Re: [Harp-L] Blues at SPAH

[Toni Macaroni <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you, Winslow. That was very helpful information.

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 9:25 PM, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> The main blues jam runs at night after the shows, in a big circle in the
> ballroom,with solos (usually either one or two choruses0  going in order
> around the circle. Buzz Krantz ran it for several years, but for awhile now
> it's been Joe Filisko. Backing consists of a few quietly amplified guitars,
> sometimes with string bass and brushes on a snare - tasty, supportive and
> inobtrusive - Joe is a stickler on that point.
>
> Most of the tunes are 12-bar blues, usually with a shuffle feel (note
> quite the same as 12/8,, a bit more fluid as the middle of the triplet is
> seldom expressed, and the two outside notes may or may not feel like a
> strict division of the beat in 3), occasionally with a straight 8 or even
> 16th note feel. Sometimes somebody sings the tune, but instrumentals
> dominate.
>
> Minor blues will come up occasionally (such as Sonny Boy Williamson II's
> Help Me, always a favorite). Blues keys tend to be guitar open-string keys
> such as E, A,D, and G, but C and F also do come up, as both are popular
> blues keys; other keys are rarer.
>
> Winslow
>
> Winslow Yerxa
> Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
> Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance<http://jazzschool.com/>
> Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
> Columnist, harmonicasessions.com
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Toni Macaroni <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>
> *To:* harp-L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> *Sent:* Friday, February 10, 2012 11:41 PM
> *Subject:* [Harp-L] Blues at SPAH
>
> Hi
>
> Although I have never been to SPAH in the past I intend to be there this
> year. I would like to do a lot of playing at SPAH - jazz, bluegrass, blues.
> I have been working on jazz and bluegrass mostly but its my guess that
> there is a lot of blues jams happen at SPAH - formal and informal. Which
> brings me to my question and reason for this post: What can you tell me
> about the most frequently played types of blues at SPAH? For example: Is at
> mostly I-IV-V 12 bar blues? Is it mostly 12/8 shuffle? Is it mostly in the
> key of Bb? Stuff like that.
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
>
>