What are blues songs usually about?

What are blues songs usually about?

Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories. The emotion expressed is generally one of sadness or melancholy, often due to problems of love but also oppression and hard times.

What makes a song a blues song?

The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened ‘blue’ notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.

What is the most popular blues song written?

1. The Thrill is Gone – B.B. King. This slow, 12-bar blues song was actually originally recorded by Roy Hawkins in 1951. However, it was B.B. King’s 1969 version that took it mainstream and cemented it as one of the most famous blues songs of all time.

Why is blues called devil’s music?

Because the early bluesmen and women were the downtrodden illiterate descendants of slaves who were not seen as skilled enough to work as servants or in other reputable functions, blues was not considered respectable. To most blacks, blues was the Devil’s music. …

Why do I like the blues?

When people listen to the blues they relate whatever sadness or troubles they’re going through in life. The original blues artists grew up in a chapter of history filled with so much pain and had to persevere through so many disadvantages in life. Men in particular couldn’t express their pain to their partners.

Why are the blues called the blues?

The name of this great American music probably originated with the 17th-century English expression “the blue devils,” for the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. Shortened over time to “the blues,” it came to mean a state of agitation or depression.

What are the three famous blues songs?

Here are the top 10 greatest blues songs of all time:

• I Cant Quit You Baby – Otis Rush.
• I’d Rather Go Blind – Etta James.
• Crossroad Blues – Robert Johnson.
• Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan.
• I’m Tore Down – Freddy King.
• Born Under A Bad Sign – Albert King.
• Sunshine of Your Love – Cream.
• Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters.

What are the 3 main chords in of the blues?

Essentially, the blues is a specific progression that uses the C7, F7, and G7 chords. (For the sake of brevity, I’ll only look at playing blues in the key of C). The blues chord progression lasts 12 bars (thus the phrase “12-bar blues”) that move in a familiar pattern using those three chords.

Who started the blues?

The blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th Century. Its inventors were slaves, ex-slaves and the descendants of slaves—African-American sharecroppers who sang as they toiled in the cotton and vegetable fields.

What is good about blues?

Blues songs teach us three things: They remind you that you’re not the first to struggle with situations such as relationships or money problems. They give you perspective. You start to think maybe your problems aren’t as bad as you think they are.

Can the blues be happy?

Yes! While blues often deals in hardship, that’s not universal. Early blues were often comical or raunchy. Songs like Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song” continue that tradition.

Who created blues?

Blues is a music genre and musical form which was originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s by African-Americans from roots in African-American work songs and spirituals. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.