2. HISTORY
The history of the blues goes back to the seventeenth century in the
U.S.. The blues genre is defined as the folklore of the black population.
U.S. was a colony of England that brought slaves from Africa to the
south largely inhabited this country.
These plantation workers of snuff, cotton and rice, therefore not allowed
to develop their religions and their families were separated. Blacks took
the shaft rhythmic music and put it together with the harmonic and
melodic European music.
Early blues trying to be messages going from plantation to plantation to
deliver news, but also showed how he was a slave. The religious came
from another genre called Gospel, which is a kind of gospel music with
African rituals, which require a lot of vocal work. The first instruments
were rhythmic, then started using banjo and acoustic guitar. The initial
structure of the blues was monotonous but then became harmonious,
as it was composed of twelve bars in fourth and fifth ring. The blue note
is a false note in a scale of five notes, called penta tonic and is the most
important because it is the sub-style that influenced the U.S. white
music. Most recognized artists in this genre are BB King, Muddy Waters,
Ottis Redding.

3. BLUES, SYMBOL OF SADNESS.
BLUES, HISTORY OF SLAVERY OF A
PEOPLE. BLUES, MANIFESTATION
OF A CONDITION OF LIFE. BLUES, A
WAY TO RELEASE THE FEELINGS.
BLUES MUSIC.

4. THE FIRST INSTRUMENT USED
PRIMITIVE BANJO
This instrument was constructed with an elongated gourd was dried until it
had the hardness of the plastic. He had five strings cut a long plastic fishing
line tied to the hollow wooden stick served as the neck of the instrument.
Four of the strings are stretched to the end of the stick, and the fifth was
tied near the body of the instrument, with a shorter length uplifting tone.
There was a hand-carved bridge kept the strings taut separated from
goatskin membrane covering the cut made with pumpkin, in Wolof halam
the instrument was called, in the language of African musicians that led
south of the United States, is named Banjo.
With the passage of time the banjo suffered major change. For 1883, Banjo
was Americanized. Skin membrane was stretched over a frame now round,
wooden initially and later metal. Rounded handle was now replaced with a
flat pole, and the rope is fixed to the short side of the mast with pins, first
timber as a drum and when changed, the pins and the ring straps that were
also kept metal thread. In this way the instrument was as loud and could
tighten the ropes again, sounded in a higher pitch. It had become a clanging
banjo.

5. THE BANJO ALONG WITH THE VIOLIN WERE BECOMING MORE COMMON
INSTRUMENTS SOUTHERN PLANTATIONS. AND IT WAS NOT DEFINITIVELY
SETTLE THE BLUES INSTRUMENT BUT IT WAS THE INSTRUMENT THAT HELPED
DEVELOP THE TECHNIQUES THAT BECAME PART OF THE HISTORY OF THE
BLUES. YOU MAY BE CONSIDERED AS AN INTERMEDIATE STAGE BETWEEN THE
MUSIC OF THE GRIOTS (EVERY SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE HAS A DIFFERENT
WORD TO DESCRIBE "SINGER", BUT THEY ALL USE A MORE GENERAL TERM,
GRIOT) AND EARLY BLUES SINGERS .
PART OF THE REASON FOR THE BANJO LOST ITS CENTRAL ROLE IN RURAL
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICAL LIFE IS THAT MANY PIECES FROM HIS
REPERTOIRE HAD BEEN ASSUMED BY WHITE MUSICIANS WERE ASSOCIATED
WITH MINSTREL SHOWS (VARIETY SHOW WITH ARTISTS MOSTLY WHITE,
INCLUDING SONGS AND COMEDY ROUTINES, USUALLY IN A MOCKING IMITATION
OF BLACKS). YOU CAN ALSO INCLUDE CHANGES IN THE INSTRUMENT (THE
HIGHEST PITCH AND THE TENSION OF THE STRINGS, THEY COULD NOT
PRODUCE A SUSTAINED NOTE).

6. GUITAR
WITH THE EARLY GUITAR ACCOMPANIMENTS THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY TO SOLVE THE
DILEMMA. THE HIGHLY SHIFTED GUITAR TO BANJO AND VIOLIN, ESPECIALLY THE
FORMER, WHOSE USE WAS UNCOMMON AMONG BLUES SINGERS.
THE BLUES WAS PRIMARILY A VOCAL MUSIC AND VOCAL QUALITY REQUIRED SOME
INSTRUMENTS. THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE GUITAR SATISFYING THIS REQUIREMENT. THE
TUNING MI-SI-SOL-RE-LA-MI-TYPICAL WAS ALTERED OR DETENSIONING TIGHTENING THE
ROPES UNTIL THE INSTRUMENT WAS TUNED TO A CHORD. THE RESULTS WERE VERY
SATISFACTORY.
WITH THE EARLY GUITAR ACCOMPANIMENTS THERE ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY IT. THIS
WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH SLACK KEY GUITAR, WHICH WERE POPULAR IN THE UNITED
STATES. ESSENTIALLY, THE GUITAR IS TUNED IN OPEN CHORD AND THE MELODY IS
PLAYED BY SLIDING A METAL BAR UP AND DOWN THE STRINGS. THIS WAS THE
SOLUTION TO A SPECIFIC PROBLEM OF THE BLUES THAT LED TO DIFFERENT TUNINGS
AND STYLES OF THE MODERN BLUES.

7. REPRESENTATIVES IN THE BLUES
The famous Gibson guitar brand selected the best
musicians, blues pioneers, who have used their
instruments and helped write the history of rock.
Albert King: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and Jimi
Hendrix studied the treble and deep 'bends'. King became
one with his guitar, the famous model Korina - Flying V,
leaving for posterity alone classics such as "Born Under
a Bad Sign" and "(I Love) Lucy".
B. B. King: Selected by Rolling Stone as the third greatest
guitarist of all time, has made the most famous Lucille
guitar blues. The ES-355 model, which King has been with
him since 1949, began to make custom since 1980,
allowing anyone to experience the sound that inspired
musicians like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, among
others.

8. TOP FIVE SONGS
1 Robert Johnson – Sweet Home Chicago
2. John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
3. Charley Patton – Some of These Days
4. Jelly Roll Kings I Din’t Know / Road of Love
5. William Harris – I’m Leavin’ Town

9. BLUES
The English word "blue" is not only used to describe the
color blue but also refers to a state of mind: sadness. In
1912, in the composition "Dallas Blues" was also used to
define a musical style.
All these seemingly unrelated aspects have a
common thread: La Musica roots blues songs
come from the African-American slaves who
picked cotton in the plains of South America,
when he was still a British colony.

11. LA MÚSICA BLUES
gospel and soul are genres that share the same root: the
spiritual songs of African Americans trying to endure forced
labor and harsh conditions of slavery. They used the song as
a way to communicate with God and that this would help them
endure suffering. Therefore, the blues is, in essence, a
nostalgic and sad rhythm that reminds us of the early
meanings of this word.

12. THE BASE CONSISTS OF A BLUES
CHORD PROGRESSION OF TWELVE
BARS CALLED "TWELVE BARBLUES".
THIS PROGRESSION IS BASICALLY THE
SAME AS IT IS IN THE RHYTHM AND
BLUES AND ROCK AND ROLL, ONLY IN
THE LAST TWO CHORDS ARE RUN
MUCH FASTER AND THUS CAN BE
DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY.

13. WITH RESPECT TO THE LETTERS THAT MAKE UP THE CLASSIC
TEXTS OF BLUES MUSIC, ITS CONTENT IS OFTEN OF A RELIGIOUS
OR SPIRITUAL. HOWEVER, UNLIKE TRUE GOSPEL EXPRESSING
PRAYERS ARE SUNG IN CHURCHES TO WORSHIP GOD IN THE
BLUES IS MORE OF A WAY TO ASK FOR HELP ESPECIALLY TO
GOD OR TO EXPRESS A DEEP SADNESS FOR A FACT THAT THE
PERSON HAS EXPERIENCED.
AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF CLASSIC BLUES MUSIC IS FOUND IN
THE SONG "CROSS ROAD BLUES" BY ROBERT JOHNSON: "I
PITY THE LORD KNEELING ASKING: IF YOU CAN, SAVE POOR BOB
..."

14. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
ONE: GOSPEL MUSIC: HE KNOWS HIS ORIGINS
TWO. MUSIC R & B: THE ATTEMPT TO PUT RHYTHM TO
SADNESS
THREE:REGGAETON MUSIC: A LOOK AT ITS ORIGINS
APRIL.
A LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN SONGS
MAY.
ROCKABILLY MUSIC: A LOOK AT ITS ORIGINS

15. BLUES
AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL WORK Y CANCIONES
MUSIC OF WEST AFRICA, CARRIED BY SLAVES SOUTH DE ESTADOS STATES,
ESPECIALLY ALDELTA THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
GUITAR, ELECTRIC BASS, DRUMS, PIANO, HARMONICA, SAXOPHONE, VOICE,
TROMBONE, TRUMPET
THE BLUES CHORD PROGRESSIONS AND BLUES NOTES ARE WIDELY USED IN
MOST MUSICAL GENRES BORN OF HIM. THE BLUES IS RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICAL GENRES HAS HAD ON THE MUSICAL HISTORY
OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
JAZZ, GOSPEL, R & B, RAP, SKA, REGGAE, ROCK AND ROLL

16. SUBGENERA
CLASSIC FEMALE BLUES, ELECTRIC BLUES, JUMP BLUES, PIANO BLUES,
BOOGIE-WOOGIE
MERGERS
ZYDECO, BLUES ROCK, JAZZ, BLUES, COUNTRY BLUES, PUNK BLUES, SOUL
BLUES
REGIONAL SCENES
ATLANTA BLUES, AFRICAN BLUES, BRITISH BLUES, CHICAGO BLUES, DELTA
BLUES, DETROIT BLUES, EAST COAST BLUES, LOUISIANA BLUES, MEMPHIS
BLUES, NEW ORLEANS BLUES NEW YORK BLUES, PIEDMONT BLUES ST.
LOUIS BLUES, SWAMP BLUES, TEXAS BLUES, WEST COAST BLUES
LINKS
MUSICIANS, BLUES SCALE

17. CULTURAL ORIGINS
The genres associated with the blues share a small number of
similar characteristics, because this genre takes its shape from
the personal characteristics of each artist who interpreta.5Sin
But there are a number of characteristics that were present long
before the creation of modern blues.
One of the earliest known forms of music that keeps similarity
with blues, corresponds with cries of call and response (music),
which is defined as "functional expressions style
accompaniment or harmony and away from the formality of any
musical structure "6 a form of this pre-blues was heard in the
cries, or screams of slave camp, which took the form of" songs
of a single artist with emotional content "7 The blues now day,
can be defined as a musical genre based on both European
harmonic structure as in the tradition of call and response in
West Africa and transformed into an interplay of voice and
guitarra.8

18. MANY ELEMENTS OF THE BLUES, AS THE PATTERN OF CALL AND
RESPONSE AND THE USE OF BLUE NOTES, CAN BE FOUND IN
THE ROOTS OF AFRICAN MUSIC, SYLVIANE DIOUF POINTS OUT
SOME DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BLUES, SUCH AS THE
USE OF MELISMAS AND NASAL INTONATION, WHICH SUGGEST A
CONNECTION BETWEEN WEST AFRICAN MUSIC AND
ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST GERHARD BLUES.9 THE KUBIKPUEDE TO
HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TO SAY THAT ELEMENTS OF BLUES
ROOTED IN ISLAMIC MUSIC OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA .

19. STRING INSTRUMENTS
Stringed instruments (preferred by slaves from
Muslim regions of Africa), were generally allowed
because slave owners considered that these
instruments were similar to other European
instruments, as violin. As a result, those slaves
who were able to play a banjo or other stringed
instrument, could do with more freedom. This type
of music lonely slave shows elements of Arab-
Islamic style based on the footprint that Islam has
printed for centuries in West Africa.

20. BLUES SONGS
Blues songs of the period, such as Leadbelly or
Henry Thomas show a wide variety of
structures, making it the most common musical
forms twelve, eight or sixteen bars, based on
the chords tonic, subdominant and dominant.
The roots of today is known as the twelve-bar
blues structure, are documented in the history
oraly in scores of African American
communities inhabiting the region of the lower
Mississippi, on Beale Street in Memphis and
white bands New Orleans.

21. EARLY BLUES FREQUENTLY TOOK THE FORM OF A
NARRATIVE WHICH USED TO TRANSMIT THROUGH THE
SINGER'S VOICE THEIR PERSONAL WOES IN A WORLD OF
HARSH REALITY: "A LOST LOVE, THE CRUELTY OF POLICE
OFFICERS, OPPRESSION OF WHITES AND HARD TIMES'
.15 MANY OF THE OLDEST BLUES RECORDS CONTAIN
GRITTY, REALISTIC LYRICS UNLIKE MOST POPULAR MUSIC
IS RECORDED AT THE TIME, FOR EXAMPLE, THE SONG
DOWN IN THE ALLEY OF MEMPHIS MINNIE, IS ABOUT A
PROSTITUTAQUE HAS SEX WITH A MAN IN AN ALLEY.

22. THIS TYPE OF MUSIC WAS TERMED GUT-BUCKET BLUES, A TERM
THAT TOWARDS REFERENCE TO A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
DOMESTICATED (WITH FORM OF LOW) MANUFACTURED FROM A
METAL BUCKET WHICH WAS USED TO CLEANSE THE BOWELS OF
PIGS TO PREPARE CHINCHULÍN (A TYPE OF FOOD THAT IS
ASSOCIATED WITH SLAVERY). THE GUT-BUCKET BLUES USED TO
BE DEPRESSED AND TRIED ON ROUGH AND DIFFICULT
RELATIONSHIPS, BAD LUCK AND BAD TIMES, BECAUSE THESE
SONGS, AND THE STREETS WHERE THEY WERE INTERPRETED,
BLUES MUSIC ACQUIRED A BAD REPUTATION, REACHING TO BE
CRITICIZED BY PREACHERS AND PARISHIONERS.
ALTHOUGH THE BLUES USED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH MISERY
AND OPPRESSION, DYES CAN ALSO PURCHASE COMIC OR
HUMOROUS, AND IN MANY CASES, SEXUAL CONNOTATIONS.

23. HISTORY OF DIFFERENT GENRES
OF THE BLUES
BEGINNING
Blues has evolved from an unaccompanied vocal music,
performed by poor black workers to a variety of styles and
subgenres, with regional variations across the United
States and later in Europe and Africa. The musical forms
and styles that are considered today as the blues and
modern country music, born in the same regions of the
southern United States during the nineteenth century. Can
be found recordings of blues and country that go back to
the twenties, period in which the recording industry
created marketing categories called «music racial» and
«music hillbilly» to sell songs to blacks already whites,
respectively.

24. BLUES IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES
In the early sixties, genres influenced by African
American music such as el rock and roll and
soul were part of American popular music.
Interpreters caucásicoshabían led African
American music to new audiences, both in the
U.S. and the rest of the world. In United
Kingdom, the bands of musicians emulated to
the legends of American blues, and along of the
decade the English blues played a important role
of recovery of singers African Americans to take
them to Europe and reinterpret All Threads
classics.

26. BLUESMEN LIKE JOHN LEE HOOKER AND MUDDY WATERS
CONTINUED TO PERFORM TO ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCES,
INSPIRING NEW ARTISTS STEEPED IN TRADITIONAL BLUES, SUCH
AS NEW YORK-BORN MUSICIAN, TAJ MAHAL. JOHN LEE HOOKER
BLENDED HIS BLUES STYLE WITH ROCK ELEMENTS AND STARTED
PLAYING WITH YOUNGER WHITE MUSICIANS, CREATING A MUSICAL
GENRE THAT CAN BE HEARD ON THE 1971 ALBUM ENDLESS
BOOGIE. B. VIRTUOSO GUITAR TECHNIQUE B. KING EARNED HIM
THE NICKNAME KING OF THE BLUES. UNLIKE THE SUBGENRE OF
CHICAGO, KING'S BAND USED STRONG BRASS SUPPORT FROM (A
SAXOPHONE, TRUMPET AND TROMBONE), INSTEAD OF USING
ONLY THE STEEL GUITAR AND HARMONICA. THE TENNESSEE-
BORN BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND, LIKE B. B. KING, ALSO STRADDLED
THE GENRES OF BLUES AND RHYTHM AND BLUES.

27. THE MUSIC OF THE MOVEMENTS 'CIVIL RIGHTS' AND 'FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION' IN THE U.S. PROMPTED A RESURGENCE OF INTEREST IN
AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC AND EARLY AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC. MUSIC
FESTIVALS SUCH AS THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL BROUGHT TRADITIONAL
BLUES TO A NEW AUDIENCE, AND CAUSED A RESURGENCE OF INTEREST IN
ACOUSTIC BLUES AND PREWAR RECORDINGS BY PERFORMERS SUCH AS SON
HOUSE, MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT, SKIP JAMES, AND REVEREND GARY DAVIS,
MANY OF THESE RECORDINGS WERE REISSUED, AMONG OTHERS, BY THE
RECORD COMPANY YAZOO RECORDS. J. B. LENOIR FROM THE CHICAGO
BLUES MOVEMENT OF THE FIFTIES, RECORDED SEVERAL LPS WITH ACOUSTIC
GUITARS, WHICH HAD SOMETIMES ACCOMPANIED BY WILLIE DIXON ON THE
ACOUSTIC BASS OR DRUMS HIS SONGS WERE POLITICAL ISSUES SUCH AS
RACISM OR WAR VIETNAM, WHICH WAS NOT UNUSUAL FOR THIS TIME.
RECORDING ALABAMA BLUES ITS SUBJECT READS:

28. I NEVER WILL GO BACK TO ALABAMA, THAT IS NOT
THE PLACE FOR ME.
YOU KNOW THEY KILLED MY SISTER AND MY
BROTHER,
AND THE WHOLE WORLD LET THEM PEOPLES GO
DOWN THERE FREE.

29. LOS MÚSICOS BRITÁNICOS DE
BLUES
early sixties inspired, in turn, to a number of American
performers blues-rock, including Canned Heat, Janis
Joplin, Johnny Winter, The J. Geils Band and Ry Cooder.
Much of the early success of Led Zeppelin were
renditions of traditional blues songs, which is not
unusual when you consider that their guitarist Jimmy
Page came from the Yardbirds. A blues-rock performer
original Seattle, Jimi Hendrix, was a rarity in his field at
the time: a black man who played 'psychedelic rock';
Hendrix was a skilled guitarist, and a pioneer in the use of
distortion and feedback 'in his música.38 through these
and other artists, blues music influenced the
development of rock music.
In 1970, the blues was born in Argentina in Castilian by
trío Manal with tango influences and writes based on the
generation poets Beatnik.37

30. IN THE LATE FIFTIES, THE WEST SIDE BLUES
EMERGED IN CHICAGO WITH MAGIC SAM, MAGIC
SLIM AND OTIS RUSH, ITS MAIN CHARACTERISTIC
WAS BASED ON A RHYTHMIC SUPPORT GRANTED
BY A RHYTHM GUITAR, ELECTRIC BASS AND
DRUMS. ALBERT KING, BUDDY GUY AND LUTHER
ALLISON HAD A THIS GENRE, WHICH WAS
DOMINATED BY AMPLIFIED ELECTRIC LEAD
GUITAR.

32. EARLY COUNTRY BLUESMEN, BESIDES BEING INFLUENCED BY
SPIRITUAL SINGING PLAYED COUNTRY AND URBAN BLUES AND
SOME OF THESE MUSICIANS INCLUDE A SKIP JAMES, CHARLEY
PATTON, GEORGIA TOM DORSEY. DORSEY HELPED TO
POPULARIZE GOSPEL MUSIC GENRE THAT DEVELOPED IN THE
THIRTIES THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE QUARTET GROUP. IN THE
FIFTIES, SOUL MUSIC (WITH ARTISTS SUCH AS SAM COOKE, RAY
CHARLES AND JAMES BROWN) WAS ALREADY USING ELEMENTS
OF GOSPEL AND BLUES. IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES, GOSPEL
AND BLUES WERE THESE MERGED IN SOUL BLUES MUSIC. THE
GENRE OF THE SEVENTIES FUNK WAS INFLUENCED BY SOUL,
LIKEWISE, FUNK CAN BE SEEN AS AN ANTECEDENT OF HIP HOP
AND CONTEMPORARY RHYTHM AND BLUES.

33. THE TWELVE-BAR STRUCTURE AND THE BLUES SCALE WAS A MAJOR INFLUENCE
ON ROCK AND ROLL. A CLEAR EXAMPLE IS THE TOPIC OF ELVIS PRESLEY
HOUND DOG (A TOPIC BLUES SONG TRANSFORMED INTO A ROCK AND ROLL),
WHICH MAINTAINS A TWELVE-BAR STRUCTURE (IN BOTH HARMONY AND LYRICS)
AND A MELODY CENTERED ON THE THIRD OF THE TONIC (AND FLATTED
SEVENTH OF THE SUBDOMINANT).
MANY OF THE EARLY ROCK AND ROLL SONGS ARE BASED ON BLUES: JOHNNY
B. GOODE, BLUE SUEDE SHOES, WHOLE LOTTA 'SHAKIN' GOING ON, TUTTI-
FRUTTI, SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL, WHAT'D I SAY AND LONG TALL SALLY,
LIKEWISE, MUCH OF THESE SUBJECTS RETAINED THE SEXUAL THEMES AND
INNUENDOS OF BLUES MUSIC AND EVEN THE PLOT OF THE SONG HOUND DOG
CONTAINS SEXUAL REFERENCES HIDDEN IN THE LETTER AND DOUBLE
MEANINGS IN SOME OF HIS WORDS. SOME EXAMPLES OF THIS ISSUE ARE:

34. GOT A GAL NAMED SUE, SHE KNOWS JUST WHAT
TO DO
(TUTTI FSEE THE GIRL WITH THE RED DRESS ON,
SHE KNOWS HOW TO DO IT ALL NIGHT LONG
(WHAT I'D SAY DE RAY CHARLES).
RUTTI DE LITTLE RICHARD).

35. SUBSEQUENTLY, A MORE MATURE WHITE ROCK, BORROWED
THE STRUCTURE AND HARMONIES OF THE BLUES, DESPITE
HAVING FEWER SEXUAL FRANKNESS AND POOR HARMONIC
CREATIVITY (EG THE ISSUE OF BILL HALEY ROCK AROUND
THE CLOCK). MUCH OF WHITE MUSICIANS WHO PERFORMED
TRACKS FROM BLACK ARTISTS CHANGING CERTAIN WORDS
OF LETTERS: AN EXAMPLE IS THE CHANGE INTRODUCED BY
PAT BOONE, IN HIS RENDITION OF TUTTI FRUTTI, MODIFYING
THE ORIGINAL LYRICS ("TUTTI FRUTTI, LOOSE BOOTY .. . TO
WOP BOP A LU BOP, A GOOD GODDAMN ") FOR A MILDER
VERSION.