I got the blues, man!
What does one make of this
statement? For the one off Chelsea fan it’s the rant they go about after
a win. To one crazy chap I told this too thought I had a cold. To the one odd fellow who grins at a something he feels not everyone must've figured , it meant a magical world where words and notes collided....
But long before you and I went
about loving the music that we love, what was just as much loved, or even much
more, was the Blues. This is the music that gave birth to rock n roll( thanks
to legends like Little Richard, Chuck berry and Bo Diddley), which gave birth
to rock, which gave birth to metal, which gave birth to all the grizzly black
wearing metal heads!
It not just gave birth to rock n
roll... there’s another linkage that goes:
(Blues, which led to rhythm and
blues) x (jazz and big band, which led to vocal jazz and soul) =
R&B and hip hop .
So if you clearly had to track the birth of what your mp3 player is buzzing with right now...ladies and gentlemen...it’s got the BLUES!Listen carefully to any of your
favorite Usher, R Kelly or any random hip hop track and try to decipher the
sound of the bass ... that was thanks to the blues.
When I started off guitaring, all
that was good in the guitar world was summed up in one 5 letter word: METAL!
But as you gain more experience and practice playing like every other guitar
player of my generation, you crave variety and a form of music that is still
enigmatic and mysterious... something that defies technique and literally
transcends what you considered was all that was important in music: Speed,
Speed, Speed, Aggression and a vaguely understood term called Headbangability (lol)
.
Enter: The Blues
 |
| (The stage phenomenon a.k.a Buddy Guy) |
This guy, Buddy Guy, was a damn
legend!!! He was the one that inspired Hendrix to play with his teeth and do
the drumstick trick! Jim just added distortion and his god given talent (that’s
practically still unmatched!) and voila...a generation got a reason to pick up
the 6 string!
 |
| (The man that acquainted the continent across the Atlantic, and white musicians about the blues.) |
But there is so much more to the
blues than just that. The music was born around the 1860's (yeah ..that old!) in the struggles of
the African American slaves (right from slavery to economic hardships to love) and hollered out into the plantation fields of the
American south! As time went by they got their weapons for the struggle... a
simple wooden six string and a harmonica. And the rest, as most of us (don't)
know it, is history.
Each song had a story behind, one that wasn’t hard to
decipher, one that was spoken like we speak, one that had the emotion of what we feel day in and day out , not exaggerated by any measure... and the best part its not just the
singer that sang... his instrument told you the same, but in its own language
that you cant help but wonder,''how the hell can i make sense of whats
playing?? No one taught me the language of music''
The songs would be about things
that range from whimsical (Cockroach by Albert king) to hilarious (Stormy
Monday by T Bone Walker) to tragic (One kind favor by BB King) to outright
confidence (Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters). It’s the form of music that spoke to
everyone and to every ones 'blues' in life.
Believe it or not, before all that
disco, R&B, rap, hip hop jive came about.... there was a different tune
that people used to vibe to and that is the blues. It was the dance music for
literally 60 years up until the Beatles, Elvis, Stones and Ledzep staked their
claims. The blues were fast, jumpy, simple, and groovy with a whole lotta
character!
The blues developed and gained more
acclaim after the introduction of the electric guitar and saw the rise of
legends : Muddy Waters , john lee Hooker, The Three kings (BB, Albert and
Freddie), Buddy Guy, Clapton, Howling wolf, Hendrix, Stevie ray Vaughan ,
Robert Cray.etc and they gave birth to various variations of blues e.g.:
Chicago, delta, blues rock, piedmont.etc
 |
| (BB King, also one of the most respected musicians in the industry, besides being the most humble) |
What made the Blues lose their
mainstream status and become a niche genre of liking of a couple of guitarists?
Well to put it in the simplest of ways: people moved on to heavier, faster and
fresher pastures of music. I'm not one to bash up people who love pop or disco
or anything else for that matter, every genre deserves its respect. How I would
like to think of it is that: the blues grew up got married to soul and gave
birth to rock n roll and R&B... and then those kids went on to make a
legacy of their own ( corny alert )
Post the 60's there was a
revivalist movement in the 80's by Stevie ray Vaughan and a lil of the nineties and 2000's
by re-release of near century old Robert Johnson recordings and a BB king and
Eric Clapton collaboration album. But everyday around the earth bunches of
Music lovers revel or discover this amazing form of music and find themselves
liberated and rejuvenated.
Through this blog I have tried to
get a word out there about this mesmerizingly simple and enjoyable genre to the
few that I can reach. So give it a shot... who knows, the blues may rid you of
your blues ;)
Recommended tracks (I don’t
know from where you get them, that's between you and your favourite mp3/torrent site, but GET THEM!!):
- Robert Cray - Nothing against you
- BB King - The thrill is gone
- Buddy Guy - Stay all night
- Stevie ray Vaughan - Little Wing
- Eric Clapton - Old love
- John Lee Hooker -Boogie chillun
- Muddy Waters - Mannish boy
- Freddie King - Hide Away
- Rober johnson - Preaching the Blues ( this is the 1920's!!)
Well there you go; you're acquainted with the essence of
the blues. Want more? Look into any of the masters I’ve mentioned and their
music. I don’t promise you that you'll find all you hear absolutely up your
alley but I promise you this... you'll start lookin' at all you have been
listening to lately very, very differently. It’s just a beautiful genre that we
as a generation missed out on and need to at least know
about and taste. Because quite frankly, I didn’t know what I was missing out on
before I came across the blues and now it’s a staple on any play list I have.
If it can turn a hardcore metal lover into a refined multi genre aficionado (it
was after the blues that I started savoring other genres and broke out of the '
METAL is all that is good about music' shell).... The Blues can’t be taken lightly.Metaphorically.
Thankfully, we still have some diverse handful of blues master in our time like the virtuoso Joe Bonamassa, John Mayer , etc. Besides our beloved rock hero's like the Zeppelin, Stones, Black Country Communion, the Eagles , Jeff Beck and Santana , etc. are as blue as they come
Last but not the least, this genre IS NOT just for MUSICIANS or GUITARISTS ,as popular belief suggests. It is for anyone that wants to feel the music the are listening too.It is for anyone who has ever felt human emotions, both the highs and its swampy lows.The genre is best served in a
chilled out calm,dim and preferably night time, with a smooth drink if that’s what
does it for you.
Jim Hendrix put it quite simply : Blues
is easy to play, but hard to feel.
 |
| (Joe Bonamass doin' it the right way!) |
One notes...12 bars...can set your soul ablaze.
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