What is the blues?

Blues (English: Blues) is a kind of vocal music and instrumental music based on pentatonic scale, and its other feature is special harmony. Bruce originated from soul music, hymns, labor songs, shouts and hymns of black slaves in the United States in the past. The "Voice of Blues" used in Blues and Qi Ying's singing style both show its West African origin. Bruce has a great influence on American and western pop music. Ragtime music, jazz, bluegrass music, rhythm and blues, rock music, country music and ordinary pop songs, and even modern classical music all contain blues elements or are developed from blues. [1] This word is often used to describe melancholy in poetry. The word blues is consistent with the meaning of "blue devil", which means low-key, sad and melancholy. As early as 1798, George Coleman wrote a farce called "Blue Devil, a farce". In the19th century, this word was used to mean tremor, delirium and police. The application of this word in African-American music may be older. Memphis Bruce william christopher handy was written in Memphis in 12, which is the earliest written record of this word in music.

Blues music originated in the southern United States in the early 20th century. It also mixes the rhythm and rhythm of similar recitation forms in the church.

This kind of music has an obvious feature, that is, it is performed in a form similar to China folk songs, which is called "Call and Reponse" in English. At the beginning, the phrase will give people a feeling of nervousness, crying and helplessness, and then the following phrases are like comforting and relieving the suffering people. Just like a suffering person crying to God, and then getting God's comfort and response!

Therefore, blues music attaches great importance to self-emotional venting and original or improvisation. This improvisation method has gradually evolved into various kinds of music, such as rock music, swing music and jazz ... so blues is also the root of modern pop music.

As for the harmonica widely used in blues music, it began in the mid-1920s. At that time, there were many street performers performing music in America. Their common musical instruments are banjo, drum and a wind instrument called "Pan Quayle". Because guitar and harmonica are better than these traditional instruments and more suitable for playing in open places, harmonica is often used to play blues music gradually.

Around 1930s, many blacks moved to Chicago, where blues music and blues harmonica were also spent. Later, they formed a school called Chicago Blues.

When listening to blues music, you will find that they all seem to follow the same musical form. The reason is that blues concerts often use a standard form called 12 bar blues.

The origin of Bruce

Because the blues are shaped by their personal performances, it is difficult to point out the similarities and differences of all blues. But before the emergence of modern blues, all African-American music had certain similarities. The earliest blues music is a kind of "functional expression, and its corresponding aria has no accompaniment, harmony, restrictions on any form, and no special musical structure." These pre-blues music, which originated from the cries and calls of slaves working in the fields, gradually expanded into "simple singles with emotional content". Today's blues can be regarded as music based on European chord structure, which developed from Africa to alternating singing and guitar.

Many elements of blues, such as the form of inspiration and the use of blues, can be traced back to African music. Cirbian Diouf pointed out that some features-such as the use of Hua Yin and light and nasal sounds-seem to indicate the connection between blues and music in Central and West Africa. Gerhard kubik, a ethnomusicologist, was probably the first person to point out that some elements of blues music came from Africa. For example, kubik pointed out that the Mississippi technique of playing guitar with blades described by Handy in his autobiography is very common in West and Central African cultures, and the local 2 1 stringed harp (Kora) similar to guitar is the most commonly used stringed instrument for singing. This technique involves the guitarist pressing the strings of the guitar with a knife, which may be the source of guitar sliding technology.

Later, Bruce absorbed the spirit of minstrel performance and black music, including his musical instruments and chord accompaniment. Bruce has a close relationship with Ragtime, but Bruce has better preserved the "melody structure of African primitive music". [5] The structure of early songs is very different. Songs from this period can be found in records of Leadbelly and henry thomas. But later, the blues form based on tonic harmony, subordinate harmony and full orange fifth harmony became the most popular form. Today, the typical 12 blues appeared in the black community in the lower Mississippi River in the early1900s, and this process was recorded by oral history and music scores. Bill Street in Memphis is one of the places where early blues music was formed.

Blues lyrics

The early blues are often loose narrative songs, and the singers tell their personal experiences in the cruel reality: the loss of love, the cruelty of the police, the persecution of white people, and the difficult sun and moon. [6] Compared with other music records at that time, many of the earliest blues records contained indomitable and true lyrics. One of the most extreme examples is Minnie Memphis's Deep Alley. The lyrics describe a prostitute having sex with a man in an alley. This kind of music is called "gut-bucket" blues. The name comes from a bass instrument made by cleaning the pig's small intestine with an iron bucket. This food is often associated with poverty and slave life. Unintentional blues generally describes the love and hate between men and women, unfortunate encounters and hard life. Worried blues and rough hotels, which usually play this kind of music, give blues music an unpleasant reputation. Devout Christians avoid it, and some evangelists even call it evil. Because its lyrics are generally about the hardships and injustice of life, some people always associate Bruce with poverty and oppression. But the lyrics of the blues are not only about suffering, some of them are also very humorous and obscene.

At first, the blues may have only one paragraph, repeated three times, but now the common structure-one paragraph, repeated once, and then the end of a paragraph-was developed later.

Some people think that the Yoruba myth played a certain role in early blues music. But most blues artists are mainly influenced by Christianity.

Musical form

There was no clear definition of blues and chords in the early 20th century, but 1930s blues became the standard. However, apart from the typical 12 blues, there are eight blues forms and 16 blues forms. The basic 12 blues embodies the standard 12 bar harmony, and its rhythm is 4/4 or 2/4 beats. The blues chord of 12 is generally a set of three different chords played on the combination of 12:

Is it intravenous or intravenous?

Four four one one one

Five four one one or five

Here, Roman numerals represent harmonious scales. For example, if you play F major, the chord order is:

F F or Bb F F

Bb Bb F F

C Bb F F F or c

In this example, f is harmony and Bb is subordinate. It should be noted that in most cases, chords belong to the seventh chord. Generally, the last chord is the main chord of the next harmony in the harmony series (here in C major).

Lyrics usually end in the last beat of the tenth bar or the first beat of the eleventh bar, and the last two bars serve as a transition for the instrument players. The chords of these two bars can be very complicated, and sometimes it is impossible to analyze their chords. But the last beat is almost always based on the seventh chord to improve the power of the next lyric.

Melody, blues uses three, five and seven major semitones. 12 harmonic progression has been used for centuries. The revolutionary improvement of the blues is to use three, seven or even five flat notes in the melody, plus directly playing adjacent notes and "tearing notes" (like leading notes) at the same time. A classical musician usually plays the lead first, while a blues singer or harmonica player will adjust the pitch, and a blues pianist or guitarist will play two notes at the same time, and then release the lead in advance. Blues chords will also replace the main theme with minor seventh chords and major seventh chords. Occasionally, blues will use minor. There is not much difference between blues minor and traditional minor. The fifth flat is occasionally used in the main melody, and often the singer or the main instrument will play the fifth big in the chord at the same time. In addition, the minor blues is generally 16 bar instead of 12 bar, which is often influenced by evangelical religious music.

The rock rhythm of the blues is also a major feature. Its use strengthens the effect of rhythm and reaction. Many postwar electronic blues and rock music used one of these simpler rhythms. The early Bebop is a basic repetitive fragment, which consists of three notes based on guitar strings. The combination of this sound group with bass and drums creates a technique similar to bass walking, which brings Bruce his typical feeling. The last bar of a harmony usually changes to the beginning of the next harmony. Rock rhythm is often accompanied by the sound of "duo, duo, duo, da" or "dong, da, da, da". In guitar injury, it can use a simple, constant bass or turn from the fifth chord to the seventh chord step by step, and then turn back. The following chart symbols are examples of the first four bars using blues in e major:

E7 A7 E7 E7

E | - | - | - | - |

B | - | - | - | - |

G | - | - | - | - |

D | - |2 - 2-4 - 4-2 - 2-4 - 4| - | -

a | 2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4 | 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 | 2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4 | 2-2-4-4-4-2-2-2-4-4 |

e | 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 |-| 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0-0-0 |

[Edit this paragraph] Classification of blues

Modern Bruce

jump blues

Harmonica blues

Electronic Bruce

Delta blues

Country blues

Classic female blues (classic female blues)

Variant blues (Vanderville)

Urban blues

Texas blues (Texas blues)

Marsh blues

Soul Bruce

Piano blues

New york blues.

New Orleans Blues (New Orleans Blues)

Memphis Beat

Jazz blues

Folk blues (folk blues)

R&B (R&; b)

etc

[Edit this paragraph] Modern blues

Modern blues is a broad concept, including all modern blues artists. Although they didn't meet the legendary old-school blues artist, they followed in their footsteps. Modern blues uses both acoustic guitar and electric guitar, combining various elements from rock to pop to folk songs. Some blues purists or critics behind closed doors will say that modern blues is just a simple imitator; But they actually combine creativity, talent and more modern senses on the basis of respecting artists of the past. Stevie Ray Vaugan was always regarded as a unique blues revivalist (he died in a helicopter crash in 1990), followed by Robert Cray and Cabo Mo.

[Edit this paragraph] Jump the blues

In the era of swing music, big band jazz, blues, gospel music and "Boogie-Woogie piano" were all combined into "jumping blues". Cab calloway emphasizes melody when singing fresh and interesting songs. Slim Gaillard "talks" and sings hilarious surreal songs (usually about food), while his band shouts in unison. Louis jourdan also mastered this high-energy jumping blues, while LouisPrimawithhisBand combined louis armstrong's voice change with trumpet skills. The West Coast version of Jumping Blues was greatly influenced by Nat Cole's relaxed jazz trio, replacing powerful energy with complex music and lyrics. Charles Brown, a singer and pianist with formal classical music training, is the best representative of the West Coast. Jumping blues influenced R&B; B) Rock became the mainstream music of American parties, and later became the main element of the revival of swing music in the 1990s.

[Edit this paragraph] Harmonica blues

Initiated by Sonny boy Williamson II, lazy Lester and Jimmy Reed, and then brought into the late 20th century by Little Walter and Little Wells, the blues harmonica is the core. Little Walter developed an electronic version of this style in Chicago, while Slim Harper played the neck harmonica in Louisiana. In the next few years, Paul butterfield and Bob Dylan integrated the harmonica into folk songs, rock and blues.

[Edit this paragraph] Electronic blues

As long as it is plugged in, it is electronic. Although electronic blues is marked by the use of electric guitar, it is also marked by the installation of electric bass pickup (a device for amplifying acoustic instruments) in cello and acoustic guitar. From the tragic actor Little Walter after the war to the electric guitarists Smokey Wilson and Eddie kirkland, they are all spokesmen of the electronic blues tradition.

[Edit this paragraph] Delta Blues

Delta blues are mostly played with acoustic guitars, which are the prototype of blues. Its representatives include the legendary robert johnson, Muddy Water, the founder of Chicago blues, the harmonica player Sonny Williamson II, and John Lee Hook, the king of blues. Delta blue calls passionate lyrics and vocals, usually solo, and some small groups, such as Willianson's various groups, have also recorded them.

[Edit this paragraph] Classic female blues

Women began to contact the blues on 1920. Singers such as mullaney and Bessie Smith have created many sharp and confident works. Later musicians, such as Billie Holiday, reduced their sharpness, but they also truly reflected their lives and relationships.

[Edit this paragraph] Country Blues

It is a kind of blues music that originated in the southern and midwest of the United States and is mainly played by acoustic guitars. Country blues uses solos, duets and string ensembles, from the early sliding guitar to fingering. Pioneers such as Skip James, Brownie McGonagall, Leadbelly and Lightning Hopkins started this style that no longer exists. Later, the electric guitar successfully transformed it into electronic and modern country blues.

[Edit this paragraph] Variety blues (Vanderville)

In the early days of variety shows, many theaters ignored the performances of black people because they favored the performances of white people (ironically, they often put on some burlesque to imitate the old-fashioned image of black people). Due to the exclusion of the mainstream, black artists have formed their own circles and staged plays for black audiences in a few places in the United States. These variety shows usually include burlesque, magic and dancing. But the most striking thing is the performance of the blues-there are a number of singers such as mullaney and Bessie Smith. Variety shows require performers to please the audience in addition to singing, so drama and dance are added to make black variety shows attract the audience more deeply. Butterbeans and Susie, the best performers in variety shows, have always been famous for their special comedy performances and superb blues duets. Blues music reached its peak in the 1920s.

[Edit this paragraph] City Blues

The lyrics of urban blues fully reflect urban life. The word "urban blues" was originally used to distinguish it from country blues, and gradually formed its own style in the 1940s. Urban blues includes the latest techniques from louis jourdan's jumping blues to jazz, including Percy mayfield and ray charles's Humming with the Feeling of Urbanization.

[Edit this paragraph] Texas Blues

Texas blues was developed in the 1920s, mainly from country music, but only nasal sounds were filtered. The rhythm is loose, also known as "Texas drag", dragging a little behind the beat. Lyrics, remove the theme of "trying to worry" Texas blues often use traditional melodies and use guitars instead of guitar ensembles. However, Texas blues became electronic music after World War II, mainly influenced by Clarence "Gotamonth" Brown, who played solo with electric guitar in the wind music section. Since then, T-Bone Walker and Steve Lewangan have continued to delay and relaxed the Texas tradition.

[Edit this paragraph] Swamp blues

Named after the swamp in Louisiana. Swamp Blues is played slowly with harmonica and guitar, and there is a great slender harp. By adding the rhythm of New Orleans and blues, echo and delayed electric guitar effect, swamp blues can be as melodious as lonely sunsets and lightning, and as lively as lazy Lester's harmonica.

[Edit this paragraph] Soul Blues

Combining the traditional blues with the fast melody of soul music in 1960s, soul music covers two traditional artists. Based on standard blues bands-piano, guitar, bass, harmonica and percussion-and sometimes wind music with rhythm and blues tunes, soul blues musicians expand the traditional boundaries and maintain the foundation of soul music. Etta James, Bobby "Bruce" Brand and Jonny Taylor are all masters of soul blues.

[Edit this paragraph] Piano Blues

Jazz music, blues music, improvisation in various periods, as long as blues are played on the piano, they are all piano blues. Piano blues range from Count Bessie and Ross Wei Erte Sikes to ray charles, Dr. John, and even Thomas A. Dorsey, the founder of gospel music.

[Edit this paragraph] new york Blues.

Mature new york blues absorbed the essence of jump blues, swing, Bebop and early rhythm and blues. It broke out in the swing period in the 1940s, when big bands in lionel hampton used blues singers and strong rhythms. Big Joe Turner, who just made a hullabaloo about, influenced rock music. Erskine Hawkins and Eddie "Clean Head" Vinson associate the popular blues with the much-admired swing jazz.

[Edit this paragraph] New Orleans Blues

As the name implies, the blues is by no means laughing for fun (English "blues" means sadness). But here-and not just here-the New Orleans blues are slightly different. There are Caribbean rhythms (especially rumba) and some southern American music colors, which are only useful at parties. This kind can be relaxed or uninhibited. There are outstanding artists, such as fats domino and Professor Chang Fa, accompanied by French horn and impromptu piano.

[Edit this paragraph] Memphis Blues

When W.C. Handy wrote "Memphis Blues", he didn't know the far-reaching influence of this word. The first of the two major schools of Memphis blues was born in Beale Street in the 1920s, which originated from many "jug bands" and variety shows. The string style of Memphis Jug Band and the rough and funny style of Memphis Minnie are very popular. This early form of Memphis blues invented a method of playing: the lead guitar has a special "segment" in a song-this method has become a standard method so far. The later Memphis blues is an electronic style, which began in the early 1950s and is a louder and more radical blues. Musicians use enlarged and twisted guitars and heavy drums, which has a more direct impact on most blues artists today.

[Edit this paragraph] Jazz Bruce

Jazz blues has a solid foundation of blues, but it also absorbs a variety of jazz music with a slightly faster pace. This kind of musicians usually integrate the improvisation characteristics of jazz into the triad structure of classical blues music. Jazz blues includes jazz works by pianist Moss Allison, pure music by guitarist Lonnie Qiang Sen, and passionate and colorful piano blues by ray charles.

[Edit this paragraph] Folk Blues (Folk Blues)

Folk blues can be traced back to 19 and the original sound style of small bar music at the junction of the 20th century and small celebrations at night. It originated from the southern influence from Texas to the Delta, and is regarded by many as the most primitive music in America. Although early American blues music was equally popular, it was folk blues music that really brought people to bars to dance. Later, the folk blues style was inherited by Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGonagall. Ben Harper, a guitarist in the 1990s, successfully reproduced this style, which was not regarded as retro.

[Edit this paragraph] Acoustic Blues

Unplug is the original sound. The original sound doesn't necessarily refer to the acoustic guitar. This blues refers to all blues played by non-electronic instruments-from guitars and banjos to harmonicas and sounding tin cans. There are local styles everywhere-Chicago, Delta, New Orleans, Texas and so on; There are also various musical styles-sliding, jazz, fingering and so on. Masters before the 20th century, such as the big Bill Brunzi, the lead belly, and the blind Lemmon Jefferson, are all original sounds, and there are more modern Kaibu Mo, Taj Mahal and john lee hooker.

[Edit this paragraph] Early American Blues

This category includes Bruce's earliest recordings. From Handy to robert johnson. The quality of this kind of record is usually not so ideal, but it is full of affection, and it lasts for three days.