Popular music stylesBlues

The blues is a style of music created by African Americans at the end of the 19th Century. It developed out of folk music, spiritual songs and work songs.

Following the American Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, the blues spread throughout America as African American people were now free to travel. The blues became popular in cities such as Chicago and Detroit.

The blues would have been originally performed by a solo singer accompanied by guitar or banjo. The lyrics of a blues song would be full of emotion and would tell the story of life and longing for better days.

Blues in simple time with four beats in the bar and mostly follows a 12 bar blues chord structure. 8 and 16 bar blues can also sometimes be found.

Blues verses have a three line structure - AAB - where the first line is repeated. Originally this allowed time for the singer to make up the last line.

Blues notes

Some notes used in blues music may be flattened by a semitone. These are normally the third, fifth or seventh notes of the scale.

Guitarists can also ‘bend’ notes. This was originally used in blues music to make a sound like a human cry.

Watch this clip from a 1964 BBC music series called 'The Beat'. It features American blues guitarist and singer John Lee Hooker performing his track ‘Boom Boom’.

Notice the bends in the guitar and also the question and answer between guitar and voice.