Learning the Blues

One approach:



http://www.thepeaches.com/music/frank/LearninTheBlues.htm

Thanks, Noddy. I had no idea ... ?

Subject: How to sing the blues

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes...sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch-ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the runnin'. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues: a. highway b. jailhouse c. empty bed d. bottom of a whiskey glass
Bad places: a. Dillard's b. gallery openings c. Ivy League institutions d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you sleep in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if: a. you older than dirt b. you blind c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied. No, if: a. you have all your teeth b. you were once blind but now can see c. the man in Memphis lived d. you have a 401K or trust fund

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: a. cheap wine b. whiskey or bourbon c. muddy water d. nasty black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages: a. Perrier b. Chardonnay c. Snapple d. Slim Fast

15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women: a. Sadie b. Big Mama c. Bessie d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men: a. Joe b. Willie c. Little Willie d. Big Willie e. Joe Willie

18. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon,Lime,Kiwi,etc.) c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, Jakeleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well,maybe not "Kiwi.")

20. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues.

Wow! Those are great for ideas for lyrics!

Thank you.

Now, if I can just do those parallel thirds and sixths, mixolydian sixths, Drone notes, drone notes with half-step connecting lines, crossovers, turnaround, and tremolos I'll be in good shape!

Re: Learning the Blues


It certainly helps. It's not really memorizing so much as ingraining into your hands; my experience has been that it's easier to memorize on paper AFTER I've memorized it in my hands, though of course everyone is different. Once you've got them down by rote, you'll be able to do the "conversions" automatically. It helps to not think of all those scales as different entities. For example, a mixolydian scale is just a major scale with a lowered 7th; a blues scale is a minor pentatonic scale plus the raised 4th, etc. Practicing all the permutations of all the scales in all the keys will help you to hear and play them more or less intuitively.

Shapeless,

Hi. Thanks for the guidance.

I appreciate it.

So, you play the Blues?

Do you play Jazz?

Can you give me, I know there's a lot, but can you give a glimpse at the difference between blues and jazz from a music theory and rhythm perspective?

Thanks!

I'm not much of a jazz musician or a blues musician, I'm afraid, so I'm not the best person to ask. From a music theory standpoint, I've generally considered the blues to be a category within jazz--i.e. the structural features of blues are often borrowed by jazz musicians who don't identify themselves as blues musicians--so the techniques of one will probably serve you well in the other. (Knowing the blues scale and 12-bar harmonic format has helped me in what little experience I have playing jazz.) But from a stylistic standpoint, I can't say I'm qualified enough to advise you on the differences between the two.

Thanks, Shapeless.

I thought they were similar.

Best