The Blues

Blues in other Genres

The blues play a big part in other genres of music. Blues are probably the most influential on jazz music, as that is a natural evolution of music. Kansas City was a heavily blues influenced city. Count Basie came from there as did the immortal Charlie Parker. Here is an excerpt from Charlie titled aptly, "K.C. Blues" (468KB). The excerpt is at:

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "K.C. Blues" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.

It follows our standard blues matrix, but the changes are much more complicated in jazz, because jazz musicians tend to hide the chord changes with a lot of substitute chords and chords that are heavily extended. We haven't laid enough groundwork here to get into jazz, but you should be able to hear the standard changes in the flow of the music. The changes pretty much follow:

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	IV	I	I7	IV	IV	I	I	V	IV	I	(I V7)

The blues were (is/are) the cornerstone of rock and roll. Here's an excerpt of the Beatles performing the great Little Richard rave up "Long Tall Sally." An excerpt of the tune is at (348KB):

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Long Tall Sally" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	I	I	I7	IV	IV	I	I	V	IV	I	(I V7)

The guitar plays that loping background we first heard in "Sweet Home Chicago" by Robert Johnson. Here it is played faster and more stoccato. I call this the "Chuck Berry beat", because Chuck used that beat so prominently in his music. Here's how it can be imitated on the mandolin:

In the key of G use this chord shape:
-3---
-2---
-0---
-0---
Strike the bottom three strings, or all four if you want, two times, then add the sixth note:

-3---
-2---
-2--- <-- sixth note
-0---
Strike that two times, and just repeat this rhythmically like the Beatles or Robert Johnson did. Use a dotted note pattern when you play like Robert and a straight eighth note pattern when playing like Chuck Berry and the Beatles. you can add a variation by playing a seventh note in there too:

-3---
-2---
-3--- <-- seventh note
-0---
Move these forms up and down the neck as necessary for different keys.

you can do something similar with this chord form in G:
-7---
-5---
-5---
-7---

-7---
-7--- <-- sixth note, add it with the pinky
-5---
-7---

-7---
-8--- <-- seventh note, add it with the pinky
-5---
-7---
The notes you add with the pinky could be made easier by eliminating either the top or bottom note of the chord form. I can't for the life of me figure out how I would play the Chuck Berry backup with a chop chord form, but that will be your graduate study program.

The blues played a big part in Western Swing as demonstrated by "Milk Cow Blues" as performed by Bob Wills' Texas Playboys. An excerpt of the tune is at (1.1MB):

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Milk Cow Blues" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.

I apologize in advance if some of the ladies find the lyrics slightly demeaning, I was a little startled by the sentiment as well. The grid is:

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	IV	I	I7	IV	IV	I	I	V	IV	I	(I V7)

Here's another version of the blues changes from Bob Wills' Texas Playboys, this time in a simpler form like the "Frankie" and Corinna, Corinna" changes. the tune is Twin Guitar Boogie." An excerpt of the tune is at (568KB):

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Twin Guitar Boogie" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.

Incidentally, any song with "Boogie" in the title is almost guaranteed to have some form of the blues grids we have explored:

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	I	I	I7	IV	IV	I	I	V	IV	I	I

Lastly, blues put the blue in Bluegrass. Here's a tune called "Foggy Mountain Rock" that shows how bluegrass approaches the blues. An excerpt of the tune is at (1MB):

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Foggy Mountain Rock" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	I	I	I7	IV	IV	I	I	V	V	I	I

The tune also has a "bridge" part that goes:

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	IV	IV	I	I	IV	IV	I	I	I	I	I	I

Notice the bridge keeps to the twelve-bar formation, but is not really a set of blues changes.

To finish up our discussion, here's Tony Rice's "Freeborn Man," which follows the chord grid of "Foggy Mountain Rock" (without the bridge). An excerpt of the tune is at (852KB):

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Freeborn Man" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.However, the way I count it, the number of measures are doubled, and the chord changes take twice as long to change:

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chord	I	I	I	I	I	I	I	I	IV	IV	IV	IV

Measure	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Chord	I	I	I	I	V	V	V	V	I	I	I	I

this is not unusual to happen. I've also left a solo in the excerpt by brother Larry Rice for you people that like mandolin work.

You don't have to get hung up on the fact there are 24 bars in the tune, and how do you keep track of what bar you're on. I count the bars, "1,2,3,4" for each beat. The next bar I count, "2,2,3,4" and so on until the chord changes (i.e. measure eight would be counted "8,2,3,4"). Then on measure nine when the chord changes to a IV chord, I start again at, "1,2,3,4", etc.

Next time I'll expand the palette by discussing the minor chords.