Introducing Kids to the Blues

The best way to introduce your kids to the blues is by taking them to a live show. Here are some tips on how to find the best blues clubs in your area.

The History 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 music typically consists of instrumentation such as guitar, harmonica, and drums, as well as vocals. The Blues has been a major influence on many other genres of music, including rock and roll, jazz, and country.

Where the Blues Began

The blues is a genre of music that originated in the African-American communities of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term “blues” refers to the blue notes which are used in the music, as well as to a feeling of sadness or melancholy. The blues is often considered to be the roots of jazz, rock and roll, and country music.

The first recorded use of the blue note in American music was by Mamie Smith, who recorded “Crazy Blues” in 1920. The song was a huge hit, selling over a million copies. It was followed by other recordings by Smith and other artists such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Blind Lemon Jefferson.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the blues became extremely popular with white audiences as well. This was due in part to the increasing popularity of jazz, but also to a number of white musicians who were influenced by African-American blues performers. These include artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Willie Dixon.

The Spread of the Blues

The blues began in the American South, but it didn’t stay there. In the early 1900s, black musicians began to travel north, to cities like Chicago and Detroit. They took the blues with them. More and more people heard the music and liked it. Then, in the 1920s, something called “radio” came along. That made it possible for people to listen to music in their homes, and soon everyone was listening to the blues.

The blues spread to Europe, too. In the 1950s, a lot of American musicians went to Europe to play their music. They were surprised to find that Europeans loved the blues just as much as they did. And today, the blues is popular all over the world.

The Influence of the Blues

The blues has been a major influence on later American and Western popular music, finding its way into jazz, big band, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music, and pop music. In turn, these genres have influenced the development of the blues. The blues is also a major influence on British rock music; many British rock musicians (including the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck) have been strongly influenced by the blues.

The Sound of the Blues

The blues is a unique and powerful genre of music. It can move you emotionally, make you cry, laugh, or think. The blues has influenced almost every other genre of music, and continues to do so today. The blues is the foundation of rock and roll, and has shaped the sound and direction of popular music for decades. If you’re looking for a way to introduce your kids to the blues, here are a few tips.

The 12-Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues is one of the most common chord progression in popular music. It is used in blues, rock, country, and jazz. The blues progression has a specific structure that uses the I, IV, and V chords of a major key. In a 12-bar blues, the first four bars are usually the same, followed by two different bars, then another four bars that repeat. This gives the 12-bar blues its distinctive sound.

The 12-bar blues can be played in any key, but it is most commonly played in the key of C. To play the 12-bar blues in C, you will use the chords C (I), F (IV), and G (V). You can also use minor seventh chords for each of these chords: Cm7 (I), F7 (IV), and G7 (V). This gives the 12-bar blues a more jazz sound.

Here is an example of a 12-bar blues progression in the key of C:

C – C – C – C
F – F – C – C
G – F – C – G

The Instruments of the Blues

The instruments of the blues are as varied as the people who play them. The most common instrument in blues bands is the guitar, but you’ll also find keyboards, drums, bass, and even horns. Some instruments, like the slide guitar, are unique to the blues.

Blues bands usually have between two and five members. The most common combination is a guitar player and a keyboard player, with drums, bass, and sometimes a horn or harmonica. The guitar players usually sing, and sometimes the keyboard players sing too.

The first thing you’ll notice about a blues band is that everyone is playing together. There’s no one musician who is more important than the others. Everyone contributes to the sound, and everyone follows the lead of the person who is soloing at the moment. That’s why it’s so important for everyone in a blues band to really know their instrument. They have to be able to play their part without thinking about it so they can pay attention to what everyone else is doing and react accordingly.

The second thing you’ll notice about a blues band is that they often don’t play very fast. That’s because they want you to be able to hear all the different parts of the music, and if they were playing too fast, it would all just run together. Instead, they play slow and steady so you can appreciate all the different sounds that are going on at once.

The last thing you’ll notice about a blues band is that they make a lot of noise! They use every opportunity to make a sound, whether it’s banging on their instrument or stamping their feet on the floor. They want you to feel the music as well as hear it, and that extra bit of noise helps them do that.

The Vocals of the Blues

The blues is a style of music that started in the American south in the late 1800s. Its roots are in African-American spirituals, work songs, and folk music. The blues has been a major influence on other genres of music like rock and roll, jazz, and country.

The lyrics of blues songs are often about personal feelings of sadness, loneliness, and struggle. The music is often sad sounding too. But the blues can also be happy, upbeat, and feel good.

The vocals are one of the most important parts of the blues. The singer usually tells a story with the words (lyrics) and the way they sing (vocals). The vocals can be gritty (rough), smooth, or somewhere in between.

The Legends 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 term “blues” refers to the blue notes which are used in the music. The genre has been a major influence on all other genres of music, including rock, jazz, and country. The blues has its roots in African-American folk music, and has been shaped by the experience of African Americans in the United States.

Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is considered one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time. He was born in Mississippi in 1911 and began playing guitar at a young age. While there are many stories about how he learned to play, it is clear that he was a gifted musician with a unique style.

Johnson’s recordings were popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but interest in his music faded after his death in 1938. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Johnson’s music began to be rediscovered by a new generation of listeners. In recent years, Johnson’s legend has only grown, and he is now widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of blues music.

B.B. King

Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist B.B. King was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925, in Itta Bena, Mississippi. The delta blues style of guitar playing he perfected in the 1940s and ’50s influenced generations of musicians and earned him the nickname “King of the Blues.”

In 1943, at the age of 18, King started playing the blues on WDIA, a Memphis radio station. He soon began touring throughout the South with his band, The Beale Streeters. In 1949 he made his first recordings for RPM Records in Los Angeles.

In the 1950s he toured with such artists as Tina Turner, Big Mama Thornton, and Etta James. In 1955 King had his first million-selling hit with “Sweet Little Angel.” Following this success he toured internationally and recorded steadily for more than three decades. His albums included Live at the Regal (1965), Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970), Blues on Top of Blues (1973), Riding With the King (2000), a collaboration with fellow blues legend Eric Clapton.

King continued playing an average of 250 concerts a year until his health began to fail in 2006. He died on May 14, 2015, in Las Vegas at the age of 89.

Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters was an American blues singer, songwriter, and musician who is considered the “father of modern Chicago blues.” He was born McKinley Morganfield on April 4, 1913, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and learned to play the blues from local musicians such as Son House and Willie McTell. In the early 1930s he began his musical career playing the guitar and singing at country dances. He eventually made his way to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a musician and recorded his first songs in 1941.

Waters’s style of music was influenced by the work of earlier bluesmen such as Robert Johnson and Chester Arthur Burnett (better known as Howlin’ Wolf), as well as by jazz and country music. His deep, sonorous voice and his mastery of the slide guitar helped to make him one of the most influential blues musicians of his generation. His best-known songs include “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” and “Mannish Boy.”

In 1943 Waters moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he assembled a band that included Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica and Jimmy Rogers on guitar. With this group he helped to pioneer a new style of urban blues that came to be known as the Chicago sound. In the 1950s and 1960s Waters’s recordings for the Chess label—such as the landmark albums The Hard Way (1958) and Father’s Day (1965)— exerted a profound influence on the development of rock-and-roll music. Muddy Waters died on April 30, 1983, in Westmont, Illinois.

The Future of the Blues

Keeping the Blues Alive

The blues is a genre of music that has been around for over a century and has had a huge impact on the musical landscape. Today, the blues is kept alive by a dedicated group of musicians who continue to perform, record and write new material. While the blues might not be as popular as it once was, there is still a strong demand for the music, and there are many ways to get involved.

One way to keep the blues alive is by attending live concerts and supporting the artists who are keeping the genre alive. There are still many great blues musicians out there who are touring and performing regularly. Make sure to catch a show when you can, and don’t be afraid to buy some of their music to support them economically.

Another way to keep the blues going is by collecting recordings of classic performances. There are many great compilations of classic blues songs that can be purchased, or you can search for specific recordings that you might be interested in. Many of these recordings can be found online, so you can listen to them whenever you want.

Finally, you can support the future of the blues by teaching young people about the genre. If we want the blues to remain relevant, we need to make sure that young people are exposed to it. There are many ways to do this, including introducing them to classic recordings, taking them to see live shows, or even teaching them how to play an instrument so they can create their own music.

The next Generation of Blues Musicians

It is clear that the blues is here to stay. This genre of music has been around for over a century, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Given its popularity, it is no surprise that there is a new generation of blues musicians who are keeping the tradition alive.

There are many talented young musicians who are keeping the blues alive. They are carrying on the legacy of the greats who came before them and introducing the genre to new audiences. These young musicians are keeping the blues relevant in today’s world and ensuring that it will be around for generations to come.