LEARN

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BLUE5

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Contents
About Blues 4
Blue Melody 6
WalkingBlues 7
BusyBlues 8
Lazy Day Blues 9
The Originsof Blues I0
The PromisedLand 12
On My WayHome 13
Followthe Leader | 4
Woodchopper'sWork Song t5
The FirstBlues 16
The HappyMinstrel 18
HoundDog Blues l9
Songster'sTune 20
Dime Rag 22
Recordingthe Blues 24
SwingingBluesfor Two 26
GracefullyBlue 28
TWelve-barStride 29
Four HandsBlues 30
Blueslnstruments32
Back Porch Blues 34
Up to Five Blues 36
Fishin'LineBlues 38
CountryBlues 40
MississippiRiver Blues 42
Black Cat Blues 44
PrisonCell Blues 45
Goin'EastBlues 46
PianoBlues 48
Crary Feet Boogie 49
ChooChooBoogie 50
Boogiefor Two 52
Blues in the City 54
After Midnight 56
The Runaround58
FunkyBassBlues 60
BluesToday 62
Listeningto Blues 63
Index 64

About Blues
1,,^- i- ^ ^+,,1^^(
rur)
) d )Lyrc

^,,-:-

thatwasdeveloped
by
AfricanAmericansat the
beginning
of the 20thcenturyin
the Southof the USA.
It is nowoneof the
mostlmponant
musicalstylesin
t n ew o n o .I n l s
bookis about
the historyand
development
of
blues,withtunes
to playand ideas
for makingmusic.
Theword"blues"is not
nnl',

,,<ai

tn

rlacrrrhp:

t,inc

nf

m u s i c .I t i s a l s o u s e dt o m e a na

sador melancholy
stateof
mind.Periormers
sang
these
bluesto express
feelings
andemotions.
Somebluessongstell of
the hardlivesled by African
whileotherstell
Americans,
the storiesof important
eventsand peopleOthers
I
dealwith moregenera
likehopes,dreams
sublects
and loveaffairs.

to getthe mostout of the music.

Afterthat,the bookcoversthe
l e v e l o p m eonltb l u e s
l.clo'i.ad
andgivesexamples
of its various
styles
Tl-^

^i^^^^
. c \ e \ . J I I J d g c SO - v d l e V e r y
illH p

fromeachother,but they
different
areall bluesmusic Youcan
r t r r u t s| | | Z c 1 . , -

F ^^

,- --.

" I

ways.Theyarenearlyall basedon
certainchainsand patterns
of
chords.Thesearecalledblues
progressrons,
anorneyare
explained
on pageJ9and
in the book.
elsewhere
Bluesis also recognizable
because
it is usuallyplayedon a
fewpopular
instruments:

A bluesharmo ict:l
knawnasa bluesharp

TheCibsanE533,,
guitar
.t papul6r
u,ithblues

^:.^^
^''i+....,J
prdiru,6urLdr,
dIu

harmonica.
Most
of ihe nieccs in

this bookare
writtenfor piano
nr Icvhn:rr]

hrrt

m a n yc o n r a l n
p a r t st o r g u i t a r ,
h a r m o ni c a a n d
othermelody
f;:tl*&;r.n,,*
;
instruments.
T h e s em a y b e
u s e f uI i f y o u
w d n tt o p a y - n u cr w i t h l r r e n d .) o u c d n f i n d o u l m o r ea b o u tt h s
o n p a g e6 3

-*i"";;".-@'@."

i";f"ffi*lrr-.:

Playingthe tunes
Thpre >ra hi,rp< trnac

in nl:v

throughout
the book.As wellas
aboutthe
tellingyousomething
diffprenl hl,re*: vle* ea, L nrpe
+i ^ - - L ^ , , f
LrP> duuur

^l-,,i^^
prdyrrS

fl-^
u,c

musicwell.Themetronome
markings
at the startof eachpiece
tellyouwhatspeedto play bul
you mightfeelmorecomfortable
About this book
witha d ifferentspeed.
Vnrrr:n:l<n
nftcn rproon izc
l l y o ua r eu n f a r rl i a rw t th b l u e s .
Mostof the piecescontain
pianofingerlng
it mighthelpif youplaythe
b luesbecause
of the waythe
numbers.
Someof
ns playtheirinstruments. thesemayfeelratherstrangeif
tuneson pages6-9frrst.These
musicia
Mostbluesmusicians
makeparts you havenot playedbluesbefore,
arefoureasypiecesthatwill
helpyouto hearhowblues
of theirmusicup astheygo along. but theywill helpyouto playin an
.r'he-l , hrre-.rlp Onre. rt
Theywlll alsointroduce Thrsis calledimprovisation.
You
sounds.
\,^ t^ <^ma ^f thp m.\<t
( d n l e d r nn o r c a b o , . lthl i so n p d g e arefamiliarwiththe music,
you maywantto try your
importantaspects
of blues
l 9 a n df i n do u t h o wt o d o i t o n
however,
p l a y i n ga, n d e x p l a i nh o w
p a g e s3 I , 3 9 a n d5 9 .
own fingerings
At the endof the book,youwjll
A rolliliorol rlr.s
find
moreadviceaboutplaying
slleet-!11uslatt(0(a
s about
blues,andsuggestion
labels
andpubluityt
pictures
ofblues
bluesmusicto listento
ThefrontcoNer
af)imla.kson
'Kdxs,is
CitUBfues

t r a c e st h e d e v e l o p m e not f t h e
s t y l e f r o m i t s b e g i n n i n g si n

Recordsand stars
Because
bluesdeveloped
at the

.art)i_

t\ naq.\r At.i ':n

The home of the blues

Thismapshowsthe stateswhich

Ampri.dll

. a n e - i ' - 1 ea . - o . . ^ d " e r n . d i n p i t ,

and European
musicto the
historyis closelylinkedwiththe
appearance
of the firstblues
growthanddevelopment
of the
tunes.Lateron youcanfindout
recording
industry.
lt wasoneof
aboutthe different
typesof blues
all overAmericaas
the firsttypesof musicto become thatdeveloped
popularon the basisof recordings the musicbecamemorepopular.
stars.Youcanread
Eventually
bluesbecamethe
and recording
aboutthe historyoi recording,
and AU ^d -\ i, - ^J F, - t, r, -UL! J \^,F +t r^J. U1 ^d .) -) ^I J^ J^ I, J, 1U t d I
of bluesrecordson pages24and m u s i c e s p e c i a l l yj a z za n d r o c k .
Towards
2 r T h r o u g h o uh e b o o l t h e r e '
the endof the
aboutthe lifeand book,youcanfindout
alsoinformation
musicof manyof the mostfamous aboutthe influenceof
blueson theselater
b l u e smu s i c inas .
<irilo< :nrl:hnrri
h lrrp<
Theearlypartof the book
the originsof blues.lt
musician
s today
explains

Sta

nca

m:lua

llnitad

qi-atac

^f

America.
It includes
the main
townsandcitiesmentioned
in this
book.Bluesoriginated
in the
Southern
statesot Misslssippi,
T e r a -a - d - o ui si an ad n dg r d d u d l l y
spreadelsewhere.

CANADA

COLORADO
CAL'FORN|A

Jackson

_ - =--1

rrn tha

Thisqlobe
shot\)s
,lherc
theUnited
Stt esat',\meric6
aresituated

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,8.

Blues scales and blue notes

mostAmerican
Bythe l9th century,
and European
But
musicwasbasedon majorand minorscales.
in partsof Africa,a lot of musicwasbasedon
other scales.Somehad fewernotes,and some
notesthat wereslightlyloweror
scalescontained
or European
music.This
higherthanin American
affectedblues,whichdevelopedamongAfricansin
lt is one reasonwhybluessounds
America.
differentfrom other music.
playa C majorscale,
To hearthe difference,
followedby the main notesof a bluesscale.
C moiotsfile

of
moinnol?s
bluesscale

notes
Bluesmusicians
alsoplaysomeindividual
in the
Forexample,
of the bluesscaledifferently.
theymightmake
bluesscaleyou havejustplayed,
the E flatand B flat sounda bit higher,nearerto E
and B. Noteslikethis arecalledbluenotes.They
malor
makethe musicsoundas if it is "between"
and minorkeys.Thismaybe whybluesmusicfeels
sador "blue".
Because
thereis no noteon the piano
betweenE flat and E. it is easiestto hearthe
effectof blue notes if you sing them. Playthe
bluesscaleagain,and singeachnote.Makethe
E flat and B flat a bit higher(playE flat and E,
then try to sing betweenthe two notes).You can
do this on a guitar too, by "bending"the strings
(seepage 35).To find out how to imitate blue
noteson a piano,see page28.

Walking
BIues
) =s2
5

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frl

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l.

2.

Blues rhythms
Whenplayingblues,it is veryimportantto keepa
steadyrhythm.Thispiecewill help you to practise
this. Trylearningthe left-handpart first,making
sureyou playthe crotchetrhythmveryevenly.
Onceyou cando this, add the right hand notes
overthe top, countingcarefully.Trynot to speed
up or slowdown.

In a bluesband,the rhythmis usuallykeptsteady

by the drummerand bassplayer.ln WalkingBlues,
the left handpart imitatesthe steadypulseof a
doublebassplayer,whichis knownas a walking
very
bass.If you playthe left handof WalftirqBlues
quaver
rhythmsin the rightwill be
evenly,the
easierto olav.

Busp- Blues

Syncopation
you haveto play someof the notes
ln BusrlBlues,
on unusualbeatsof the bar.Thisis called
is an importantpart of
Syncopation
syncopation.
blues,becauseit makesthe musicveryrhythmic
and energetic.It needspractice,but it will become
easieronceyou arefamiliarwith how it sounds.
Trytheseplayinghints:

part,thenfit the righthand

Learnthe left-hand
overthe top.Workout the rhythmscarefully,
especially
the restsandtied notes.Playevenly,
withoutrushingor forcingthe rhythm.Listen
so thatyou learn
to the syncopations,
carefully
howtheysound.Themoreyou playBusqBlresthe
easierit will become.

ft'

e'

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a)

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p

dim.
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1

23

Triplets
ln LazqDaqBlLrs,
you haveto playthreequaversin
the spaceof two. Thefigure3 abovethe first two
groupsof quavers
tellsyou to do this.Thesign
sim.overthe thirdgroupmeansyoucontinueto
playtripletquavers
throughout
the piece.Many
bluestuneshavea tripletrhythm.Tripletsmake
slowpiecesIikethis one feelrelaxed,
but theycan
alsoadd urgency
to fastertunes.

Manybluesmusicians
makethe firstquaverof a
triplet groupa little longerand louderthan the
others.Oftenthey also shorten(or "clip")the last
one in the group Thiscreates
a veryexpressive,
"rolling"rhythm.
Youcouldtry this with LazADaaBlues,
onceyou
canplay it. But makesurethat you alwayskeep
the left handcrotchetbeatsabsolutelyregular.

The Origins of Blues

rom the I 7th century

A new freedom
onrva
rds.millionsof A[ricans
rveretakenby forceto the
ln 1820a lawwaspassedbanning
statesof America.
Southern
They lhe rlavelrade.No moreslaves
w e r es o l da ss l a v e sm, a i n l yt o t h e werebroughtto America.
ownersof cottonplantations.
Gradually
slaveswereset free By
Bluesdeveloped
in the l9th
1850therewereovera million
( c - 1 . . ' v- m o - p . . : v e .a n d t h e i r
clescendants.

r.^^l

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i^

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TL^.

l r e e o s l a v e st n A m e n c a t f e y s e l

The African slavetrade

Someof thesestylesof
musicarestillfoundin
partsof Afrrcatoday.
Al ricafi n1Ltsida!$
IodaLl
this man is plaLjut,l(:l
drum matlt fron lheskin

afa fruitcalled
arrourd \

u p t h e i ro w nc o m muni t i e s ,
churchesand
s c h o o l sI n l 8 6 t
afterthe endof the
American
CivilWar,
was
slavery
outlawed
altogether.
HMMGIOB$
As the
population [ *
oi liberated

$n2{){D

Slaves
weretaken
from manycountries
in AfricaWhenthey
reached
the United
Statesof America,
familieswereoften
splitup and sentto
d ifferentpartsof the
This was
country.
largelybecauseslave
s o d i dt h e
ownerswanteoto
demandlor
w!t' r''TALBdta
mr<i.
.l: n.ino
makeit difficult for
|l53
JJpr
t
|'n
themto organize
andotherforms
revolts.
As a result,
of entertainment
An 6dr|tli\e 1enlofferino
slavesin eachareahad
Cradually,
blues
t110nfq
l0t sttt|es
different
cultures,
evolvedfromthe
languages
and religions,
and
different
typesof musicthat slaves
wereforcedto adoplLheEnglish hadused.Themostimportantof
language
religion
lLere ware 'el pio r< n' rcic wotk
and Christian
of theirowners.
songsand hollers.lThereare
examples
of thesestyleson the
nexttourpages,
andyoufindout
moreoboultLembeloll Theres
moreaboutthe entertainment
music
of freedslaveson pagesl6
.e
..-n--i
( x:@
4
a n d 1 7).

050[0LtAls!

sG*$*$$R"!

uub.uuu.uuuuHu
#:pE\

fthilhftfthh$if,ft=-dw
Religiousmusic

Slaveswereencouragedto
adoptthe Christian
religion.
A llktnaf [10\,t,
A|ri.an slavesutrc pttcked
ilto I/ri .arqadech0f a slav lradels ship

AFion

werenot usuallyallowed
Slaves
to organize
theirown social

s l a v e - o w n e r s ,o t h e y d e v e l o p e d

ovpnl-<

R||f ihcv

oftpn

m:dp

hnwo,,ar

ihA\,

\r,Ara n^r

allowedto attendchurchwith
theirown formsof worship.
q . m c t r m p q t h p v r r < c dt h c

musicto accompany
and songsof white
themselves prayers
American
Protestants
whiletheywereworking,
or for
but more
purposes.
religious
Thismusic
oftentheyinvented
theirown.
Oneof theirmostpopular
formedthe basisof the blues.lt
wasinfluenced
by the stylesof
methodsof prayerwasknownas
response.
Thiswas
musicof theirhomeland,
Africa, call-anda n da l s ob yt h e m u s i ct h es l a v e s probablybasedon similartypesof
in Africa.
hadheard in America.
songthatoriginated

TIisi,r,(trirnra,rl
adlled
d
balafon
is
a
tuw
al
rL
opltotle
'th( pl\Lt(
hittfit sttipsof
u'00.1
u'itlr[rr',itf
rs
Theri,1q-shaul
d
papular
fotn ol u,orship
an,1
dance
amonq
Alrican
Ameicans,
a1
orryinald
Wfsf A/,'i.d

ln call-andrespon
se prayers,
the
p r e o . L e rS d r g < e c l : o n 5o l d t u n e .
dr u

Lr c rulBrctsdl

uLr )o

g d

r e p l y .I n t h e l 9 t h c e n t u r y t, h i s w a s
o f t e n d o n e t o a c c o m p a n ya d a n c e
c a l l e da r i n g - s h o u w
t , h i c ha l s o
o r i g i n a t e di n A f r i c a .A g r o u p o f
s i n g e r ss t o o d i n a c i r c l e ,t h e n
m o v e dr o u n d ,s i n g i n ga n d
c l a p p i n gi n t i m e t o t h e m u s i c

A s f r e e ds l a v e ss e t u p t h e i r
o w n c hu r c h e s ,t h e y o r g a n i z e d
c h o i r st o s i n g t h e i r o w n r e l i g i o u s
m u s i c .B y t h e I a t e l 9 t h c e n t u r y ,
t h e r ew e r et h o u s a n d so f c h o i r s ,
a n d a n e w t y p e o f r e l i g i o u ss o n g
t h e s p i r i t u aI , h a d b e c o m e
p o p -l " I \ ^ i r ' A l r i , " n A n e . i r a n
S o n r es p i r i t u aI c h o i r sb e c a m e
v e r yw e l l - k n o w na,n d m a n yb l u e s

performers
had
theirfirst
contactwith
musrctnrougn
churchchoirs
S o m eb l u e s
musicians,
especially
t h o s ei n
countryareas,
i n c l u d ead
selection
of
relio orrc cons<

workparty calledout a command,

andthe workers
shoutedor sanga
replyin rhythm.Thishelpedthem
to keepin tlmewitheachotheras
theyworked.
Convi(ls
lrcn a prisan
campbrcakinqra.hs

Hollers
" H o i l e f i s A m e r i c a ns l a n gf o r
" s h o u t " .H o l l e r sw e r e n o t

intheir
perform
ances.

Thelish lubil.eStnqes.tl lapular

) 9th cenlLtrqspi rilual .hair

c o m p l e t es o n g s ,b u t s h o r t
f r a g m e n t so f w o r d sa n d m u s i c l n
( o u n u ) d r e d ' .\ , \ o r k e l-sa g t h e ' .
h o l l e r sa l o n e a s t h e y w o r k e d ,o r
Work songs
w h i l e w a l k i n gh o m e f r o m t h e
Peoplehavealwaysusedmusic
fi e l d s S o m e
A baqbrihqhq
songsandchantsto maketheir
w o r K e r sa t s o
reltesh,,/ttnt
ta peaple
u,arhuqtn Ihe fields
worklessboringandto keepin
u s e dh o l l e r s
time rvitheachother.Slaves
and
t o c a l lt o
nlher wn"l e.. rle r, nnpd .n-, ir
e a c ho t h e r ,
rhythmicchantscalledworksongs s e n d i n g
l o r u o r d i - ae l r e r ro r i o ^ . d u r i ^ g m e s s a g e s
the hard,physical
workthat they
fromone
hadto do.Thesetasksincluded
f i e l dt o t h e

fellingtreesandwood-chopping,
layingtrackson the railroad,
dockwork, cropp i c k j n ga n d
b r e a k i n gr o c k s
I nere were
d i i f e r e n ts o n g s
t o s ui t t h e
a c l l o n so t e a c n
typeof iob.
W o r ks o n g s
u su al l y h a d
s t r o n gr h y t h m s
and were often
b a s e do n c al l | le

leaderof a

Many
singers
c o u l db e
by their

,.

and-response
vdLLcr|-

NEXI

l9lh (tnlurq v'arfu$

latltnqrailroadtracks

d i s t i n c t i v eh o l l e r s w h i c h t h e y
l y u s i n gs p e c i a l
m a d ep e r s o n a b
s i n g i n gt e c hn i q u e s .T h e s ei n c l u d e d
y o d e l l i n g( aI t e r n ai tn g r a p i d l y
b e t w e e nh i g h a n d l o w n o t e s ) ,
f a l s e t t o( hi g h - p i t c h e ds i n g i n g ) a
, nd
g l i s s a n d(is l i d i n g )T h e s ec a l l sa r e
f o r e r u n n e ro
s f t h e v e r yp e r s o n a l
. rle- O' o-p b ue-petlO.-teL i k e e a r l yf i e l d w o r k e r s m
, a n yb l u e s
. i n p e " \ r . ei r - - n t v r e ,n p - z - l - l e
b y t h e w a y t h e y s r n go r p l a y .

=92

+
oh

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l,ord -

show

7t*

tt

nle the way

to

*t

ta

pro-mised taii.

the

:--

+
oh

Lord

ttt
nle the way

show

tt

t*

ta\-/

to

pm-mised

land.

the

:--

aJ

J'

ia

\:

lrok to -wards Jor-dan tell me \{+latdo you

see?-

- +?

:-\

gold - en
t

char- i - ot
Oz

coriling for

me.

13

+
oh

Irrd

show

z?t

,,

me the way

to

the

*t

*8

pro trrised

land.

:---...

Slavesand freedom
"Thepromisedland"is a commonphrasein
Mostspirituals
werebasedon bible
spirituals.
stories.The lewishpeople'sreleasefrom slaveryin
Egyptwasa populartheme.Forthem.the
promisedlandwasIsrael.ForAfricanslaves,
the
phrasehad two meanings.It referredto the ideaof
heaven,
andto the possibility
of beingfreedfrom
slaveryon Earthtoo.

Playing this tune

Landis a call-and-response
song(see
ThePromised
pagel0). Thefirst two barsof eachline would be
sungby a preacher.
The nexttwo barsarethe
response.
Whenyou can playthis
congregation's
tune,try singingit, on yourown or with friends.
play or
To get the effectof call-and-response,
preacher's
part
make
the
loudly.
Then
the
sing
part
quieter.
reply
congregation's

=84

It s a

long

It s a

let ter

frorn

my

l L r n g-

bro

ther

,'-/
conle

honre'

\reah

so I nl

ln

here

andInl

know mv nlo,

ther's

home. -

by

l o n e .-

tne

front

cloor for

me to cortc

--'
home.

in the

holes

get

I got

to

inv

soles ol

fr_ont

mv

door

My

shoes,

\\'hen Iin

home.

About this tune

Becou>e
On rnAWau
Ham?
i. a ' o ler lseepdgeI | |
it wouldhavehad no accompaniment.
Youcan
singit, playit on a melodyinstrumentor useone
handon the piano.Takecarewiththe rhythms.

Icct

will

be

l,ornr. -

sore

whcn

hom..

Recordingthe past
Today,workersno longersinghollers.However
we
knowwhattheysoundedIikefromearlyrecordings
of fieldworkers.
Theseweremadein Mississippi
in
the 1940s
by American
iolk-song
researchers.

Working in rhythm
S o m ew o r l ,> o n g s l.i k et h e o n e o p p o . i L eh d d q u i l e
s l o w r h y t h m s .T h e yw e r e m e a n tt o h e l p w o r k e r sl i f t
h e a v ya x e so r h a m m e r sb e t w e e nt h e m a i n b e a t s .
were faster Slaves
Others like FollowtheLeader.
s a n gt h e m t o e n t e r t a i nt h e m s e l v e sw h i l e t h e y
w o r k e d ,a n d t o m a k et h e r r j o b s l e s sb o r i n g .T h e
. o ' T r n " o lne d t u l eo l a l l w o r ks o n g ri . t h e i rs t r o n g
e n e r g e t i cb e a t ,w h i c h l a t e r b e c a m eo n e o f t h e
m o s t i m p o r t a n tp a r t so f t h e b l u e s s t y l e .

Playingthis tune
TryplayingFallow
theLeader
as a duet,with a
likea violinplayingthe top
melodyinstrument
l i n e .O r p l a yi t a sa p i a n os o l o- a st h et o p l i n e
with the bottomtwo,it canbe
hardlyoverlaps
playedwithoutleavinganynotesout. Or to get
effect,playjustthe
the propercall-and-response
make
the rhythmssound
bottom
lines.
To
top and
play
Ds
in bars2 4.6and
the
repeated
energetic,
8 witha slightaccent.

Your

axe

is

fin - gers

hea \'y aJ)d your

hurt-

when youre

)HOP) Just

chop-pin

wood.

There s no

time

to

think you got

to

IHOPII Just

chop pjn'

IHOPI) Just

chop-pin

tLt

wood.

Be

it

Christ , mas

Eve

or

the

mid dle

of

May

when you're

I2

-\-/wood. -

You'll work lrom Cawn un

til

the

end of

Work songs
Thisis a worksong,and wouldhavebeensungby
a leaderand a chorus.Playit on the pianofirst,
a n dw h e -y o ua r ef a m r l r awri r hl h e I u n e .s i n gr h e
words.Woodthopper's
WorftSongwjll sound most
effectiveif it is sungby a group.Picka leaderto
p h r a s ea,n dg e tt l - eo t h e ' sr o s i n g
s r n gl h e o p e n i n g
t h ec h o r u s :l u s tc h o p p i nw o o d C l a p s. r a m po. r
youseerhe
banga tambourine
or drum,wherever
word"CHOP!".
Thiswill helpyou keepin rhythm.

day

when you re

IHOP!) Just chop pin

,t700d,

Recording the past

Likehollers,worksongsslowlydiedout in the first
halfof the 20thcentury,
mainlybecause
mostof
the traditionallabouringjobs weretakenoverby
machines.
Bythe 1940s,
theyonlysurvived
among
Blackinmatesof prisoncamps.Thesepeoplewere
forcedto do hardphysical
workas a punishment.
Manyworksongswererecordedin prisonsby
(peoplewho studythe historyand
musicologists
development
oFmusic),as lateas the 1960s.

The First Blues

Minstrel hits
t hroughvariouskindsof
inmentsand shows.
enterta
Youcanfindout moreabout
thesebelow.Pagesl8-23
of the
showexamples
diflerenttypesof musicthat
playedand
showperformers
madepopular.

Minstrel shows
Minstrelshowsbecame
verypopularin the second
halfof the l9th century
the
Minstrelgroupsperformed
songsanddancesof
traditional
plantation
and
slavesat theatres
concerthallsall overthe
country.Theseshowsoften
and
comicsketches
contained
otheractstoo.
Il;is pi o't ol Lt minstrelgtuLtpclllledthe
u,ssllhen ltun 4 copu
Elfti0pi4xSc/p,riiddrs
ol |hei t[e 'nusi(. publithedin lB47

I
Thefirstsuccessfu
minstreltune waslump
linrCrou,,by Thomas
D. Rice.lt wasbased
on a songhe had
heardin the Iate1820s.
T/risiilustr"tiorurds
I6kcnf[on lh. evr al
u shctl-hlusietd,itiar
o/ T/1ofl.rsD Ri.d's
'lump
lin Cto\ti

Theearli-^st
lngs
knownrecord
musicby
of AfricanAmerican
AfricanAmericans
areof minstrel
banjo playingby IamesandCeorge
Bohee,madein Londonabout
1890.No copiesof theserecords
haveyet beenfound,but we know
aboutthemfromadvertisements.
Bythe endof the l9th century,
hugesolesof the sheetmustcfor
the
minstreltunesdemonstrated
styles popularity

a b o u t a d y i n gg a m b l e r ,c a l l e dS t .
lamess lnfirmarqBlues.
S o m e b a l l a d st o l d o f h e r o e s ,
real and legendaty.C6seU
lones
i s b a s e do n t h e l i f e o [ a r e a l
t r a i n d r i v e r .H e d i e d o n A p r i l 2 9 ,
i ,h e nt h e
1 9 0 0i n M i s s i s s i p pw
t r a i n h e w a s d r i v i n gc o l l i d e dw i t h
a f r e i g h tt r a i n .O r d e r i n gh i s b l a c k
lireman Sim webb to iump from
t h e c a b J o n e ss t a y e do n b o a r d t o
a p p l yt h e t r a i n s b r a k e sr i g h t u p
to the momentof impact.
T h e b a l l a d l o h nH e n r l jt,h eS t e *
D r i u i nM
' a n ,w h i c h t e l l s t h e s t o r y
of a fatal battle betweena steeld r i v e ra n d a m a c h i n e ,m a y b e
b a s e do n a n a c t u a lw o r k e ro n t h e
C h e \ d p e a k e . r dO hi o l a i l r o " di r
W e s tV i r g i n i ai n
the 1870s.

Songsters
As wellas minstrelsongs,early
performed
material
bluessingers
musrcal
from manydifferent
Blacksingersin
traditions.
rural areasoftenadapted
were folkandcowboysongsas
Thefirstminstrelperformers
white,but afterthe Civilwar,
w e l la so l d b a l l a dtsh a tt h e y
Ratlroadballadsnercaften
beganto form learnedfrom immigrants
AfricanAmericans
pefiormedbg sonqskrs
theirown minstrelgroups.They
who hadcometo Americafrom
dl ove'
becaneverysucLP.siul
wereknown
Europe.
Thesesingers
B a l l a d sw e r en o t o n l y a b o u t
the UnitedStatesof America.
. nesong
as songsters.
h e r o e sa n d h e r o i n e sO
Manyearlybluesmusicians,
Oneof the mostfamous
t e l l s o f a g a m b l e rc a l l e dS t a c k
i n c l u d i nW
g .C . H a n d y( s e eS t a r
rs wasHuddieLedbetter O L e e ,w h o s h o t a n d k i l l e da n
songste
File)sangminstrelsongsand
whobecameknownas Leadbelly o p p o n e n t ,B i l l y L y o n s .T h e b a l l a d
tookpartin minstrelshows.
( s e eS t a rF i l e )H
. e i s s a i dt o h a v e
F r a n k iaen dl o h n n i tes t h o u g h t t o
minrtrel
hit
than
500
songs.
W
C
.
HandLis
known
more
h a v eb e e n i n s p i r e db y a w o m a n
Tlr. iJr.ft-,!sir for
t'tritlenlar
Lard vritlen
l,rfTffrr.r Blfifs dnd"Di{iett Lard
la)
Bru.rnt MirrstrPk

Songsters'ballads
Manysongster
balladsweredrawn
from Europeanfolk songs Tllc
Rdfre,
a Britishballad
unfortunate
an
abouta dyingsoldier,became
American
cowboysong,
Laterit
TheDqingCor,6oq.
becamea bluessong

, ho
n a m e d F r a nk i e B a k e r w
l
o
v
e
t
,
A
l
b e r lB r t t ti n
m u r d e r e dh e r
i
n
1
8
99
st. Louis october
Tla slrr?l-fl?fijrr
lor
'Slach Let ba
O
Fxf,r_rLel('is.ri i!,pirdl
so,r4sl?rs[]ali.id

Tent shows
Rp<idA< <a\noctcr<

^ther

performers
helpedto popularize
earlybluesin theAmerican
South.
Tentshowsmovedfromtown to
town,settingup in marquees
for a
fewnightsin eachplaceThemost
famoustent showwasSilas
Creen's
RabbitFootMinstrels,
fromNewOrleans.
Manytent showperformers
werewomenwho sangabout life
and its problems.
Theywereoften
accompanied
by smallbandsof
musicians.
IdaCox(seeStarFile)
wd) d wel knOwntent showsinoPr

A posler
adrertisinq
tht
RdhrrtFodl
Minslr'els
t
taurinqshou,

Medicine shows
Afterthe American
CivilWar,
manydoctorstouredthe country
Theybroughtwiththemspecial
medicines
of theirown invention,
whichtheyclaimedcouldcurea
widerangeof ills.To attractand
entertain
customers,
they
shows.
Many
organized
early
bluessingers
tookpartin these
medicine
shows.
Crcwdsqalheraraunda da(Laf
s waqoh
lo v,alchlhefreeutarlahnehl

BluessingerldaCox
( 1896-| 967)loineda
minstrelshowasa
in theatres by the ageof 14.
With her nasal,resonant singing
style, she performed in a very
traditional style.

Shecomposed
manyof her
own songsincludinglda Coxt
LawdyLowdyBluesandI'veGot
the Nuesfor RomportStreet.She
is consideredby manyto be one
of the finesteverfemaleblues
singers.

knownasthe Fatherof the

Blues.He beganhis careerasa
cornet soloisttouringwith
Mahara'sMinstrels.Laterhe led
playing
a bandin Mississippi,
ragtime(seepage22) and
minstrelmusic.
He published
manysongs,
( l9l2)
including
Blues
Memphis
( l9l4), which
andSeLouis
Elues
were the first widelysuccessful
bluestunes.

LEADBELLY
Leadbelly(Huddie
Ledbetter,1889-1949)
was a guitarist and
singer.By the ageof
I5 he was a famousmusicianin
L o u i s i a n ab ,u t i n l 9 l 8 h e w a s
sent to Drisonfor murder.
In the 1930s,JohnLomax,a
collector of folk songs,
discoveredLeadbellyin jail.He
arrangedfor Leadbellyto be
releasedand beganrecording
songs,includingHoneyI'm AllOut
andDown(l 935) and Goodnight
lrene( 1943).

J = rOO-1O8

ii
nw

The minstrel tradition

AfricanAmerican
singers
and
In the late 1860s,
groups.
minstrel
began
forming
their
own
dancers
Thesequicklybecamemorepopularthanthe
Theyperformed
earlierwhiteminstrelperformers.
playsand comicsketches
basedon plantationlife,
musicas wellas songs
andoftenusedreligious
and dancetunes.Bythe 1890s,
blackminstrel
showshad becomepopularall overAmerica.

I Fine

Minstrel tunes
Theearlywhiteminstrels
basedtheirsongson
simpleEuropean
dancetunesof the l8th century
Later,blackminstrels
addedAfricanAmerican
rhythmsand madethe melodiesmoreelaborate.
Sometimes
theyalsoaddedcall-and-response
(see
pagel0) likethe onesin this tune.
sections
gently,but makesureyou
PlayTheHappqMinstrcl
rhythmsstrictlyin time.
keepthe syncopated

The first blues songs

in the first
Thestylewe nowcallbluesdeveloped
decadeof the 20thcenturyamongtent-show
songsters
and minstrels.
singers,
Mostof thesepeopledid not readmusic,so
theymadeup wordsandtunesas theywentalong.
Thisis calledimprovisation.
As the startingpoint
musicians
oi bluesimprovisation,
usedstandard
patternsof chordsand rhythms,
calledblues
progressions.
Theseprogressions
werewell-known
b y l 9 l 0 b u l m a yh a v ee x i s t e ldo n gb e l o r et h i s

How blues progressionswork

Hound
DoqBlires
usesa progression
knownas a l2barblues.It is a patternof chordsbasedon the
first,[ourthand fifthnotesof a majorscale,lasting
twelvebars.Belowyou can seethesechordson
the scaleof G major.shownby the Roman
numeralsI, IV and V.

Bluesprogressions
canbe playedin anykey,but
theyarealwaysbasedon the chordsbuilt on the
first,fourthand fifthnotesof a scale.The l2-bar
progression
repeats
chordsI, IV andV, one chord
perbar,in a strictorder,overtwelvebars.Below
you canseehowthis worksin G major(thechord
numbersareshownin brackets
aftereachnote).
b a r sl ' 4 :

C (l) C (lV) C (l) C (l)

bars5-8: C(lV) C(lV) C(l)

C(ll

b a r s 9 - 1 2 :D ( V l C ( l v l G ( l ) C ( 1 )
Manybluestunes,includingHound
DogBlaes,
use
this pattern,or otherssimilarto it. But no two
bluestunessoundalike.Eachmusicianusesthe
patternas the startingpointfor improvisation,
on pages6-9,blue
addingthe features
described
notes,syncopations,
and morecomplexchords
Laterin the bookthereis
basedon bluesscales.
moreaboutthis,andabouthowto improvise.

, =84
5

f
ta

ta

ta

ta

ta

Recordingthe past
weresomeof the firstpopular
Songsters
Recordings
fromthe
musicians
to be recorded.
l a a O <h v - ^ ' n e o f r h e o l d e r n l r s l L l d r 5 ,) u c h a <

tuneswould
showus howsongster
HenryThomas,
Thomas
havesoundedin the late l9th century.
theSteeldrivin
his versionof lohnHenrq
recorded
Mantn 1927,playingbothguitarand reedpipes.

L r l . en " n . l e l < . n ' d n \ e d r l y \ o n g \ L e r : p l d y F d b d n o

But slowlythe guitarbecamemorecommonand

popularamongbluesmusicians.
Like
it remained
wereaccompanied
minstrels,
someearlysongsters
by othermusiciansBut likemanybluessingers,
performed
mostsongsters
aloneto theirown
gulIaraccompanrn.renr

Playingthis tune
TrySangsler
s Tlireon the pianof.rst Countvery
carefully,
takingcarenot to rushthe syncopations.
Whenyouarefamiliarwrthit, youcouldask
especially
a
someone
witha melodyinstrument,
violin,to playthe top line.

16

a)

f
ta

ta

ta

ta

From ballads to blues

in Europe.
Manysongsters'ballads
originated
Theywereoftenveryslmplefolk tuneswith basic
quite
harmonies.
Theywerealsorhythmically
as they wereoften basedon the
straightforward,
rhythmsof Europeanfolk dances.Thefirst pageof
bailad
s|ngste(s
Tuneis typicalof an earlysongster
with European
origins.

Songsters
addedAfricanAmericanfeaturesto the
ballads.
Theyusedsyncopation,
flattened
notes
fromthe bluesscalelseepage6),and highly
ornamented
vocallines.Thisgaveballadsa new
character,
makingthemoneof the mostdirect
forerunners
of blues Youcanhearthis on the
secondpageof Songsler's
Tune.

+.

nw

di nt.

*l

/ t+t

4
3l

'ba

c re,tc.

a=
f

t6
=1

a)

nw
l-l_l-!

Rags and ragtime

Anotherforerunnerof blues,ragtimewasa dance
("ragged")
rhythms
musicbasedon the syncopated
of AfricanAmericanmusic.It developedat the very
mainlyout of the dances
endof the l9th century,
and marcheswrittenfor minstrelshows.Unlike
songsters'
balladsand otherpopularmusicstyles
of the period,ragtimepieceswereoftenwrittenby
trainedcomposers.

ln ragtime,the irregularsyncopations
of African
"smoothed
gradually
American
musicwere
out"
into a fewstandardrhythmicpatterns.The most
commonof theseappearsthroughoutDimeRag,
in bars5 and6.
and firstappears
Today,ragtimeis usuallythoughtof as a styleof
pianomusic,but therewerealsoragsfor bands
and manyragtimesongs.
andorchestras,

Playing DimeRag
Tryplayingthe left handon its own a fewtimes
untilyoucangetthe quaverbeatssteadyand
even.Thenadd in the righthand,countingthe
Playsmoothly,
and don't
carefully.
syncopations
be temptedto rush.

26
t

a)

-,J

--

na

-=

C T CS C .

ta

ota

3I

dzz

=
dim.

C T ES C .

Ragtimefirst reachedthe generalpublicat the

Exposition,
a tradefairthat
World'sColumbian
20 million
1893.
Over
place
in
in
Chicago
took
peoplevisitedthe event,andwereableto hearthe
musicfor the firsttime.It rapidlybecamepopular
Therewerea numberof
the country.
throughout
BenHarney,
including
famousragcomposers,
Scottloplinand lamesScott.

Thehugepopularity
of ragtimehelpedearlyblues
W. C. Handy'sMenpftis
to reacha wideraudience.
publishedin l9l2 with the subtitle"A
Blues,
SouthernRag',wasone of the firstgenuineblues
all overAmerica.
tunesto becomesuccessful
Ragtimewasgoingout of fashionby the startof
WorldWarI, but by this time blueswasan
styleof popularmu:ic.
established

Beeording
he manresponsible
forthe
fir<f hlrrr.<rprn rd ino< ur.r<

the Blues

Establ'I-edperfo"ners
d so p dyed
a partin bringingnewartiststo the

Race records

pianistandcomposer
Perry
Manycompanies
maderecords
Bradfordln t920 L o n n i el o h n . o no c t u a l lw
d s specially
l orkea
for the AfricanAmerican
he convinced talent scoutsthemselves
market.
Thesewereknownas 'race
theoKeh
records(blackAfrica
ns at that
A growing industry
recording
timeottenreferred
to themselves
c o m p a n yt h a t I n t h ee a r l y1 9 2 0 sn e wb l u e s
as "theRace) Theyweremarketed
,,,^.-.
,,^! ^r ^ -^, ^ ^r
"^-^"-J
wherever
therewasa largeAfrican
l a r g em ar k e t aboutonea week.Fewpeoplehad A m e r i c apno p u l a t i o n
u s uaI l y
radjosso buyingrecords
for blues
wasthe
throughlocalrecordstores,
wayto hearnervblues
records. easiest
newspapers
and magazines
songs.Theearliestbluesrecordings
Other
known
c o m p a n r e sweremadeusinga process
as acousticrecording.
s o on
r-rrdin. Sn'ne ' tch ac o tl4.tcL

followed
O K e hs
example

-lt)
rrlrifi, fi! /iaduslia,'rao
rtlittt. pCrlarmt rs
pldltLl rtr safu1irto a ldtLtrhn 'lhis uued
tJr.(lif irsrdr,lrlf /ro[nto fil,,irlr

Ti('/ir,il l,lrft's,?nrd\ ritr? r,tdd.

[,u ldr.]aoi?.Uri:.tli(,,r\iral .jj
Pirranrourri
\,iitor',irr,loK.h

'T,&
@:

Recordingartists
N4ost
earlybluesrecordings
were
madeby musicians
whoworked
in revues
and tentshowsSome
recordcompanies
simplywaited
fortalentedpeopleto arriveat
thprr <i||di-q

<e:rr-hino for.:n

lrnnn rt rrn ifv tf] re.nrd

Oihpr<

p a i d l o c a la g e n t st o l i s t e nt o
^^iant,r

I norfnrmor<

ih,.l

rhon

Blur'sltoriis ur,r'r'so[]
lrrrrrriti/,'l1,'r'
T l | l ' l r r u r x r r s a o j U k a l f dl o d d ( ' r i a fa ( l l d d r l l 1 1 , , r ! l
i l l , h i s T i l . f i [ , r d t j , r 4r l i , , r d i l t , l i r f s t ! , L i s . i r f d
4,'00rf irr c .lrs. ntadcof tt rtsit cclltri slrellac

llt)Tfiqlr athtli)alari\

Bluesformeda largepartof the

racerecorocatalogues,
especlally
l u s i c i a nl isk e
t h e m u s i co f r u r a m
Weaver
Sylvester
and Papa
CharljeJacksonBut racerecords
werealsomadeby theatreand
jazzmusicians,
revueperformers,
preachers
and religious
and
si n g e r s .

sentmobilerecording
unitsto
recordthem.Theagents
appointedby recordcompanies
w e r eu su al l y w h i t eb u s i n e s s m e n ,
p a r l . c - l d r l oy ,a l ' e c o r dd e " . r
New record companies
w h ok n e ww h a tk i n do i m u s i c
liked.
t heirblackcustomers
1942,
the American
Federation
'liris
'jL1ri4ri,r'i ln
l,r(rslar'.1rsa
Lr,.i\
us,lil{rlr1)(ilaa
Someagentsbecameexpert
Musicians,
America
of
s largest
u?,?ltrr5n'.i
/lirrrru/iialirrrrilrln(ri ar)ltr,'\
talentscouts.Henry
organizationof professional
Snicr< : mll<i. <fnrP
performers,
begana
ownerin Jackson
riicn rrip urlih iha
Mi s s i sisp p i ,w a s
malorrecord
respon
siblefor
.^m^rniac
i^
rpcnrd rno lhrcp nf
win betterpay
the greatest
andconditions
Mississippi
blues
for its members.
performers
Son
It banned
H o u s eS, k i pl a m e s ,
memoers
from
andCharleyPatton
new
making
A6trlsaftunfaundtal\1ler1 I n t h em i d - 1 9 2 0t sh ea c o u s t i c
record
ings.
pt'tlt)(t11tl's
plaUthq an
systemwasreplaced
by electrical
Mrsiaidns
r r.i
recording,
whichwasciearer
and
ptrfornus fi4hliutl
truerto the originalperlormance. fot hti riltln:

MAMIESMITH
i^

^,J,Ji+i^^

l^

+L:-

-.1,,-.--

tItaoolr on Io Inlc ounnq

-! Ln e

SecondWorldWartherewasa
shortage
of shellacTherecord
companies
usedtheirstockstc
o r e r .r e c o " db. v r h e i .b e - L- e l l r n g
artists Veryfewof these
performers
werebluesmusicia
ns,
..r blue.bepa-to be -eglertedby
manylargerrecord
c o m p a n r e sA. s a
r e s ul t o f t h e s et w o
factors,new,
independent
companies

'dF";$d".

m i d -1 9 4 0 s ,

q-*:.:H%

-^^--1,-i^^i^
>PcL
dlzr

In 1920,
Perry
Bradford wrote two
songs:Ihot lhing
Colled Loveand You
Con't Keepo GoodMon Down.
He persuadedOKeh to allow a
popularbluessinger,Mamie
smith (1883-1946)to record
them. The records attracted a
lot of attention in the black
community.Her secondrecord,
Crozy Bluesand ltt Right Here For
You( | 920) was the first ever
blueshit, selling100,000copies
in a month.

rl

record
ing
olues
a r ti s t s .

Ch.ssChan.ea d vee-lat/
!,trcamo q then r
i ntlI pt 11
deI t recortl labels

W h i l es o m e

establishedartistslike
S o n n yB o yW r l l i a m s o n ,
BrgBill Broonzy
and Memphis
Minniecontinued
to workfor the
m a l o rc o m p a n l em
s a n yy o un g e r
perlo'ner>bega" ei o'drnglol he
newones Bythe 1950s,
labels
<rrrh :< f he<c \/ee-:v
; n r - .l .( : - \ o r
,
dominated
the bluesmarket,and
manypeoplestillassociate
them
r rh Lhefiner blue' recordngs

Bluesrecordingtoday
I n t h e 1 9 5 0 sa n d I 9 6 0 s t, h e
a u d i e n c ef o r b l u e s c o n t i n u e dt o
c h a n g e( s e ep a g e6 2 ) . l t s o r i g i n a l
a u d i e n c ei n A m e r i c ad e c l i n e d ,b u t
b l u e s b e c a m ep o p ul a r e l s e w h e r e
I n d e p e n d e nct o m p a ni e s t o o k
a d v a n t a g eo i t h e n e w a u d i e n c e s ,
i n v e s t i n gi n b l u e s r e c o r d i n gw h e n
m o s t o f t h e l a r g e rc o m p a n i e s
would not. Many independent
c o m p a n i e ss t i l l s u r v i v e ,
c o n t i n u i n gt o f i n d n e w a r t i s t sa n d
p r o m o t et h e i r w o r k .

MaRainey(l 886-| 939)

is knownasthe
Pridgettin Columbus,
Georgia,
she
appearedin the Eunchof
B/ackberies
TolentShowat the age
of 12.Shebecame
a blues,jazzand
vaudeville
singer,
touringwirh rhe
RabbitFootMinstrels
andthen
with her own GeorgiaJazzBand.
Ma Rainey
mademorethan 100
recordingsfor the Paramount
company.Today,her best
remembered
songsareprobably
SeeSeeRider( | 924)and Soonthis
Morning(1927).

B E S S I ES M I T H
BessieSmith,known
as the "Empressof the
B l u e s "( 1 8 9 41- 9 3 7 ) ,
was probablythe most
famousfemalebluessingerof all.
Born in Chattanooga,
Tennessee,
she beganher careersingingin the
sameshowsas lYa Rainey.By the
early 1920s,however,she was the
star of her own shows,and toured
all over America.
Her first recording, Downheorted
Biues( 1923)was an immediatehit.
Her other hits includeJ.CHolmes
8/ues( 1925) and YoungWomon's
8/ues( 1925).

i.

i.fr,.d

1
2
I

4
I

jjuE*

l
I

l
I

2
I

#'.-+'{*,##
I

4
2

Playing this tune

Blues
Swinginq
forT!r0is a duet for a melody
(suchasthe recorder,
instrument
fluteor violin)and
piano.Youcanalsoperformit asa pianosolo,
playingthe top and bottomlinesfrombar5. During
the top-Inerestsin barsI I and 12,youcouldfill in
the gapsby playingthe chordson the middleline

Blue notes on a piano

' l s L o u l dn o t a l t e rt h e p i l (h e . o n d
B u e 5p r d r 5
p i a n o t o p l a y b l u e n o t e s ,b u t t h e y d e v e l o p e dw a y s
. f r m i t r i i n o t h e n i t . h h , . n d c n f. g u l l d f l < - s a 1 0

singersTheydid this by playingtwo notesa

semitoneapartand 'crushing"
themtogetherAs
p
i
a
n
o
nthe1920s
t h eb l u e s
s t y l ed e v e l o p ei d
quickly
becameone of its most
crushednotes
r- \^r'r-t 'F..rtre(, Tharc ire noieS like f ht> in

Cracdull,q
Bluc,shownas smallnote-heads

Playingcrushed notes
Therearetwo waysto playcrushednotes.Fjrsttry
s o u n d i ntgh es m a l ln o t es l i g h t l by e f o r e
t h em a i n
notethat followsit Thentry overlapping
the small
n o t ew i t ht h e m a i no n e s o t h a ty o uh e a rt h e m
togetherIn quiettuneslikeCrctrelall4
Blurthe
o v e r l a sph o u l db e s h o r t B u ti n e n e r g e tti uc n e s ,
piayingthe two notestogetherlor the entirebeat
makesthe musicmorepowerfulTrythis in bars4
and8 of Tweirp-bar
Stridc
on the oppositepage

Stride piano
Thistuneis in a styleknownas stride,which
in Harlem,NewYork,around1910.
and
developed
in the I920s.It is
reached
the peakoI its popularity
\ l - n l . a rlt^O -r^d^ rgi *l^' T l eLO
. J, + Iil -. ll ^d- rs^ -l e rd n o - a S T f Oe
- L e n o > t c l ' i k i n gf e . l u r e
e n e r g e t i.cv n c o p a t r o n T
o f s t r i d ep i a n o i s t h e e l a b o r a t eb a s sl i n e ,w h i c h
h a s w i d e l e a p sa n d d e e p ,e m p h a t i cb a s sn o t e s i n
t h e l e f th a n d .
^:-:l^-

Playinga stride bass

Practise
the lefthandslowly,gettingusedto the
largeleaps.{lt canhelpto "chop the lowestnote
with the sideof yourfifthfingerbut dont hit the
keystoo hard) Thenaddthe righthand Tryto
'ure
p l a yr h et u n ea i t t l el a - t e re a c ht i m e .m a k i n g
you keepthe rhythmsolid.Dont stopif you mrss
the leaps' keepplayingto the end,thengo back
and practise
anybitsyou finddifiicult.

A blues duet
Thistuneis a duetfor two pianiststo playat one
piano.lt will be easierto learnif bothplayers
practiseboth parts.Thiswill makeeachperson
familiarwithwhatthe otherhasto play.PartA is
the higherpart,for the playeron the right.PartB
is the lowerpart,for the playeron the left.To help
you keepin time, counta fewbarsof 4/4together
at the correctspeedbeforeyou startto play.

PartB shouldbe steadyand solid,with a clear,

firm bassline.
Givethe syncopated
chordsin bars
2 and l4 a slightaccentto adda "kick".In partA,
as
try playingthe dottedquavers
and semlquavers
if theyweretripletquaversSplitthe crotchetbeat
into threeinsteadof four,and playthe semiquaver
on the thirdcount.Thismakesthe musicsound
relaxed
at the sametime.
andenergetic

More about improvising

Biues
is a classic
twelve-bar
tune.The
FaurHands
f i r s t . t i mbea r sc o n t a i n
d t u r n a r o u n da' ,p h r a s e
that leadsbackto the starto[ the progres:ion
Thismeansyoucanplaythe l2-barsection
betweenthe repeatsignsas oftenas you like.If
you do this,the personplayingpartA couldtry to
(makeup a newsolopart).On the right
improvise
area fewtipsto helpyoudo lhis.

phrases
Theright-hand
in bars5, 6, 9 and l0 are
called"fills".TheyIinkthe mainsections
of the
yourown fills.Ar firstyou
tune Tryimprovising
couldalterthe rhythmsof the writtenfilis,or
changesomeof the notes.Listencarefully
to the
result.As you becomefamiliarwiththe effectsof
youwill become
changing
the notesand rhythms,
moreconfidentaboutimprovrsrng.

Blues Instruments
luesperformersuseda
varietyof musical
instruments.Someof
theseweretradltiona
lly popular
amongfolkmusicians,
while
otherswerehomemade
for a
particular
purpose.
On page48
youcanfindout aboutthe piano,
whichwasalsopopularwith
bluesplayers

Guitars
Cuitarsareamongthe most
popularbluesinstruments.
Easrlyportableand
reasonably
cheapto buy,
guitars originated
in Mexico
andwereintroduced
to the
USAby Mexican
workers.

Amplified blues
gurtarsbecame
Electric
available
in
the i930s.Theywerepluggedinto
amplifiers
to makethemlouder.
Manybluesmusicians
playedin
noisyclubs,so electric
guitars
quicklybecameimportantto them.

Mandolinsand banios
Ma dahnshar'(d qubt,
dehele soundIh4!
[M|e eiqfl]sltinqs

violin to accompany
b l u e ss i n g e r s .

tL:pe
olquilar d Cibsotl
E5335 hdsbettnplayedbt1nanq
bluesntusicianslikeChuckBerrq

A Htirtiiar|uitat is
plaqetlflat across
th!
kna.t vilh L1nrlal
tubecalledu slide

Cuitarists
alsousedthe neckof a
h^ttlp

^.-i

niora

nf

matil

flha

Violinsweremostlyused
in groupscalledstring
bands,whichwerepopular
in the southandeastof
the USA.Theymarnly
playedfolkand
European
dance
L
m u s i ca, n dg r a d u a l l y I
beganto pertorm
I
ragtime.
the music

$,ffi"ff

-fhit

Bluesmusicians
used
gultarsto producea
varietyof sounds.A
knifebladedrawn
alongthe strings
produced
a whining
sound.Thiswasprobably
inspiredby a typeof
guitar calledthe
Hawaiian
gultar.

Violins

Harmonicas

netnlhrtx( TheUusuallLl
havea vooden
bachto make
IhesouldIo d

andolrnw
s ,hi c ho r i g i nlal y
tame from ltaly,wereoften used
by bothearlybluesplayers
and
Southern
stringbands
Thebanio,an instrument
of
Africanongin.waspopularwith
mi n s t r e lasn ds t r i n gb an d s .

Somebluesbandsused
harmonicas knownas blues
harpsA harmonica
hasthe same
rangeas a violin,but is cheaper,
moreportableandeasierto learn
A,harmanica
is a sndll
rilir flrr,trilft'r'ds

Homemadeinstruments
M a n yb l u e sm u s i c i a n s
especia
lly thosein poor
ruralareas.madetheirown
instruments
froma selection
of everyday
objects.

oitenwornon one finger,to

producethiseffect.'Bottleneck
^. -li..l^ ^l^.,i-- '-^--*^
^
!/r rluc prdynrg usLd||rE d

widespread
technique
among
bluesguitarists.

bollleucck

nelal idaas. usedIo ttb

dothes.
BUIbUlapptuqlhe
ridqtsultilewearin1
Lhimbles
slide

A nod.nl
rio/i,r

ll tstr.id
danultlIh( lipsawj
blot\'nta uakt a soutld

CHARLEY PATTON
fug bands
In the I920s,groupscalledjug
They
bandsbecamepopular.
playedhomemade
instruments
inciudingthe largeearthenware
jugsthat contained
beeror wine.

MNMPHTS dUG BAND

"."{:,3""*;..J;[' ""*iifri
"*{{"}\T:i,l::Yilr,$]

lht M llphisltlg B6nd

Thereweretwo maingroupsof jug

bands,thosebasedaround
M e m p h i .T e f f e s s eaen dt h o . ei n
L o u r s vl ei .K e n t u c kIyn M e m p h i s .
the bandswerefairlyprimitive,
but
bandswereoften
the Louisville
moresophisticated.
Bothgroups
werestronglyinfluenced
by
jazz
minstrels
andemployed
players
andothermusiciansThey
includedbluestunes waltzes,
-,,-i-

L-

-^-^-^l
)ur g> olu

^^^
t-"
PUpuLdl

songsin their performances

()tE ncmtitrsot'thisitlq bana
isplagtinq
a homuude

/fr\
Ftfq

(t882chartev
Paaon
le34)
worked
aiound

\@/ ?"::ti];iiliffi:'."
Tennessee,
and hatedthe discipline
of olantationIife.
Patton had a gruff, unpolished
singingvoice.He useda
bottleneck,sometimesplayingthe
guitaracrosshis knees,Hawaiian
style.His recordingsfor the
Paramountlabelincludedsongster
tunes like Frankieand Albert(1929)
and soirituals.His most famous
bfuessong was PonyBlues(1929).

M E M P H I SM I N N I E
Minnie
Memphis
( 1896-| 973)was
probably
the most
importantfemale
bluesguitarist.Shegrew up in
Memphis,Tennessee,
and moved
to Chicagoin 1928.Her first
husbandwas the guitarist Kansas
Joe McCoy, and together they
recorded a series of vocal and
guitar duets. She later worked
with many other Chicago
musicians.
Her recordingsfor the
Vocalionlabelincludedthe bestsellingBumbleBee(l 930) andJoe
LouisStrut( 1935).

SONNY BOYWILLIAMSON
SonnyBoy
( 1897Williamson
1965)wasoneof the
greatestblues
harmonicaplayers.He was born
in Mississippi,
andwas originally
known as RiceMiller.When he
beganto broadcaston the radio
in 194I, he borrowed the name
SonnyBoy Williamsonfrom
anotherharmonicaplayer.
Williamsonwas over 50 when
he nradehis first recordings.In
| 955 he had a hit with Don? Stort
me to Tolkin',backedby Muddy
Waters and his band.

E1

E]

2
F7

E7

A1

Playing this tune

haspartsfor up lo Lhreeplayers
BaJ Par(hBlues
prano
part,whichcar be playedor
ParlB is the
play
the dottedquaversand
its own.Trynot to
in the left handtoo rigidly- thinkof
semiquavers
to getan
them moreas groupsof tripletquavers
authenticbluesrhythm.
There
arediaqrams
in thistuneanpaqe63
for theguitarchotds

Abovethe music,thereareguitarchordsto addto

different
the pianopart.Youcoulduseseveral
rhythmsfor them.Tryplayingon the secondand
fourthbeatsof the baronly,or strumin timeto
t h e l e l th a n do [ t h ep i a n o \ , 4 a k>eu r ey o u! L d n g e
Iromone chordto t\e nextin tLe riph-n are

E
B
C
D
E

A solo part
ParA
l i s a s o l on e o d yl i - e Y o uc a np l a yi I o n a
flute,violinor recorder,
or anyothermelody
instrument.
It will alsosoundveryeffective
on a
guitar.Thetablaturenotationon the lowerstaff
mayhelpyouto workout whichfretsto playon
eachstring.

String bending
If you playthe soloparton a guitartry bending
the stringeachtime you playtop C. Thiswill help
to createan authenticbluessound.Playthe note,
thengentlymovethe fingerholdingthe string
down,pushingthe stringtowardsthe centreof the
g u i l a rn e c kT. h ep r r c \o f t h e n o t ew i l lr i : e: l r g h t l y .

Blrres
five
to
fJP

Playing this tune

Up to fivepeopleeanplaytl- s IUnetogelher.Here
abouthowto do this:
aresomesuggestions
As a solo:Youcanplaythe pianoparton this
p a g eo n i t so w n T h er h y l h m: h o u l db e r e g u l . r
but put a veryslightaccenton the firstquaverof
eachpair.Thiswill makethem"roll"a little.
when youarefamiliarwiththe music,try to play
boththe top and bottomlineswith the left hand
you
carefully,
only.lf youworkout the fingering
c a nd o t h i : l o r m o < lo f l h e l u n e O n c ey o uc a n
manageit, try addingthe melodylineon the
oppositepage.It may be hardto readfrom both
pagesat once,but it will becomeeasierwith
practice.
recordthe musicon this
Alternatively,
page,eitheron tapeor in the sequencer
of an
electronic
keyboardThenaddthe melodyline
overthe top.
Tl1erc
arcdiaqrams
f|r thequilar.ha s i l[1islu e a paqe63

As a group: Geta guitaristto strumthe chords

abovethe pianopart,usingthis rhythm'
4t
\r, '
t I
'..
4 )

)))

As longas someoneplayseitherthe pianoor

guitarpartson this page,youcanadd anyor all of
you like.
on anyinstruments
the partsopposite,
played
witl'
Thene ody lrneopoo.rte-ould be
to
one handby anotherpianist.Or asksomeone
- harmonica
(see
playit on a melodyinstrument
oppositeJ,
flute,violin,or recorder.
Belowthe melodytherearepartsfor two rhythm
instruments.
Useone,suchas a drum,for the
noteswith stemsgoingup,and another,suchas a
tambourinefor noteswith stemsgoingdown.Or
b l n wi n r h y t h mo v e | h e n e . ko f a l a r g eb o t t l et o
imitatethe soundof a jug band(seepage33)

o Sive Blues

Bluesharmonica

Playingthis tune on a harmonica

H a r m o n i c a sc a n o n l y p l a y i n o n e k e y ,s o m o s t
t-t,,^

l- ..-^^i

,^.

L,.^
ldrp

, ^t-, ^.- a ,,^

, prdysr-

^.,^- |

instruments,
one for eachkey.Often,insteadof
usinga harmonica
in the keyof the tunetheyare
playing,
theyuseone in the keya fifthbelow.This
is calledplaying"cross-harp".
Forexample,lJpto FiveBLres
is in the keyof G,
but a bluesscaleon G containsF natural,whichis
not available
on a harmonica
in C. So you haveto
u s e a C h o r m o r < a' , , ' h i t h p l a l ' l n a l l a l a n dp a 1
cross-harp
Most 'mouthorgans"
available
from
t^\/ !r^ra!

-rp

jn a

r -

hlj!--

F
r r o, rr ^v hu ^u ,u, 6^ F
L r L r o,rr oa

musicstorewill be morereliable.
Piaying
cross-harp
alsomeansthat the most
importantnotesof the scaleareon the "draw"youbreathein to playthem.Noteson the draw
areeasierto bendthannotesyou playby blowing.

Holdyourharmonica
so the holethat playsthe
highestnotesis at the right.Mostbluesharps
haveten holes,whichmaybe numbered
upwards
fromIeftto right.In the music the numbersabove
the notesshowyouwhichholeto play.Thearrow
pointingrightmeans"blow";the arrowpointing
left means"draw'.So for the first note,you blow
youdrawthrough
throughhole6 Forthe second,
h o l e5 .
Whenyouplay,put yourlipstightlyoverthe
holes.Thiswill helpyou directthe airflow.You
canbendthe noteson the drawby stoppingthe
holewithyourlip or tongue.Whenyouclearthe
holeafterthis,the notewill bendupwards.
Try
you
alteringthe way
breatheand experiment
with
blowing
d i f l e r e rht o l e -t o o L os e ew r r . r r r a k e '
the rrelodysoundrrostexpreq<i\e

.\.-

Fishine l-,ine Blues

\'\--l

The top line

Youcanplaythe top lineof this tuneon any
instrument,
but a slideguitarwouldsoundbest
(seepage32).Forthis tune,you
Usea bottleneck
will onlyneedthe D andG strings.

Eachtime you haveto repeatthe noteA, slideup

to the notefromslightlybelowit. Thiswill bend
l h e mn o r ee x p r e s : i v e .
t h e n o l e ss l i g h yt m a k i n g
Youcando this withthe top C too.

Playing this tune

Youcanplaythis as a pianosoloby readingthe two lowest
l i n e so r a d dr h er o pl i n eo n a m e l o d yi n s t r u m e nr st e eb e l o w r
Thebeatof this tuneshouldveryrelaxed.
Clipthe lastnotein
gl
pdge
get
very
edchlriplet
slightly{5ee
to
a goodrhyLhrr.

More about improvising

sectiona fewtimes,the
If you playthe repeated
person
p l a y i n tgh e m e l o d yl i n ec a ni m p r o v i sae
solopart.Basethis on the writtenline,but try
the rhythms.
addingin othernotesand changing

At frrst,not everynoteyou playwill soundgood

w i t hl h e a c c o m p a n i m eint t a k e st i r r et o l e a r r
whichnotesfit best.Themoreyou listenand
experimentthe easierimpro\isi'rgbecones

Country Blues
_nceblueswasestablished
L-----_- --.i
v'--,
t
i
\
'owA
I
I ogro"{
as an importanttypeof
___"i____-_._.\..
popularmusic,different
\o'.lTi._)-

-F,,1^- L-^--^
rrlLcr
uegdl

r^ l^,,^l^^
r\J usvcr\JiJ

ir

partsof America.
different
In the
1930sa styleknownas country
bluesbecamepopular.lt was
b a s e do n t h e n u s i r o f t h ee a r l i e , t
n r . n r u r aa r e a s
b l u e 'p e r f o r e
but it becamepopularthroughout
AmericaTherewerethreemain
centresof countryblues:the
Mississippi,
Texasandthe East
Coast(seemap).

I
i

The AmericanSo

\---ri:nrucx+ - /'
KANsas Ir,ssouR,
t_

-----i..-------__1,,-4

-----^---;

---1 Arca of the East

l-J coast blues

-.

',
\./
fi .J
---,.-\

East Coastblues

TheMississippi
bluesstylegrew
M
i
s
s
i
s s i pVp ai l l e y
upinthe
ocnari:llrr

/-\lllcll-dlrJ

in iha.lalf:

^F tha

, ,^,^
ILlc

t^.^
t --. t- ,l.- ,
e55 lldlSlr
lrdn

,-----_ Areaof the

l n t h e s o u t h e r ns t a t e so [ t h e
A t l a n t i cc o a s t l F I o r i d a C
, eorgia,
S o u t hC a r o l i n a N
, o r t h C a r o l i n aa n o
V i r g i ni a) , c o n di t j o ns f o r A f r i c a n

Mississippiblues

Arcaof the
uississippi6lues

LJ

ln

SomeEastCoastbluesplayers
alsoperformed
othermusic.They
appeared
withstringbands
lgroupu
s s i n gm a i n l yv i o l i n s ,
g ui t ar s ,a n dm a n d o l i n) ,sa n d
s o m e t i m essan g s t r j n gb a n d
t u n e sa sw e l la sb l u e s .

YazooRiverfromMemphisdown

Mississippi
or TexasManyblues
Texasblues
to \/ielchrrro Th]<.:rc: i< nltcn
artistsfromthisareahada relaxed
Texasblueswasa stylethat
considered
to be the birthplace m u s i c aslt y l eT. h e yi n c l u d e
Blind
n f h l , r e < T h p n n n r r l e ti r , n u , : <
B l a k eB, l i n dw i l l i eM ' T e l lB u d d y
originated
in the Southwest
of
majnly madeup of black
M o . . B l n d B o 1F u l J earn d B r o r r n i eAmericaManyTexasbluessongs
plantationworkersThoughthese M'Chee.
aremorestronglybasedon
peoplewereno longerslaves,
storiesthan Mississippi
blues
manyof themstill livedin severe
songsSub jectsincludedversions
povertyand hardship.
o f t h eb aI l a d s

Mi<<isciooi h |lec <inpe rq

pvnrc<<cd int,.n<o pm.rt r^ n<

+L-r

L--.1 l-^^-

gnd
o f t e ng r o ani n g ,h u m m i n a
o v p n r , c l l i n o n t h c i . < --n o < N / .: ln y
.paniedthemselves
with
accom
wailingbottleneckguitarplaying

<.no<l'or<

p o p ul ar w i t h
l<eo

p a g el 6 ) , a s
,,,^l l --

r ( e e n 4 o e l . ) l T L F - n . t i - < , - a ' co l

Mississippi
blueswereSon
House,RobertlohnsonCharley
PattonandSkiplames.
Mantl coLntnJbhresplauers.utclurlina
Sktpldmesand CharlJ Pattl]l b$atl
lhet c\reersertertai lLlal rural bttrsttntl
t ementbuildikqs
A ruralduoplatji tl a ham.Mt1fu
bastlleftl
a d quiLar

Blindperformers
haveaIways
playedan importantpartin
b l u e sm u s i cU
. n a b l teo d o
manualwork,they
turnedto musicto
e a r na l i v i n gW i t ht h e
enhancedsenseof
h e ar i n gt h a tb l i n d
nannla

nFto"

h.',a

manybecame
successful
musicia
ns.

f-l^-

^r

the hardship
a n dt o i l o f
everyday
lifein
ruralareas,
including
Ctop pesltlike(oltotl
ri'rari15lcdlur?
ir
f a m i n ea n d
,l.i,llt alcs iolcli
drought.
Texasbluessingers
oftenhad
high,expressive
voices,
and many
paniedthemselves
of themaccom
on guitar.ThebestknownTexas
bluesperlormers
lnclude
guitarjsts
Blind LemonJefferson
l s e eS t a rF j l e )L, i g h t n i nH o p k i n s
andTexasAlexander.
Th?Pdtdnaurl lab,tlt'oroueot'Blind
Leno lellr/so,ls hits

ROBERTJOHNSON
Texasis verycloseto Mexico,so
Texasbluesplayerswerevery
f o m i l i owr r l hM e x i L am
r u s i . .T h i b
influenced
the playingof Blind
LemonJefferson
and manyothers.

Thequitarvaslirsl
pldt)edin NhericabU
Meriaanmusicians

Field recording
Thefirstrecordings
of country
hl,,o<

narFnrmor<

.,ara

,,.-- . r'
m:,.1-

h,

soundengineers
who moved
:.n"nd

tha

rn

ntrv

ruith rhoir

ra..rdino pn inmcnt Thl< i<

RobertJohnson
( 1 9| l - 1 9 3 8w
) as
born in Hazlehurst,
Mississippi.
In the
mid-1930she recordedmany
songswith field unitsin Texas,
includingHellhoundon my Trail
(1937), I Believel'll Dustmy Broom
(1936) and Ramblin'on my Mind
( 1936.He died at the ageof 26,
probablyfrom poisonedwhisky.
Johnson'svoiceand bottleneck
guitarstyle influencedsome
importantbluessingers,notably
ElmoreJamesand MuddyWaters.

BluessingerSon
House(Eddie
James,
1902-1988)is thought
by manybluesexperts
to be a typicalMississippi
blues
performer.Onlyfour of his
recordings
wereissuedin his
lifetime.
Theseincludehis
masterDiece
Preachin'
the Blues
( | 930),with its half-shouted
lyrics
guitar
playing.
andbottleneck
The
recordssoldso poorlythat a copy
of one of them hasnot yet been
found.Housewasrecordedagain
by the Libraryof Congressin
l94l and 1942.

knowra: freldrecordrng
Some
nf

rhc<e

nennlp

u/rnfa.J

f^

recordmusicfor commercial
l<pe

n:oo

11l

.)f ht.r<

wereresearchers
and historians
whoweremoreinterested
in
capturingunusualtypesof
m u s i cM
. a n yo f t h e
earliestbluesstyles
only survivein
recordings
madeby
thesefieldunlts.
EarlA
sound
rccarclinq
equqment

L E M O NJ E F F E R S O N
The best known Texas
bluesperformeris
BlindLemonJefferson
( 1 8 9 71
- 9 3 0 )H
. i ss i g h t
had deterioratedduringhis
childhoodand he madea livingby
singingon the streetsof various
towns throughoutTexas.
With his high,clearvoice he
mademore than 80 records
between 1925and | 929. His besrknown songsincludeB/ockSnoke
Moon (1927) and Motch 8ox Elues
( | 927).His songswere recorded
by manyother bluesartists.

i. ,.

ni

.a '1.

16 Lt , p116' l'.

1. ,

tr,:.

')

0i L ic, o

Playing this tune

to singor playthe top line,or learnto singit
Asksomeone
) o u r - e l f T o d ( c o n - p d - \ i l . u s e L h ep ' d n o o o r l o r l h e g - l l d r

playthe tuneon the pianoalone,

chords,or both.Alternatively
readingthe top andbottomlines.Addsomeof the chordsfrom
the middlepartduringthe gapsin the top line.

v
day it washed my house

rj ver was my friend till thal

D7

G]

D7

came in through my ftont door-

D5

dont know why youre mad at me but you re no friend oIntne

Ab7
1
2

a ny

more.

D
5
2

Blaek Cat
Blues
,=tOO
.1

Bb7t
I

-nw

ta

at--

ta

,tf.___

867 3
I

tta

1-

t-

A new kind of bass line

ln Bla&CatBlues,
the melodyis in the bassline,so
playthe lefthandclearlyand firmly.Keepthe
right-hand
chordsevenand fairlyqulet,and fit the
syncopated
basspartaroundit. Thismayieela bit
trickyat first,but it will geteasierwith practtce.
There
arediagrums
h lhistuneonpaqe63
fo/ lhequitar.hords

t,
^

a
t

Other ways of playing this tune

Thereareguitarchordsabovethe music,which
youcouldasksomeoneto strumwhtleyou play
part.Or aska cellistto playthe leftthe left-hand
handpart,and accompany
it withthe right-hand
ol the pianopartor the guitarchords.

-+-

\-./

nf

Woke up

this morn

ing -

ta^

a)
won

der where I

Woke up this moI'I] ing

am
ara

t*t*

8
I

r-,r
Won

der where I

Ive got the

am

Pri-son cell

+i.t

blues

t,l

t2

+*+
and I'm

me lan cho

ly

1+'

man
ta-

Minor-key blues progressions

Mostbluestunesarebasedon majorkeys,but
(seepagel9) do existin minor
bluesprogressions
keys.Prison
CellBlues
hasminorchordsin placeof
the usualmajorchordson the firstand fourth
noteof the scale.

Playingthis tune
Playthis pieceas a pianosolo.Makethe crotchet
but not too loud Once
chordsfirm and steady,
you arefamiliarwith the tune,you couldadd the
or get someone
words.Eithersingthemyourself,
play
you
elseto singwhile

) = LO4-tr2
5

--)&'

t)

I6

5
3
.J

5l
j

.'

f
2

1-

.4"

-'

1"-

' a-

l5
-l

Playingthis tune
Y o u w i l l a l r e a d yr e c o g n i z em a n y o f t h e p i a n o b l u e s
t e c h n i q u e si n C o i n ' E r i sBi l u e ss:y n c o p a t i o n sc,r u s h e d
n o t e sa n d t r i p l e t p a s s a g e sT r y n o t t o p l a y t o o q u i c k l y .
P r a c t i s et h e w i d e l e a p si n t h e r i g h t h a n d l b a r s 3 , 7 a n d
I I f o r e x a m p l e )u n t i l y o u c a n p l a y t h e m c o n f i d e n t l y .

-l
12

29

,rll>

I'

,+

-Z

.1

d t111.

:'l

33

.l

)tl

#Jtt.

ryp

'+

4aa +,-I

,e-

p
4

.J

Il

Piano Blues
sldles\^here
f n lhe Soufhern
Boogie woogie
b
l
u
e
s
o
r
i
g
i
n
a
t
ep
d i d n o \w e r e
I
I m a i n l yf o u n de i t h e r n
Whijebarrelhouse
developed
in
r L u r c h eosr r n b a r . A s a r e . u l l
ruralareasanotherrtyle ooogie
p i a n ob l u e si s c l o s e l lyi n k e dt o
^ o o q ' ew
. a rp e r f o ' n e oi n t i l y o a r .
c h u r c hmu s i ca n dt h e m u s i ct h a t and clubs.Boogiewoogieis faster
waspopuiarin bars.
and rhythmically morecompiex
Mrrir! lrl&.spi.txisls/prtrntl Ia plau in
than barrelhouse
Jtacquiredjrs
B:tplisl chrlt. h$ p roridit,4 t1o:
pd' nt usiclrtr
namefromthe 1928recording
pinf
\Nooqie
Tops Baaqie
by Clarence
" P i n eT o p 'S m i t h ( j 9 0 4 1 9 2 9 T
) .h e
s t y l er e m a i n epdo p u l aur n t j lt h e
e a r l y1 9 4 0 s ;o m eb l u e sa n dj a z z
p i a n i s tsst i l lp l a yt u n e si n a
boogiervoogie
styjetoday

BDoqbn,1aqtc
pldl|d dl p|rtits tllt u,.re
|,L:ts
otttl\tztd bu poor Ah.tc.lnAnericltls Io rai.r
naneqta partthpu.rerl

JIMMYYANCEY
JimmyYancey(1894I95l) firstworkedasa
tap dancer,but retired
from showbusiness
in

Barrelhousepiano
ManyAfricanAmericans
worked
iellingtreesin the forestsof
Texasand Louisiana.
Afterwork
theywentto localbarscalled
barrelhouse
T sh.er o u g hd, r i v i n g
pianostylethat developed
there
is knownas barrelhouse.
Two
famousbarrelhouse
pianistswere
W i l lE z e lal n dC h a r l i S
e pand.
T0 d.t d lorid lorrr'falsoLord
tliatc|uLl b.
/r.iiri ir ['r r 6.r,t//iofis.li.t/iiils
cft(il
put ttl.L\,spdpt!r
l)dtitltll/tr,slrirds 0r rIfful
lii.,ii i,t l/r. /i.i rkr5

1925to becomea groundskeeper

'
for the ChicagoWhite Sox,a
baseballteam.
He developeda serene.
melodiousversionof boogie
woogie.He first achievedfame in
1936when the pianoplayer
Meade Lux Lewis recorded his
composition YanceySpeciol(l 936).
After this, Yanceymademany
recordings,includingYancey's
BugleColl (1940).

M E M P H I SS L I M
|,'/'T<

lfi/.El

[-\

Born and raisedin

r
/ . , - r e m P n rIse, n n e s s e e .
\

\@/ iilil.'ulT;':,""'Memphis

Slim,sangand
a c c o m p a n i ehdi m s e lof n t h e p i a n o .
His playingwas in a rough,
powerful style that had its roots rn
rural barrelhousemusic.
At the ageof 24 he hitcheda
ride to Chicago,where he workeo
as a pianistin Big Bill Broonzy's
band.He toured Eurooein the
1950sand eventuallybecamea
regularper{ormerin LesTrois
Maillets,a club in Paris.

Craz;y Feet
Boogie

eJ \-/-

lz.

About boogie woogie

T h e m o s t i m p o r t a n tf e a t u r eo i b o o g i ew o o g i e i s
t h e b a s sl i n e ,w h i c h i s a n e l a b o r a t ev e r s i o no f t h e
w a l k i r gb a , * r q e t pr d q e7 r N , l a n^ya r l r b o o g i eb a s l i n e sw e r ei n e v e nq u a v e r sl ,i k et h e o n e i n t h i s
t u n e . l n l a t e r b o o g i ew o o g i et u n e s ,t h e b a s s
r h y t h m sw e r eo f t e n m o r e c o m p l i c a t e dl i k e t h e
o n e s o n t h e n e x t F o u rp a g e s .

Playingthis tune
Boogiewoogiebasslinescanbe fairlydifficult.
Practise
this one slowlyuntilyouaresureof the
notes.Tryto "roll"yourhandacrossthe octave
leapsas smoothlyas youcan.(lf youcannot
playbothquavers
stretchthe octaves,
on the
lowernoteof eachpair.JWhenyoucanplaythe
left-ha-p
d c l rc o r l i o p r l l yt ' y b o l l -h o r d . o g e ^t e r

Choo Choo Boogie

J=11O
.l

++

rrl

-rlT
-l

^.

a44

Playing this tune

lf youplaythe dottednotesexactlyaswritten,theywill
soundtoo rigid.But if youdividethe beatintotriplets,
as on page30,it will makethistunesoundtoo relaxed.
A true boogiewoogierhythmis somewhere
in between
the two - not too strict,but not too lazv.

t6
a

44

A classicboogie bass line

partin thistuneis
Thedottedrhythmleft-hand
oneof the mostcommonboogiebasslines."Roll"
yourlefthandacrossthe keys,makingthe bass
notesringout. Practjse
it slowlyat first,then
speedup whenyou aresureof the notes.Cliooc}ioo
Booqir
soundsbestplayedat around. = I 10,
thoughmanyboogieplayers
wouldhaveshownoff
theirtechnique
by playingit farfasterthanthis.

ta

ta

ta

Special effects
Manyboogietunescontained
specialeffectsor
"novelty"passages.
ln Choo
ChooBooqid
thereare
j r r l o l i o n so f t h ew hj s te 5o n A m e r i c a' nr e i g l - t
trains.Thesignbetween
the stavesin bars17,l9
and23tellsyouto alternate
between
the G sharp
andthe B flat,as quicklyasyoucan,for the whole
bar.Thistremoloeffect,whichis oftenheardin
b l u e so i a n op a Si n g r . r i lrle e da l i l l l ep r a c ct e

Baorlie
forTwois a duet for two peopleat one piano.Playthe left handof PartB an octavelowerthan written

I 12- 134

S e ep a g e5 I f o r a n e x p l a n a t i oonf t h e s l g ni n b a r s l - 3 5 , 7 9 a n d 11 o f t h i s p a r t

Blues in the City

T n t h ee a r l yp a r to f t h e2 0 t h
I century'.manyAfrican
I Americans
movedfromrural
areasof the Southto major
c i t i e sm
, a i n l yj n t h e n o r t ha n d
east.As a result,the character
of
blueschanged

City entertainment
Manymigrants
to the big cities
iacednewhardshipsrvhjchwere
mainly causedby overcrowding
and poverty.

Migration

Chicago
Chicago
became
the focusof
b l u e sd u r i n gt h e 1 9 2 0asn d l 9 3 0 s
A serjesof duetsby the singer
L e r o yC a r r( | 9 0 5 1- 9 3 )5a n dt h e
guitaristScrapper Blackrve
ll
( I 903-1962
amongthe first
) \.\,ere
recorded
examples
o[ cityblues.

In the 1890s809/.
of the total
population
AlricanAmerican
livedin the ruralareasof the
American
South.Butgradually
the e \\erefeuerand fewerjob>
there.Plantationsclosed,or
becamefarmedby machinery
T h ed a y so f r a i l r o abdu i l d i n g
wereover,andtherewasless
rd workbecause
dockya
there
werefewercargoboatson the
rivers.ManyAtricanAmericans
movedto largecitiesin the
industrialNortheast
of the USA
A {i,1)r}t
0f fiusiri4r(pld!,ll. Ihrfs d!lsrdf
a ,1rrr-dor|rr
nprirlfirrrlfrlorii

T h e s eL o u g hL o f d r l r o n sp r o d u c e d
a - e \ ^ f y p eo f b l u e . .k n o " , , n c i l y
".
b l u e s .C i t yb l u e sw a sa m o r e
a g g r - . s s i vset y l et h a n c o u n t r y
i-1,,^-

^,J L., L^
u . - c 5 . rl rr , ,^, d- -) ^Lf.+r.^l(^l r ^pl l- d. j H
u u\ tdrger

Tha<tr <-no<

groups,with instruments
suchas
saxophone
or trumpetlshown
below) Bluesbecameless

feelof countryblues,
expressive
but theirmelodies
weremore
regular.
Therhythmsweremore
i n s i s t e natn du r g e ntth a nm a n ) /
countrybluesrecords.

nc.sn_r

--d

n .r"a <.t.,rl trpd and

arranged,with musicians playing

together.

Ma q miLtrittttLlAfrian An,:rirnrrsfolloLl*i
thenajar lfiih,'ortfs ro{i

Theywantedto findlobsanda
betterstandard
oi living.and
hopedto escape
the raciaI
discrimination
that wascommon
in the South By 1950,
only20"/"
n m e r . L d r, sL i ' l r v e di n
o f A f r i c aA
the Southern
states.
Thishugemigration
of people
ch an g e dt h es o r i a l a n d
ic
econom
structure
o[ America.
It wasone
of the importantfactorsin the
growthof bluesasa majorform
of popular music.

i\ pirsL,r4du1115r,r|/
lrcr{ raad,-/l)q Lfrou Cd

'r1
Ttumptls\taP popular
.ity ft&.s bdrrds,c,.1.rjr
llldirsl.1r1ra/cdrldnf ,1(1(,
fllctl atijril0 lI|dr rfl ,r0r!L/
rl!ht

h:rl

ihp nprcnnrl

Downhomeblues
Whenthe UnitedStatesentered
d o r l dW a ri n 1 9 4 I ,
t h eS e c o n W
moreand moreworkers
were
neededto stalfthe weapons
factories
in the northerncities
T h i se n c o u r a g e
ad
n a d d i t i o n aLl 5
millionblackworkers
to move
northfromthe South.
Theirtasteforcountryblues
Iad

tn

tha

nlorralnnmant

nf

- r-i t', .v

styleknownas "downhome"
blues.lt wasliketraditional
countryblues,but it waslouder
a n dm o r ei n t e n s el t. w a su s u a l i y
instruments
wercalsapapular playedon electric
farthetrloud
law
boaminq

Snme

nf the orartp<t hl,,a(

musicia
ns weredownhome

BIG BILL BROONZY

p l a y e r s i,n c l u di n g M u d d y
W a t e r s( s e eS t a r F i l e ) ,L i t t l e
W a l t e r ,a n d H o w l i n gW o l f.

Blues
elubs
betame
vertlpoptLlar
in all
.ities
tfu n6iarAmerican

Big Bill Broonzy

(William LeeConley
Broonzy,1893-1958)
grew up on a farm in
Arkansas,before settling in Chicago
in 1920.There he learnedto play
rhe guirarwirh a light,liltingsyle.In
the 1930she becamea leading
figureamongbluesguitaristsand
vocalists,providingmusicthat
peoplecould danceto.
Broonzytoured Europein the
| 950s.His hits includeJohnHenry
( f 95l) and Blocl<"
Brownand
White(l 951), a protest song.

MUDDYWATERS

I n t h e i a t e 1 9 4 0 st h e r e w a s

increasing
demandfor blues.
Therewerebluesclubsand
r a d i os t a t i o nisn a l l t h em a j o r
cities,and salesof blues
recordscontinued to grow.

Californiaand Memphis
difierent
OutsideChicago,
In
bluesstyleswereevolving.
\,d

tur||rd d >|| uut||trr, qur!'Lvr,

morerelaxedstylewasmade
popularby artistssuchas
T BoneWalker.
l n M e m p h i sb,l u e sr a d i o
stationsandthe record
industrymadebluesvery
popular.OneMemphisDJ
became
the mostlmportant
post-warbluesmusician,
B. B.
King (seeStarFile).

post-warbluessingers.He starced
playing
bluesin Mississippi.
In 1943he movedto Chicago
andbeganto record.He
successfully
adaptedthe bottleneck
styleto the amplifiedguitar,usinga
slide.Touringextensively,
he was
later particularlypopularwith
whiteaudiences.
Hisrecordings
includeI m vourHoochie
Coochie
rVon( | 953)andGotmy Mojo
Working( | 955).

B . B .K I N G
Probablythe best
known bluessingerof
any period is B.B.King
(RileyKing,b. | 925).
His initialsstandfor "BluesBoy"
He worked in Memphisas a DJ and
madehis first record in 1949.He
taughthimselfto playthe guitar.
King performedwith a mixture of
speechand song.In the 1960s,he
becamethe idol of Britishrock
musicians
suchas Eric Claptonand
MickJagger.His album"There
Must Be a Better World
Somewhere"won a Grammy
Award in 198| .

After Midnight
) =74
t

a)

+. tt++

nry

Af tcr

lr. ./-\,

5+-

"-

- +-

+'+'

nrid

+'

I 'esr nt\

niol_r

6r'

++

hezrd.

Al ter

h-

a) "-

+
mid

night

iay on my

-'-\-.

4'
AI ter

be,l

mid

night

things ain t as they

I-,.* d*:

t^

,Al ter

l-,* 1)*:

rl

il

tl

+,-,+'
a) "
mid night
t

6a

++'

d
whal

you are.

\v'

-\_+b.l

dreamDly

4'

+'

dream

:'-\-.

mo vie star with a Ca dil lac car

na.

+J
Af

{.;
ter

++'

mid

++

{---

+'+'

ei t"t

micl

t.rift.rt
hr

I
3

.+
-,,^\
-\-z

-^

that !

Playing this tune

lf you havean electronickeyboard,AfurMidniqht
would
soundgoodplayedusingIhe 'lazzorgan"settinglf you
areplayingit on a piano,makethe chordsin the left
handsoundveryrichand sustained.
Makethe quavers
veryrelaxed- countcarefully,
but do not rush.
t7

a.)

'\-/

^f

r.._.,+.
l-

-n -.

t3

, .[ { "w,
h-

+..

++

\-/

-'l'

-'1-.

23

a)
npA

mo

vie star with a Ca dil lac car

that s

oa.

+'1'

++

what you are.

Af-ter

t-':'.

':;

+'+'

mid night
t^

J1
Af ter

.:-

J'

to.

mid night
lr -

-!\-

-z-rt-

I
3
1

More playing hints

First,learnAfter
Midnight
withoutworrying
about
the words.Whenyoucanplayit well,try singingat
the sametime,or asksomeoneelseto join in.
A bluessingerwouldprobablymakesomeof
the notesin this tuneinto bluenotes,by singing
thema littlehigherthantheysoundon the
keyboard.
Trythiswith the firstE flat in bar8 and
t h e B i l a ti n b a r sl 3 a n d2 5 .

In manybluessongs,oneof the musicians,

such
d ( a g u i l d r i 5oLr k e y b o a rpdl a y e ri m
. p r o v . s ea .
solopartin the middle.Thisoftenlastsfor the
' . r s te . g h lb a r so l h e l 2 b a ' p r o g r e . s i oar n d
the
singerjoinsin againfor the lastfourbars.Bars
17to 24 of thistunearewrittento soundlike
this typeof solo,but youcouldimprovise
your
own Makeit lasteightbars

J = 92-1OO

l
dw-rj

--

ryp
-tito-

'-a

--

13

a.)

-\_/- \-./-

f
+

& t**

4 l l4

-//.\
58
\-,2

& fr**

,"

-.

Playing this tune

T h i >r u n ew i l ls o u n db e s ld i a p i a n os o l o P r a c r i cl he e
andtry to makethe chordsevenand
rhythmscarefully,
withthe second
firm.In bar 12,playthe firstsemiquaver
fingerof yourrighthand,andthe nextnotewiththe
between
the two.
secondfingerof yourleft.Alternate
t6

w-

---

:-

--

l8

4 fr**

tC

ta

2l

>'

>--/

-v-v-

;\

,fie- -

New harmonies
inTheRunaround
do nol
Someof the harmonies
bluesscale.Butthe
strictlybelongto a traditional
versionof
itselfis a minor-key
chordprogression
and
the standardI 2-barformat.ln the 1950s
to growanddevelopas
1960s,
bluescontinued
as Lhe
u:ed blr,esprogres.ion:
newmusicians
for
kinds
of
improvisation.
basrs all

>

t**

];.-

tA

More about improvising

Thesecondhalfof thistune is writtento sound
likean improvisation.
Therhythmicand melodic
ideasin the righthandherecouldformthe basis
of yourown improvisation.
Youcouldplaythe
tuneseveral
times,improvising
a different
righthandparteachtjmeyou playthe secondhalf The
lasttime through,playthe codato tinish

J =96

()

;j___u

\JI

-,,\
\.,-

Playingthis tune
I ' y o u f i n dr h es y n c o p a l er ld' v t h mo f t h eb a . ' I n a t r i c k )
firstplayit withoutthe tie.Then,whenyou addthe tie try
Practise
the lefthanduntilyoucan
to keepthe beatsteady.
playit automatically,
withoutthinkingaboutit. Thenadd
the righthand,takingcarewith the syncopations.

Blues Today
ln
T n t h e l d t el q 5 0 st h ea u d i e n ( e AlbertCollins11932-19931.
performers
t
o
b
e
g
d
n
d
e
c
l
i
n
e
.
Chicago,
several
f
o
r
b
l
u
e
s
I
"*
adaptedB B King'sguitarstyleto
I o t h e rl y p e :o [ m u s i cb e . a n e
popularwithAfricanAmericans C L c a o , -h l , P \ . , f l ' n p h e i . r r r > i c
Manybluesperformers
loundthey " W e s tS i d eS o u l " .M a g i cS a m l e d
couldno longerselllargenumberst h e f i e l d i n t h e d e v e l o p m e not [
t h i s f a s t - f i n g e r egdu i t a rs t y l e .H e
of recordsin the faceof
fromnewstylesof
w a s l a t e rf o l l o w e db y O t j s R u s h ,
competition
s n d M a g i cS l i r r
musrclikerock-a
nd-roll.
l i m m yD a w k i n a
interestin blues
However
Modern blues
increased
amongyoungwhite
particularly
audiences,
Artistswho havecometo
students,
bothin
prominence
sincethe late 1980s
Americaand Europe. includethe TexansKennyNeal
This encouragedblues ( b . 1 9 5 7L)a, r r yC ar ne r a n d
artistslikeB B. King,
S o nH o u s ea n dl o hn
L e e H o o k e rt o

tour
American
ities,where
un ivers
tho\,:tfrr.ta.l

t^.^^

aud iences.
As people
investigate
the roots
of rockan d - r o l l ,
E/i,isPr.t[,q
they realized
that it haddeveloped
fromblues.
Thisled newaudiences
to discover
popular.
it
remained
blues,so
Manyrockmusicians
of the 1960s
wereheavilyinfluenced
by blues

JOHN LEEHOOKER
JohnLeeHooker
(b. l9l7) grewup in
Mississippi
but later
movedto Detroit.

Particularly
adeptat combininghis
voice and his rather limited guitar
playinginto a singleinstrument, he
is also given to accompanying
himselfwith his tappingfoot, to
hypnotic effect.
Long recognizedas an influential
bluesfigure,in the 1990she
suddenlybecamea superstarwith
a series of recordings includinglhe
Heoler( 1990) and Mr. Lucky(1990).

Guitar stars

ROBERTCRAY

l n t h e 1 9 7 0tsh e r ew a sa f a s h i o inn
bluesfor instrumental
solosby
''guitarstars. Thesemusicians
includA
e l b e rK
t i n g( 1 9 2 3 - 1 9 9 2 r ,
FreddyKing 11934'1976)
afi

Roben Cray (b.1953)

is probably the bestknown bluesstar of
the 1980s.He was
born at Fort Benning,Georgiaand
grew up playingjazzand soul
beforediscoveringthe blues.
A talentedsinter and guitarist,
he formed the Robert Cray Band
in 1974.They releasedtheir first
album,Who'sBeenTolking,in
1980.Their pure bluesstyle has
popular.
becomeincreasingly
Cray hasregularlyplayedwith
Eric Clapton,Keith Richards,
B.B.King,and Chuck Berry.

BlursNiorws
lrltifa15lIk
s

a\

L,erepopul\r it1A 1{iun

RobertsonLucky
Sherman
P e t e r s o(nb 1 9 6 4 a) ,c h i l d
prodigyon piano
hassincebecom-o
a t al e n t e d
g ur t an s t

\_
Roatquildrist
Ji,ritl.,rdrir
t 1 9 4 2l 9 7 1 l
r{d!Jrfdrifu,
ifluenctd
b9ttltt bluts

Listening

to Blues

l f y o u h a ! e e n i o _ v el d
h e m u s i cj n t h i s CharleyPatton:Canplela
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JohnLeeHooker,BlufsB,"l/icr.
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Hightone
ClilfordHaqtst lht Louisvilleluq Bands.
H C D8 0 0| ( U S l :M e r c u r5y 3 02 4 5 - 2
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Volum(2 19)6-1927.RSTlazz
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63

Index
24
acousticrecording.
A k i c a ni n f l u e n c e ls0 - l I
Alexander,
Texas40
A m e r i c aC
n i v i l W a rl ,6 l 7
b a l l a d sl ,6 2 l 4 0
b a n j o2 0 , 3 2
barrelhouse,48
b e n d i n g , 63.5
B e r r yC, h u c k , 3 2
Blackwell,
Scrapper.
S4
B l ' n dB l a k e , 4 0
otues
amplified,32
c i t y 5 45
country40-I
downhome,54-t
EastCoast 40-I
i m p r o v i s a t i o4nl 9
instruments.32-3
M i s s i s s i p p4i0 -|
n o t e s , 61. 9 , 2 8
o r i g i n sl 0
, - I L l 6 -1 7
p i a n o 2. 2 .2 8 .4 7 .4 8 .4 9 .5 1
progressions.
4, 19.45.59
recordin5
g ,. 1 3 ,1 5 .2 4 - 5 4, 0 .4 l . 5 5
r h y t h m s7, 9 , 1 4
scales,6
l9
s o n g s1 9 ,5 7
Texas.40
B o h e eJ a m easn dC e o r g eI.6
boogiewoogie,48,49,5l
boogiewoogierhythm,5l
bottleneck.
32.33.38.40.4l
Bradford.
Perry.24,25
BroonzB
y ,i gB i l l . 2 5 . 4 85, 5
B r y a nM
t i n s t r e l sl 6,
L a r r o r n t a) ) 2
c a l l - a n d - r e s p os n
o sn eg s1. 0 ,l l , l 2 l 4 l 8
Carr.Leroy,54
CaseU
l6
lofies.
C h i c a g o5 , 5 4 5 5 6 2
C o l l i nA l b e r t6 2
c o t t o np l a n l a t i o n sl 0, l 6 4 0 .5 4
countryblues,40-l
C o x .l d a .l 7
Cray.Robert,62
cross-harp,37
crushednotes,28,47

I|ute.27.35.36
Franhie
andlohnnie,
16
F u l l e rB. l i n dB o y , 4 0
C a r n e rL a r r y , 6 2
C i b s o n8 S 3 3 54 , 3 2
C r e e nS. i l a s l,7
g u i t a r4 . 2 0 ,3 2 3 4 3 8 . 4 3
H a n d yW, C . 1 6 .1 7 , 2 3
h a r m o n i c 4a . 1 2 .3 6 .3 7
H a r n e yB. e n . 2 3
Hawaiianguitar,12,33
H e n d r i xJ.i m i6, 2
h o l l e r sI 0 l l , l 3
homemadeinstrumen
3 t2s- 3
H o p k i n sL,i g h l n
in' 40
H o u s eS o n ,2 4 4 0 ,4 l
l l o w l i n gW o l f t 5
i m p r o v i s a t i o1n9. .3 l . 3 9 .5 9
instruments.32-3
l a c k s o nJ.i m 4
.
PapaCharlie.24
lackson.
l a m e sE, l m o r e4. l
l a m e sS, k i p 2 4 4 0
B,l i n dL e m o n4, 0 ,4 l
lefferson
, 16
lot TurnerBlues
Mafl,16.20
)IhnHennjthesleel-dririh
l o h n s o nL, o n n i e2 4
l o h n s o nR, o b e r t4 l
l o p l i nS
. cott.23
i u gb a n d s3, 1 .3 6
lumplimCrow,16
Kcxsns
Cil!,Birrs,4
King,Albert.62
K i n eB
, B. t5,62
King.Freddy62
l6
Leadbelly,
Lewis Furry,I6
L e w i sM e a d eL u x , 4 8
Littlewalter.55
Louisville,5,33

EastCoastblues,40-I
24
electricalrecording.
l6
EthiopianSerenaders.
E u r o p e am
n u s i c6. . 1 6 .l 8
E z e l lW
. i l l ,4 8

MagicSam,62
M a g i cS l i m , 6 2
m a n d o l i n s3 2
J\{'Chee,
Browni,40
M ' T e l lB, l i n dW i l l i e4 0
m e d i c i n seh o w s1 7
M e r n p h i s5 , 3 3 ,4 0 5 5
Memphis
Blues23
M e m p h iM
s innie,25,33
M e m p h iS
s l i m .4 8
m i n s t r e l s1.6 .1 7 .1 8 ,l 9
s h o w sl,6 - 7 .2 2 .3 2
Moss,Buddy,40

flanenednotes,2l

NealK
, enny.62

D a w k i n sl i m m y6 2
Dixie
s Land,l6
d u e t s t 4 2 6 ' 7 .3 0 - l .5 2 ' 3
16
DainqCautboA,The

N e wO r l e a n s5,, l 7
NewYork,5. 29
P a t t o nC, h a r l e y2 4 3 3 , 4 0
PetersonLucky62
p j a n ob l u e s2, 2 .2 8 4 7 ,4 8 ,4 9 5 l
48
PifiaIops Boagb\'Joaqie
RabbitFootMinstrels17.25
racerecords24
( a g t i m e1. 7 . 2 2 . 2 j . 2 9
R a i n e yM. a .2 5
recordcompanies,24-5
j5,36
tecotdet,27,
recordin5
g 1 3 1 5 , 2 45 . 4 0 4 l , t 5
r e c o r d i nugn i t s , 2 4 . 2 t
r e l i g i o um
s u s i c l 0 -l l , 4 0
K t c el,n o m a 5u , t o
r i n g - s h o ul 0t - l l
R o b e r t s oS
nherman,62
r o c k - a n d - r o5l.l 6 2
R u s hO
. tis.62
S c o t tl.a m e s . 2 l
s h e l l a c2,4 .2 5
s l a v e s1 0 ,l l , ] , 2 ,l , 4 , 1 6
s l i d eg u i t a r3, 2 3 8
> r n t I .f u e 5 5 r e2 r
Smith,ClarencePineTop" 48
5 mt t n .M a nt' et 2 )
s o n g s t e r Is6, , I 7 , 1 9 ,4 0
S p a n dC h a r l i e4 8
S p i e r sH. e n r y . 2 4
s p i r i t u a l sI ,L I 2
Blues.
l6
St.lawss lnlirmarq
l6
Sld.[O'L??,
stridebass.29
stridepiano,29
stringbands 40
s t r j n gb e n d j n g3 t
s y n c o p a t j o8n ,] ' 8 . 2 1 , 2 94 7
t e n ts h o w sl,7 1 9 ,2 4
ThomasHenry20
t r i p l e t s , 95, 7
twelve-bar
blues.19.57.59
The.16
UnforlualcRake,
Vicksburg,5.40
v i a l i n2 1 , 2 7 . 3 23 5 3 6
W al k e rT B o n e . 5 t
walkjnb
g a s s7
W a t e r sM. u d d y3, 3 4 l 5 5
WeaverSylvester24
W e sS
t i d eS o u l , 6 2
Williamson
S.o n n yB o y 2
, 5 .l 3
w o r ks o n g s1. 0 .l l . 1 4
Yancey.
Jimmy.48

l t h e f o l l o w i nogr g a n i z a t l ofnosr p e r m i s s i ot n
h e i rm a t e r i a l .
o r e p r o d u ct e
T h ep u b l l s h e rasr eg r a t e f ut o
- RedfernsLondon
CoverLeadbellv
- PictorialPress.London
p 17IdaCox- MaxJonesArchive,Sussexi
w C. Handy- PictorialPress,LondonrLeadbelly
p 25 N,,lamie
Smith- PictorialPress.LondoniMa Rainey- PiclorialPressLondon:BessieSmith- PjctorialPressLondon
SonnyBoyWilliamson- PictorialPress.
p 33CharleyPatton- PictorialPress.London:MemphisMinnie- TheWestonCollectioni
London
- PictorialPress.London
p 4lRobertlohnson- PictorialPress.London:Son House- PictorialPress.London:BlindLemonlefferson
p 48 limmyYancey- PictorialPress.Londonrlvlemphis
Slim - PictorialPress,London
- PictorialPress,LondonI l\4uddyWaters- RetnaLondon;B.B.King- Retna.London
p55 BiCBillBroonzy
p 62 limi Hendrix- Retna.London;lohn LeeHooker- Redferns,
London;RobertCray- Retna,London

64

LEARN TO PLAY

BLU

Learnto PlayBluesisa complete

introduction
to the bluesfor young
musicians,
tracing
thefascinating
history
of oneof theworld'smost
popular
photographs,
styles
Words,archive
of music.
detailed
illustrations
andover30 tuneschartthedevelopment
of bluesfrom
the worksongsof AfricanAmerican
throughto the present
slaves
day.
Thetunescovera widerangeof bluesstyles,
andaresuitable
for
playing
on a pianoor electronic
keyboard.
Manyalsohaveadditional
partsfor melody
instruments,
aswellasguitarchords,
lyrics,
percussion
ideasandsuggestions
for groupperformance.
Specific
bluestechniques,
suchaspianostride,
slideguitarandthe
"cross-harp"
harmonica
stylearecarefully
explained,
asaremore
general
ideaslikebluesharmony
andimprovisation.

ISBN 0-?'lh0-Ih?8-h

f 8.99
lsBN0 146016786
JF AIVIJJASOND/95

madewith paperfromsustainable
forests

,illl[]llilil