Blues music was derived from the African-American communities in the U.S. out of work songs, spiritual songs, field hollers, chants, shouts and simple ballads that rhymed. A lot of aspects of the blues are indicitive of African influence.

The call-and-response aspect of the music came directly from African roots and there were a lot of lines that would get repeated twice or more. This later evolved into a line repeating twice and then on the third time around there would be an ‘answer line’. You can still find these characteristics of early blues in modern day music, especially hip-hop.

The term ‘The Blues’ refers to the ‘blue devils’ which means down spirits or sadness.

The blues guitar plays a heavy role in blues music as well as modern music. It has influenced Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass and even Rock N’ Roll tremendously.

The original blues of the early 1900′s, otherwise known as “poor man’s blues” was normally associated with hard times, oppression from white folk, cruelty of the police, gambling, economic depression, floods, magic, farming and dry periods. This music was fueled by a lot of heartache and depression. Usually a lost loved one or an overall harsh environment inspired the lyrics and the tone of the blues guitar.

After the world war, you began to see blues songs that were about relationships and ***. Also, humor was added to the mix. Here is a funny example:

“That must be your woman, cause mine don’t look like that…

I said That must be your woman, cause mine don’t look like that…

Have you seen my baby? She’s so big and fat…”

The blues guitar style emerged from the American South’s instruments of the time which were the banjo and the Diddley Bow. This was a home made one stringed instrument that was popular in the early 20th century. Figures such as Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House and Blind Willie McTell were a part of the delta blues style which used a lot of finger picking techniques and slide guitar innovations.

Eventually, after WWII ‘electric blues’ became increasingly popular where the blues guitar was played on electric guitars as were the bass guitars. This was most prevalent in the Chicago area.

Blues music today has become a multi-cultural genre with artists playing Blues in every corner of the world. Texas-born Stevie Ray Vaughan set the music world on fire with his modern combination of Blues and Rock until his untimely death in 1990. Other modern Blues artists making a mark are: Shemekia Copeland, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Cray, Taj Mahal, Charlie Musselwhite, and the North Mississippi Allstars .

The history of blues guitar and poor man’s blues is rich with culture and stories of good times and bad. I could go on for days about the history of the blues guitar but let’s make this part 1 so you don’t fall asleep on me!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hearts Full of Sorrow
• A Tribute to Billy Gibbons – ZZ Top Legendary Guitarist

Although most blues bands in Memphis at the time were based around guitars, there were jug bands as well that were wildly popular. A jug band is a group that centers around a jug player while the other members play homemade instruments. Typically, the homemade instruments are ordinary objects that have been adapted or modified to make sound. Some examples of this are the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe, and comb and tissue paper. When jug bands first came onto the music scene, they included mandolins or guitars that were made from the necks of discarded guitars which were then fastened on to large gourds. The gourds were made by flattening one side and then carving a sound hole into the side that was just flattened.

Sometimes, banjos were made in the same way. The actual jug that the players used was generally made from glass or stoneware. Jug players would buzz the lips of the jug from about an inch or two away from it and were able to create different pitches by changing their lip tension.

Jug bands were commonplace in Memphis blues bands for years, but after World War II, electric instruments began to be used much more often by Memphis blues musicians. Many African Americans, who had been living in the Mississippi Delta among some other impoverished areas in the south, began to leave their homes in search of more urban areas. At this time, many musicians ended up in the heart of the Memphis blues scene and the classic style of the Memphis blues sound began to change.

B.B. King, Ike Turner, Howlin Wolf and Willie Nix were some of the artists who performed in West Memphis on Beale Street at this time and were responsible for a number of the classic electric blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll songs. They created a lot of records in these genres for the label Sun Records. These musicians had a very strong influence on blues at the time and we can still see their impact on rock and roll music today.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ike & Tina Turner: Sing The Blues
• Eric Clapton: Worried Life Blues