Blues music, along with its Jazz counterpart, is the only true American
music form.
Blues music originated in the American south during the 19th century.
African-American slaves were brought to America and forced to work on
plantations. To pass the time and help keep time of rhythmic labor slaves
created a form of music called Blues. Blues gets it name from the use of
what are called "blue notes", that are tonally in-between two standard
notes. Blue notes appeal to a wide listening audience because they blur
the line between major and minor scales. The seamless transition between
major and minor scales allows Blues music to have the happy and cheerful
qualities of the major scale, yet have the sorrowful, and somber qualities
of the minor scale. Blue notes allow musicians to express a wide spectrum
of musical ideas since they can seamlessly transition between vastly
different voicing and tonalities within the same song.
The first appearance of the blues is not well defined and is often dated
between 1870 and 1900, a period that coincides with Emancipation and the
transition from slavery to sharecropping, small-scale agricultural
production and the expansion of railroads in the southern United States.
Recorded blues and country can be found from as far back as the 1920s,
when the popular record industry developed and created marketing
categories called "race music" and "hillbilly music" to sell music by
blacks for blacks and by whites for whites, respectively. At the time,
there was no clear musical division between "blues" and "country",
except for the ethnicity of the performer.
Call and response (or field hollers) first appear in early Blues music.
Slaves, to ease their burden of brutal labor and to communicate without
the master's knowledge, created call and response. In a field holler a
respected worker would shout a solo line, then the rest would repeat a
unison line, while being in rhythm with the work at hand. Later, call
and response evolved into a solo singer repeating the unison line and
adapting the holler for solo performance.
The blues influenced American and Western popular music, as it became
the roots of jazz, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, heavy
metal, hip-hop, and other popular music forms.
Melodically, blues is marked by the use of the flatted third, fifth
and seventh (the blue notes) of the major scale. These scale tones can
replace the natural scale tones or be added to the scale, as in the
case of the minor pentatonic blues scale, where the flatted third
replaces the natural third, the flatted seventh replaces the natural
seventh and the flatted fifth is added in between the natural fourth
and natural fifth.
Songs That Use This Scale
Good Morning Little School Girl by Sonny Boy Williamson I
Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King
Forty Four Blues by Roosevelt Sykes
Pony Blues by Charley Patton
The Sky Is Crying by Elmore James
Catfish Blues by Robert Petway
If Trouble Was Money by Albert Collins
I Ain't Superstitious by Willie Dixon
Sweet Black Angel by Robert Nighthawk
I Know What You're Putting Down by Louis Jordan
Black Snake Moan by Blind Lemon Jefferson
Ball and Chain by Big Mama Thornton
Further On Up The Road by Bobby 'Blue' Bland
I Can't Quit You Baby by Otis Rush
Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker
Highway 49 by Big Joe Williams
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean by Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blues Before Sunrise by Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell
Baby Please Don't Go by Big Joe Williams
Bumble Bee by Memphis Minnie
I'm Ready by Muddy Waters
It Hurts Me Too by Elmore James
Stop Breakin' Down by Robert Johnson
Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan
I'm In The Mood by John Lee Hooker
Me and The Devil Blues by Robert Johnson
The Walkin' Blues by Taj Mahal
'Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do by Bessie Smith
It's Tight Like That by Tampa Red
Love In Vain by Robert Johnson
Evil by Willie Dixon
Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Wang Dang Doodle by Koko Taylor
On The Road Again by Canned Heat
Rock Me Mama by Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup
Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King
Tomorrow Night by Lonnie Johnson
Boom Boom Out Go The Lights by Little Walter
The Same Thing by Willie Dixon
West Coast Blues by Blind Blake
How Many More Years by Howlin' Wolf
Cryin' Shame by Lightnin' Hopkins
Rollin & Tumblin by Elmore James
Everyday I Have The Blues by B.B. King
Smokestack Lightnin by Howlin' Wolf
Statesboro Blues by Taj Mahal
Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters
Juke by Little Walter
I'm a King Bee by Slim Harpo
The Things That I Used To Do by Guitar Slim
Back Door Man by Willie Dixon
It's My Own Fault by B.B. King
I'm Tore Down by Freddie King
Shake Your Moneymaker by Elmore James
T-Bone Blues by T-Bone Walker
Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson
Preaching The Blues by Son House
Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out by Bessie Smith
The Little Red Rooster by Willie Dixon
Come In My Kitchen by Robert Johnson
Stormy Monday by T-Bone Walker
Hellhound On My Trail by Robert Johnson
Spoonful by Willie Dixon
The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King
I'm Tore Down by Freddie King
I Can't Be Satisfied by Muddy Waters
Manish Boy by Muddy Waters
Stormy Monday by T-Bone Walker
Hellhound On My Trail by Robert Johnson
Spoonful by Willie Dixon
The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King
I'm a King Bee by Slim Harpo
Matchbox Blues by Blind Lemon Jefferson
Hideaway by Freddie King
How Long, How Long Blues by Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell
Five Long Years by B.B. King
Red House by Jimi Hendrix
Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson
All Your Love by Magic Sam
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor
Reconsider Baby by Lowell Fulson
Worried Life Blues by Sleepy John Estes
Born In Chicago by Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Let The Good Times Roll by Louis Jordan
Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Messin Around by Memphis Slim
Blues After Hours by Pee Wee Crayton
Eyesight To The Blind by Sonny Boy Williamson II
CC Rider by Ma Rainey
I'm Tired by Savoy Brown
Graveyard Dream Blues by Ida Cox
Beaver Slide Rag by Peg Leg Howell
Key To The Highway by Big Bill Broonzy
Messin' With The Kid by Junior Wells
The Seventh Son by Willie Dixon
As The Years Go Passing By by Gary Moore
We're Gonna Make It by Little Milton
Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Stick McGhee
Hard Luck Blues by Roy Brown
Black Magic Woman by Fleetwood Mac
Stone Crazy by Buddy Guy
Matchbox Blues by Blind Lemon Jefferson
Hideaway by Freddie King
How Long, How Long Blues by Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell
Five Long Years by B.B. King
Red House by Jimi Hendrix
Memphis Blues by W.C. Handy
Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith
Pine Top Boogie by Pine Top Smith
Dust My Broom by Elmore James
Boogie Chillun by John Lee Hooker
The eCogNeato Development Company logo is a trademark of eCogNeato Development Company
