Re: What constitutes "blues"?

[Samuel Gravina <sgravina@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Nice discussion Mike.

Nothing really defines the blues or anything else.  But still if you going
to have words it helps to try.

I've always considered "Call and Response" to be a defining characteristic
of blues although lots of other genres have the same feature.

The 12 bar format is well suited to this, the first 8 bars are the call and
the last four are the response.  Try just strumming out the 12 bar form.
The last four bars sound like they are answering the first 8.  It's a story
structured in harmony.  Add words and you have more story.


Sam