“The blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.”

-Willie Dixon

We’ll start this course off with a very brief explanation of what distinguishes  blues -both historically and musically- from other musical forms.

Historically

Blues music was originally developed in the “Deep South” region of the United States in the late 19th century by African-American slaves. It’s distinctive musical elements can be traced back to African musical traditions. The synthesis of these elements with Anglo-American folk themes and African-American field hollers resulted in a unique and dramatically expressive musical language and formed the foundation of pretty much all American vernacular music in its wake.

“Blues is easy to play but hard to feel.”

-Jimi Hendrix

Musically

Understanding the mechanics of the blues is a prerequisite to becoming a well-rounded practitioner of American folk and roots music. It is the foundation upon which jazz and rock & roll were built. Its influence is also clearly evident in Southern old time and in almost all American music since its inception.

The blues’ most distinctive quality, harmonically speaking, is probably its use of “flatted” notes juxtaposed with typically consonant, European-influenced chord accompaniment.

The pool of notes from which a typical blues melody is composed is known as a “blues scale”. The blues scale is quite distinct from the well-known major scale (do-re-mi, etc.) but understanding how these two scales relate will help you to better understand the musical mechanisms that create the exciting and emotive blues sound.

We’ll conduct a thorough study of the blues scale and other important musical ideas as you move through this course.

“There are happy blues, sad blues, lonesome blues, red-hot blues, mad blues, and loving blues. Blues is a testimony to the fullness of life.”

-Corey Harris

When you’ve completed the full study, you should have a firm understanding blues music’s essential elements:

• Blues theory

• Basic blues chord progressions

• The blues scale

• Blues solos

• Left hand articulations

• Slide playing

• Classic blues songs

• Blues rhythm strategies

• and more

Now that you’ve been properly introduced, it’s time to start making some noise. We’ll start, in Lesson One, by learning the what and the how of Basic Blues Chord Progressions.