blues music
genresBLOOZ
An African American musical form characterised by blue notes, call-and-response patterns, and expressive vocals.
The blues originated in the Deep South of the United States in the late 19th century, rooted in African American spirituals, work songs, field hollers, and chants. The twelve-bar blues chord progression (I-I-I-I / IV-IV-I-I / V-IV-I-I) is one of the most recognisable harmonic structures in all of music. Blue notes — notes sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than the major scale, typically the third, fifth, and seventh degrees — give the blues its distinctive, emotionally charged sound. The blues scale codifies these inflections. Blues singing emphasises raw emotion, personal expression, and call and response between voice and instrument. The guitar, harmonica, and piano are the primary blues instruments. The blues is the foundation of jazz, rock, R&B, soul, and funk — virtually all American popular music traces its roots to the blues.
Robert Johnson, one of the most influential blues musicians ever, recorded only 29 songs in his lifetime — but those recordings shaped the course of popular music.