Any simple form of any style is easy to play, or at least easy to grab mentally, but it can also be seriously athletic. Saying blues is "mind-numbingly easy to play" sounds like it is coming from a person who has only been around weaker players, or not too many real blues acts, or at the least, has never been challenged by challenging material. Some nights I work twice as hard as a I did playing Living Color and Fishbone all through college. (ZooTrip played so much 'Bone, the frat boys called us Fishclone, lol) Let's see you walk a 7-8 minute 210 click swing without missing a single quarter, double tagging all the appropriate accents (remember, your click is over 200 already), and all while inventing your lines on the fly and using different turns/scales/runs the whole time. Or how about holding down a real double shuffle boogie at the same click for the same length of time? Even speed metal breathes once in a while, lol. Not saying you can't do it, or can't learn to do it, but saying the blues is all easy is pure unadulterated ignorance.
I say this from the experience of making my living at it for over 18 years. Sure, playing butt-simple medium tempo blues tunes at a lame jam is no mental display, but putting ALL of those notes in exactly the right spot to make a shuffle swing, and really locking in on that kick, takes focus and skill. Really. Yeah anybody can plow through a box shuffle, and not sound like a fool, but I defy anyone who doesn't do it regularly to do it at a truly high level.
I would suggest that instead of just trying to learn a bunch of random tunes, you put together a youtube list of a bunch of solid rudimentary blues tunes and REALLY try to play along with them properly. Listen to them together a few times through first and try to notice any interplay between parts, and who plays in which pockets and things like that. Learning how the grooves are built is half the battle. Also, going for Me and My Woman right out of the gate is a seriously big piece of pie to chomp on. That tune has big dynamics and shifts in rhythm feel that are essential to doing it justice, as well as a strong vocalist. Not saying dont' do it, but that is kinda like getting your first skate board, and then immediately draining the pool for your first ride.
Good blues is also full of subtleties, like, how many of you saying how simple the blues is can tell me what is different about the opening chorus of Tore Down, if you are playing the song true to original form?
