THE BLUESThis is where is all started.

The Blues: Musical ElementsThis music has a direct connection to the African-American traumas of slavery and post slavery.

The purpose of the blues as music is to provide solace, comfort, and entertainment, if not joy.

The Blues: Musical ElementsThe blue note is played or sung at a

slightly lower than normal scale and slides up and down along a tiny continuum of pitches.

Blues lyrics range from elaborately prepared narratives to discontinuous improvised couplets drawn from a common pool of formulaic lines.

The Blues: Musical ElementsBlues poetic form: aab - Line b

rhymes with line a and resolves with a humorous or ironic twist.

The 12-bar-blues progression consists of 3 4-bar phrases: I I I I / IV IV I I / V V I I and can be drawn out. This contrast with the symmetrically phrased 8-, 16-, or 32-bar forms of much popular music.

The Styles of Blues Music

The Blues: Styles 

Down home (Country Blues)Boogie Woogie and Barrelhouse (Piano)  

Classic BluesChicago (Urban) BluesModern Blues

We need to who sang the blues.Bessie Smith (The Empress of the Blues) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Who6fTHJ34 Big Joe Turner - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Feq_Nt3nM Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTVUvHiuaGw Robert Johnson (Father of the Blues) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8hqGu-leFc

Joe “Pine Top” Perkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHlM2Qr9TZQBig Mama Thorntonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZRaK0j8DMs

More blues legends!Big Bill BroonzyRuth BrownRay CharlesThe Chess brothers (Leonard and Marshall)Willie DixonMuddy WatersW.C.HandyHowlin’ WolfSon HouseLeadbellyLittle Richard

And more!B.B.KingTaj MahalBonnie RaittGertrude “Ma” RaineyThe Rolling StonesKoko TaylorSister Rosetta TharpeBig Mama Thornton (the first Hound Dog)And more.

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html

A brilliant documentaryA documentary about Robert Johnson: Can

You Hear the Wind Howl? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRKXRdWAeW4

How about a guitar lesson?

Delta Blues Guitar Lesson - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc-J_Ew8Jw0

Question:So, why are the blues so popular in the United States and even in other English-speaking countries?