Easy Way To Play Basic Blues

For many beginners in the world of music, Blues is one of the most famous genres, though it is not so famous anymore in the pop music culture. However, we all know that the pop music the world listens to now is an evolved version of the Blues, Rock, Bluegrass, Jazz and other forms of music. If we look at the timeline and research how Rock music became popular we will realize that early Rock n Roll was nothing but a slightly diverse version of the Blues. The Blues had a major impact in the music industry during the early 1920s and even influenced the formation of Jazz & Swing music. But, Blues existed long before the roaring 20s; it is one of the oldest forms of music which was formed by the early African-American slaves in southern states of USA like Mississippi & Texas. Many musicians and authors believe that the Blues originated from Mississippi Delta and eventually spread across the southern states and then to the whole world by the mid of 20^th Century. But what makes Blues so famous and significant?      

If you are learning guitar as a beginner, you will have to read about Blues Progressions, there are three major forms of Blues progressions – 12 Bars Blues, 8 Bars Blues and 16 Bars Blues. If you don’t know what Bars are then you are certainly not familiar with music staff a.k.a music sheets. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be familiar with these terms or music sheets to play or sing a standard blues song. To play the blues the best instrument is the Guitar and it doesn’t matter if it is acoustic or electric guitar, Harmonica is also widely used in Blues music and so are Pianos, Banjos, Trumpets or you can just use your vocals. But, to learn Blues, guitar will be lot comfortable as early blues musicians always played blues in acoustic guitars. To learn Blues Progression, we must understand the concept of keys and major scales preliminarily. If you don’t know the concept major scale tables, I suggest you learn that first, but if you just want to play the blues without learning the whole concept, I can help you with that too.

Now, the first thing to keep in mind is what key you want to play the song, let’s say you want to play in the key of C. In C Major Scale, there are eight notes (also called octave) which are listed below in roman numerals:

I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII
C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C

The above alphabets are notes, not chords, remember that. However, when we talk about progressions, we have to look these notes as chords. A chord progression is simply just a combination of chords picked out from the major scale table. In 12 Bars Blues Chord Progression, we use: I, IV and V of any major scale. Since, we are using C major scale, so the notes are C, F and G. But, we are trying to use chord progressions, so these notes must be treated as chords, and hence, the chords we can use in Blues Progression while playing in the Key of C Major are C, F & G. Now, the 12 Bars Blues Progression also states how many times and in what order these chords should be played:

First, we must play C for 4x

Then we must play F for 2x

Again, we must got back and play C but for only 2x now

Then, we must play G but only 1x

Eventually, we must again play F only 1x and at the end C for 2x

You can play any strumming pattern you want at any tempo, you can use fingerstyles too but following this pattern is needed. Again, remember that this whole example is in the Key of C Major. If we were in E Major then: I, IV and V will be E, A and B or B7 and would have followed the same order as illustrated above. The Blues has many sub genres too, the most famous one is the Electric Blues or Chicago Blues, Boogie Woogie and then there is Blues Rock. The Electric Blues evolved during the early 1950s and was made famous by Blues musicians like Muddy Waters, Big Bill Bronzy, T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and others. In the late 60s, many Blues-Rock bands began to immerse in UK and USA like the Bluesbreakers, Yardbirds, Cream, Allman Brothers Band, Derek & Dominos, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones and so on. Then many blues rock musicians started achieving mainstream success like Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Meanwhile the traditional Delta or Texas Blues was now being replaced by Electric Blues which were being played by the masters of Blues like Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, B.B King, Buddy Guy, Robert Belfour, Hubert Sumlin and others. In the late 50s, R&B and Rock n Roll evolved through Blues and musicians like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly took over the music industry by storm.

The 12 Bars Blues Progression gave birth to Rock n Roll and R&B. On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that the early Delta Blues were not written in paper, so the early local Bluesmen sometimes followed different progressions but mostly followed the 12 bars progression and the Blues Major Scale. It was only in the mid of 1920s, when composers began to write Blues in music sheets by following a common pattern like 12 bars Blues or 8 bars Blues. The musicians like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith (who were all African-American female singers) became famous in the 20s by singing the 12 Bars Blues.

Now, while playing Blues on guitar, for soloing or hitting notes we don’t use C Major Scale, we use C Blues Major Scale which you will probably learn once you are familiar with major scales. In general Blues major scales no matter which key you are, it contains 11 notes, it adds bIII, bV and bVII notes in the basic major scale and it becomes Blues Scale. Here b means (flatted). In case of C Major Blues Scale, the notes are: C, D, Eb, E, F Gb, G, A, Bb, B, C

Now, Blues music is traditional folk music, so many musicians play the same Blues song but improvise the old songs by adding new solos and altering lyrics a little bit. The Delta Blues were hollers and sad songs which followed the call and response pattern, to fall in love with Blues music; you must first listen to traditional Blues music which was about the horrors of lynch mobs, poverty, slavery, betrayal by lovers, social issues and racism. The Blacks were tormented by the sorrows and they expressed themselves through their music. If we listen to Blues-Rock music by bands of 60s, then we won’t feel that emotions cause they are mostly covered songs or improvised versions of old Delta songs. To feel the Blues, we must listen to authentic Bluesmen like Son House, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly and so on. But not all Blues is sad music, many Blues songs told stories of local myths which were often funny. The African-Americans always had great sense of humor. Many songs which were played in Acoustic are now played in amplified Electric guitars with new solos and effects. Some of these songs date back to the early 20^th century and even before the 1900s. Some few famous Blues and Blues Rock songs are:-

Memphis Blues – WC Handy, the first Blues to be written in paper (music sheet)

Walkin’ Blues – Famous versions by Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton

Terraplane Blues – Originally composed by Robert Johnson and later covered by Eric Clapton

Sweet Home Chicago – Originally composed by Robert Johnson and covered by almost all Bluesman, most famous compositions are of Blues Brothers, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy etc.

Soul of A Man – Original song by Blind Willie Johnson, few cover versions are also available and are used in many Hollywood movies.

Malted Milk – Original by Robert Johnson, made famous by Eric Clapton during the MTV Unplugged session.

John The Revelator – Original song by Blind Willie Johnson and also sung by Son House

Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters

Smokestack Lightnin’ – Howlin’ Wolf

Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker, later covered by The Allman Brothers Band

Crossroads Blues – Robert Johnson, later covered by Cream and many other versions are available, recently covered by John Mayer

Good Morning Little School Girl – Many versions available, made famous by Muddy Waters and then later covered by Grateful Dead

Thrill Is Gone – B.B King

Key To The Highway – Big Bill Bronzy, also covered by BB King, Derek & Dominos and other bands and musicians

There Must Be a Better World – B.B King

Hill Stomp – Robert Belfour

Empire State Express – Son House

Meet Me In The Morning – Bob Dylan

Red House – Jimi Hendrix, also covered by Gary Moore

Voodoo Chile – Jimi Hendrix, also covered by Stevie Ray Vaughan

Cocaine – J.J Cale, famously covered by Eric Clapton

Black Country Woman – Led Zeppelin

Boogie With Stu – Led Zeppelin

How Many More Times – Led Zeppelin

Blues Run The Game – Simon & Garfunkel

Kentucky Mule – Tate Peterson (Instrumental)

Call Me The Breeze – J.J Cale, also covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton and others

Poor Johnny – Robert Cray

I Forgot To Be Your Lover – Robert Cray

Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues – Buddy Guy

Midnight Train – Buddy Guy

Moving On – Peter Green, later covered by Gary Moore in a tribute album Blues For Greeny

Jumpin’ At Shadows – Gary Moore

Pony Boy – The Allman Brothers Band

Whipping Post – The Allman Brothers Band

Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream

Ramblin Man – Robert Johnson, also covered by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

Pride & Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Rude Mood – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Mean Old Frisco – Big Bill Bronzy, also covered by Eric Clapton

Rock Me Baby – John Lee Hooker, but later version made famous by Jimi Hendrix