Re: Defining blues

[KPGraham@xxxxxxx]

>The "stock" answer is that it uses 12 bars and I-IV-V chords.

I like to be a little more general because there are many 
non - 12 bar blues that are blues and many times when
12 bar blues doesn't seem to sound much like blues.

Blues is what blues players play.

I don't mean to be flip, but I like to think that Muddy, Sonny Boy 1,
Elmore James, B.B. King and other "classic" blues players
define the blues for me. They took the delta folk sound and
brought it north. When Chess started recording these guys the
blues became a real thing. So we can look at blues roots, 
like Blind Lemon Jefferson or even W.C. Handy and see most
of the elements of blues or we can look at the modern blues
masters who are taking blues to new levels and say "Yes this
is blues" because it is clearly related to that period in the late
40's and early 50's when blues was defined.

More specifically:
 1) blues has a shuffle feel. It's based on complex but compelling
african 3 in 4 beats. That triple feel is one of the basic things
I like to find in blues.
2) Blues is based on a "Blues Scale" using what W.C. Handy
called the "Blue Note". (I disremember which note exactly is
the blue note.) Country blues is less "bluesy" in their choice
of notes. Gospel is much like blues except these blue sounds
tend to be frowned upon. Chicago blues tends to spend most
of its time in the two hole draw double bend giving a very
bluesy sound.
3) Blues is infused with drama and emotion which is produced
by changes to the dominant and sub-dominant and resolved
by returning to the tonic. (I-IV-V changes). Sometimes this
is accomplished by dynamics or rythm changes. John Lee's
boogies imply the chord changes but they never get there, making
the boogies dramatic. It is often accomplished with stops or
short periods of silence. Most often the guitar player goes off
into space (harpers can control themselves).
4) Blues lyrics are personal, very often mundane. Metaphors
borrow from delta culture. Blues, at the bottom, is almost always
about some aspect of sex and/or love (but then everything is
always about some aspect of sex and/or love - blues is more
open about it). Blues loves the double entendre (sp?) and the
pun. Blues titles usually have more than one meaning.
5) Blues riffs flirt with the beat, moving before or after, dancing
around the beat to create feelings of rushing or laying back,
pulling the listener through the song. The turn around especially
is timed so the melody line is delayed going in and rushed 
through to catch up so the lead and the listener dramaticlly
crash down exhausted on the I chord ready for a new 12 bars.

This has been a heavy week for messages. I am going back to
lurk for another six months.
          Keith