modern Music?

The blues has had a profound influence on modern music. Find out how the blues has helped shape the sound of popular music genres like rock, jazz, and country.

Origins of the Blues

The blues is a genre of music that originated in the African-American communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The earliest forms of the blues were a mix of African and European folk music. The blues has had a significant impact on various genres of music, including rock, jazz, and country.

The Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta is a region of the United States that lies along the Mississippi River. It is bordered by Arkansas to the west, Tennessee to the north, and Mississippi to the east. This area is sometimes referred to as the “birthplace of the blues.”

The music of the blues has its roots in African American culture and was first heard in the Mississippi Delta in the late 1800s. The blues is a style of music that is characterized by a repeated melodic figure, called a “riff,” and a 12-bar chord progression. The lyrics of blues songs often deal with topics such as love, heartbreak, and hardship.

The blues quickly spread from the Delta to other parts of the country, and it soon became an important part of American popular music. Blues influences can be heard in many different genres of music, including rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, and country.

The first recorded blues song

The first recorded blues song was “Crazy Blues,” performed by Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds in 1920. Though there are references to the blues in earlier songs, “Crazy Blues” was the first song to specifically reference the genre of music we now know as the blues. The popularity of “Crazy Blues” led to a boom in recorded blues music in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, the blues was a well-established genre with a wide variety of subgenres.

Characteristics of the Blues

The blues is a style of music that originated in the African-American communities of the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been influenced by a variety of other genres, including gospel, jazz, and rock and roll. The blues is characterized by its use of the blue note, which is a flattened third or fifth note.

The 12-bar blues

The 12-bar blues is the most common form of the blues. It is a simple, repetitive progression that is easy to learn and can be played in just about any key. The 12-bar blues has a distinctive chord progression that follows these three chord shapes: major, minor, and dominant seventh. This basic progression can be embellished with additional chords, but the overall structure will always remain the same.

The 12-bar blues can be traced back to the music of African American slaves who were brought to America in the early 1600s. These slaves were exposed to various forms of music, including work songs, field hollers, and spirituals. Over time, they developed their own musical style that incorporated elements of all these genres. The 12-bar blues was born out of this musical melting pot.

The first recorded instance of the 12-bar blues was in 1912, when W.C. Handy published his now-famous song “Memphis Blues.” This song catapulted the blues into the mainstream and helped to make Handy one of the most important figures in early jazz and blues history. The 12-bar blues has been a staple of American music ever since, influencing countless artists across all genres.

The blues scale

The blues scale is a six-note scale with a minor third, perfect fourth, diminished fifth, minor seventh and octave. The notes in a blues scale are often rearranged or added to create different sounding scales, called blue notes. Blue notes are common in blues and jazz music and give these genres their characteristic sound.

The use of blue notes is thought to have originated with African American singers who incorporated them into songs to express their sorrow and pain. Blue notes can create a feeling of longing or sadness and are often used to convey emotions such as hurt, loss, or yearning.

While the original use of blue notes was for expressive purposes, they have since become an integral part of the sound of blues and jazz music. Many modern musicians use blue notes in their playing to give their music a sense of soulfulness or depth.

Blue notes

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the blues is the “blue note.” Blue notes are lowered third, fifth, or seventh degrees of a major scale, creating a more minor sound. This minor tonality is what gives the blues its plaintive, mournful quality.

The use of blue notes goes back to the music of Africa, which was brought over by slaves during the Colonial America period. African music is based on a five-note scale, which doesn’t have formal major or minor keys. Instead, it uses a concept called “modal” tonality, in which different pieces express different moods. The minor tonality of the blue notes was one such mood.

Blues artists began incorporating blue notes into their music in the early 1900s. The first recorded use of blue notes in American popular music was by W. C. Handy in his 1912 composition “The Memphis Blues.” From there, the use of blue notes spread throughout the country and became one of the defining features of the blues.

In addition to creating a feeling of lament or sadness, blue notes can also convey a sense of yearning or longing. This makes them ideal for slow, soulful songs about lost love or other personal hardships. As the blues has evolved over the years, so has its use of blue notes. Today, they can be found in all sorts of genres, from jazz and R&B to rock and pop.

How the Blues Have Influenced Modern Music

The blues have been around for a long time and have been a major influence in the development of modern music. The blues have influenced many different genres of music including rock, jazz, and country. The blues have also been a major influence on the development of the electric guitar.

The British Invasion

In the early 1960s, a new wave of British rock bands emerged who were heavily influenced by the blues. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Animals were just a few of the groups who popularized the blues sound in Britain and Europe. This new wave of British blues bands would eventually come to be known as the “British Invasion.”

While the British Invasion bands were hugely popular in their native England, they initially found it difficult to gain a foothold in the United States. This changed in 1964 when the Beatles made their historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Suddenly, American teenagers were clamoring for more British blues-influenced music.

Other British Invasion bands followed in the Beatles’ footsteps, including the Rolling Stones and The Animals. These groups would go on to have a profound influence on the development of rock music. Many of their songs are still popular today, nearly 50 years after they were first recorded.

The blues rock revolution

The blues rock revolution of the 1960s saw bands like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience fuse blues with rock ‘n’ roll to create a whole new sound. This style of music would go on to influence some of the biggest names in rock, including Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.

While the blues may have started out as a way to escape the hardships of life, it has since gone on to become one of the most influential genres in popular music. From its early beginnings in the deep southern states of America, to its explosion onto the world stage in the 1960s, the blues has left its mark on artists across all genres.

Contemporary blues

The contemporary blues are a genre of modern blues that developed in the 1970s. The term “contemporary blues” is used to refer to electric blues, rock-influenced blues, or modern acoustic blues.

Contemporary blues often incorporate elements of other genres, such as rock, R&B, and pop. Additionally, the genre has been influenced by non-blues musical styles such as jazz and folk. The contemporary blues sound is typified by artists such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, and Susan Tedeschi.