Listen: Blues examples
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About Blues
Blues is a music genre that emerged in United States in the 1890s. It is usually classed as a form of popular music and music of North America.
Artists closely associated with the genre include Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bhumibol Adulyadej, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra and Leonard Cohen.
Blues has given rise to 26 subgenres on this site, such as Blues rock, Boogie-woogie, Delta blues and Chicago blues.
From Wikipedia
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.
Genre family tree
Parent genres (↑) and subgenres (↓) of Blues.
Key artists
- Elvis Presley
- Bob Dylan
- Bhumibol Adulyadej
- The Rolling Stones
- Frank Sinatra
- Leonard Cohen
- Christina Aguilera
- Johnny Cash
- Alla Pugacheva
- Ray Charles
Related genres
Questions people ask
Real questions from the Stack Exchange community – follow a link to read the discussion.
- What are some chord substitutions for a I-IV-V blues progression? · Music SE
- Making Sense of Blues Soloing; differentiating major/minor pentatonics · Music SE
- In blues, country blues, why don't songwriters get sued for aping the same progressions/tempos/scales as other established blues songs? · Music SE
- My ear is not very well trained - what can I look for as easy hints when trying to identify a ii-V-I progression in blues music? · Music SE
- Why do the notes of a blues scale sound good with the I, IV, and V chords? · Music SE
Frequently asked questions
What is Blues?
Blues is a music genre that emerged in United States in the 1890s. It is usually classed as a form of popular music and music of North America.
Where and when did Blues originate?
Blues originated in United States in the 1890s.
Who are famous Blues artists?
Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bhumibol Adulyadej, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra and Leonard Cohen.
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q9759 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Blues – CC BY-SA 4.0
- MusicBrainz genre – CC0
- Mary Stafford and Her Jazz Band - Royal Garden Blues by Composed by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams; performed by Mary Stafford and Her Jazz Band – Public domain
- "Bull Frog Blues (In Fox Trot Time)", by the Six Brown Brothers by Six Brown Brothers – Public domain
- St Louis Blues - Handy's Memphis Blues Band (1922 sound recording) by Recording: Handy's Memphis Blues Band Composition: W. C. Handy – Public domain