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Introduction To Playing “The Blues”

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance, to American music in
general and Jazz music in particular, of the musical phenomenon known as the Blues. The musicians of most of the musical styles of America have explored and developed the Blues.
Some musicians earn the title “Blues musicians” because they play the Blues as their primary musical expression. Jazz musicians have long considered the Blues to be an essential part of almost all the different styles of their music. Folk musicians have many Blues tunes in their repertoire. Many standard popular tunes draw on Blues forms and melodies. ‘Western Swing’ blended Blues and Jazz with what came to be known as ‘Country’ music. The style known as ‘Rhythm and Blues’ (R & B) developed into ‘Rock and Roll’ bringing the Blues into the Pop music of the mid to late 20th century
The word ‘Blues’ is difficult to define because, like the word ‘Jazz’, it covers such a wide range of meanings. It is used for emotional states (“feeling blue”, “I’ve got the blues”), the expression of those feelings in music and lyrics, as well as the presence of the chord progressions of a traditional song-form and certain traditional melodic phrases.
For my purpose in this theory essay, it is that last part; “the presence of the chord progressions of a traditional song-form and certain traditional melodic phrases,” that I intend to examine. That is what the Blues is for a musician.
If I go to a ‘jam session’ and someone says “let’s play some Blues”, I know that they mean a 12-measure song that has certain basic chord progressions. Thousands of melodies and verses of lyrics have been written on those same basic twelve measures. Once I know we’re going to play the Blues all I need to ask is “what key?” and “what tempo?” and I’m ready to begin. If I know the name of the tune, and the melody, well and good but I don’t need to know that so long as someone else is going to be playing the melody. Just knowing it’s ‘the Blues’ in a certain key and at a certain speed is enough. The meter will be 4/4 unless specifically stated otherwise. Any important variations from the standard Blues format will have to be communicated but 99 times out of 100 that won’t be necessary.
As well as the chord progressions the element of “traditional melodic phrases” needs to be examined. Melody is not easy to pin down but I will do my best to give to you, the reader who may be a novice in the Blues, a clear enough outline to begin experimenting with this essential music.
PLAYING THE CHORDS
The Blues is a song that has a typical chord order and a typical number of measures. It has twelve measures that are subdivided into three four-bar sections. In its basic, simplest version the form is:

NOTE: Chords shown in parentheses are optional.


As previously stated, this version of the Blues form is skeletal in its simplicity. It corresponds to the earliest Folk and Jazz recorded examples of the Blues. Played without the optional IV chords this version is most often heard in Folk renditions. If the optional IV chords are included, it is typical of Boogie-woogie, R & B, and early Jazz styles. The most typical Jazz version, from the 1930s onward appears in Example 2.


Begin by playing simple voicings of the chords in Examples 1 and 2 with both hands. Be sure to play in tempo (4/4 meter). At first just play the chords right on the indicated beats of the measures.
They will all be either whole notes or half notes (as in Example 2a).


 

HHHThen try varying the rhythm of the chords, as though you were
accompanying someone playing or singing the melody.
HHHNow play the chords with your left hand and play melody notes with the
right hand. Search, by ear, for melodies that seem right to you. You can also
intersperse chords with your right hand so that the melody can pause but the
rhythm is continued.
HHHPlaying a Boogie-woogie left-hand pattern allows you to get the feeling of
that early style of Blues. I recommend the following Boogie left- hand patterns
(Example 3) as simple, musically satisfying ways to play the Example 1 form.
Use the right hand the same way as already outlined.
NOTE: There are many chord sequences that create the effect that the tune (or a part of the tune)
isn’t done yet and is getting ready to repeat. The endings 2 - 5
represent examples of that effect. The final measures of a tune/section which
sound that way are called ‘turnarounds’. Notice that the first ending shown does
not do anything to create that effect. It stays on the ‘I’ or ‘C’ chord. This is rarely
done except in some Boogie-woogie. This subject will be expanded in future essays.
For now, pick & choose whichever you like, and invent your own.



 

NOTE: There are many chord sequences that create the effect that the tune (or a part of the tune)
isn’t done yet and is getting ready to repeat. The endings 2 - 5 represent examples of that effect.
The final measures of a tune/section which sound that way are called ‘turnarounds’.
Notice that the first ending shown does not do anything to create that effect. It stays on the ‘I’ or ‘C’ chord.
This is done in some Boogie-woogie. This subject will be expanded in future essays. For now, pick & choose
whichever you like, and invent your own.



  PLAYING BLUES MELODIES
The main way to improvise melodies is stated above: “Search, by ear, for melodies that seem right to you.
” That statement can be elaborated by saying that when your intuitive ‘ear’ fails you, supplement it by using
the chord notes, or by using various scales like a palette, from which to select notes.
The final arbiter of what sounds good is always your own artistic opinion - i.e. your ‘ear’.


NOTE: The intuitive creativity that I am here calling ‘by ear ’, (which forms your ‘artistic opinion’) is shaped, educated, and enhanced primarily though listening. To learn to play the Blues you must find artists whose Blues speak to you in a personal, meaningful way and listen, listen, listen!
**At the end of this article is a list of suggested artists and selections to help you
begin or guide your listening.

One of the most helpful ways to find, to create, melodies that are appropriately Blues-y is to use Blues scales. These are different from the traditional Major and Minor scales. Many contemporary Jazz & Improvisation teachers present only one, six-note, Blues scale to their students. It is usually called ‘The Blues Scale’. In my opinion that practice is insufficient and the label, ‘The Blues Scale’, misleading. In this article I will demonstrate two six-note Blues Scales, one called the Major Blues Scale and one called the Funk Blues Scale, which can be combined into a third nine-note scale.
Experiment with the six-note scales by playing (right hand) through the whole 12-bar form using only the notes of one of the scales. When both six-note scales have been explored, then they can be freely selected with each chord or even note by note, thus creating the nine-note combined scale.
Remember that any scale is a pre-selection of notes. You will always find some situations where non-scale notes are required to create the right sound. Ultimately the only scale is the twelve-note chromatic scale. Even that scale is pre-selected from the infinite slurs, slides,
quarter-tones etc. that are available on non-keyboard instruments and in the human voice.
HHHHHHThe 3 Blues Scales are:


 

After exploring the range of possibilities mentioned above, further variation is available by
transposing the scales to the key of the IV chord and the key of the V chord during those measures of the 12-bar form.
Just as there are many variations in the selection of chords for the Blues, there
are many other types of scale that can be used to make the melodies. I intend to elaborate on those areas in future articles.
* * * * *

**Years ago, in the late 1960s, I made a tape of examples of Blues for my students. What follows is the table of contents for that tape. It makes a convenient beginning on the daunting task of trying to suggest a listening list. Most of these examples should be available in public libraries.

BLUES WITH VOCALS

1. St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith - vocal/Louis Armstrong - tpt The first great Blues singer with one of the best
HHJazz musicians of all time as a young man.
2. Gin House Blues - Bessie Smith - vocal w/ Fletcher Henderson-pno, Buster Bailey-clarinet
3. Backwater Blues - Bessie Smith - vocal w/James P. Johnson-pno

4. Empty Bed Blues - Bessie Smith - vocal w/Charlie Green- t-bone, Porter Granger-pno
HHAll the Bessie Smith tunes are from the first period of Jazz History, New Orleans style recorded in the 1920s.

5. Montana's Blues - Montana Taylor - pno/vocal
6. Can't Sleep Blues - Montana Taylor - pno/vocal

7. How Long Blues - Jimmy Yancey-pno, w/Mama Yancey-vocal, Isreal Crosby-bass
HHJimmy Yancey is called the inventor of Boogie-woogie Piano. Montana Taylor plays a related style called Barrelhouse Piano.

8. Boogie Woogie - Count Basie - pno & bandleader w/Jimmy Rushing-vocal, Lester Young-tenor sax

This is an example of a Swing style. Lester Young is one of the creators of Jazz saxophone. The first great Jazz saxophonist was Sidney Bechet, who played in the New Orleans style. Coleman Hawkins is next in the evolution of that instrument. He shaped the modern style of improvising on the chord progressions. Then came Lester Young who, like Coleman Hawkins, played Swing style. Later saxophone innovators were: Charlie Parker who invented the style called Be-bop, and John Coltrane who was the one of main inventors of the latest styles, usually called Modern, Progressive, or Contemporary.

9. Good Mornin' Blues - Otis Spann - pno,vocal
10. Love, Love, Love - Otis Spann - pno,vocal

11. Honey Bee - Muddy Waters- vocal, guitar

12. Just A Little Love - B.B. King- vocal, guitar
These last selections represent the Blues that branched off from Barrelhouse and Boogie but were not Jazz styles.
They are in the R&B style, which became Rock and Roll.

INSTUMENTAL BLUES (No vocals)

1. Savoy Blues - Louis Armstrong Hot Five (New Orleans)

2. Indiana Stomp - Montana Taylor-pno (Barrelhouse)

HHHAll the rest of the selections in this list represent more modern styles.
Monk, Parker and Powell are all included in Be-bop although Monk’s
music has always been considered very individualistic and unusual.
In recent years his music has become more accepted and honored in
Jazz. Miles Davis started out in Be-bop but created many new forms of
Progressive Jazz and helped John Coltrane attain worldwide recognition.

3. Functional - Theolonius Monk - pno
4. Blue Monk - Theolonius Monk - pno w/Percy Heath - bass, Art Blakey - drums
5. Blue Haze - Miles Davis - tpt, w/ Horace Silver - pno, Percy Heath - bass, Art Blakey - drums
6. Parker's Mood - Charlie Parker - alto sax w/John Lewis - pno
7. Cheryl - Charlie Parker-alto sax w/John Lewis - pno

8. Collard Greens and Black-eyed Peas - Bud Powell - pno w/George Duvivier - bass, Art Taylor - drums

9. Cousin Mary - John Coltrane- tenor w/Wynton Kelly - pno, Paul Chambers - bass, Art Taylor - drums
* * * * *
Some artists not included in the above list:
Jelly Roll Morton - Pianist, composer, one of the first great founders of Jazz.
Jack Teagarden - Trombone & vocals
Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons - Boogie-woogie pianists.
Billie Holliday - arguably the greatest Jazz female vocalist. Fine And Mellow (a 12-bar Blues)
is one of her most famous recordings.
‘Big’ Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams - Great male Blues singers.
AND MANY MANY MORE!

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