The blues, and where to begin?

[Michael Milner]

You might find this helpful:

https://www.amazon.ca/Soul-Fingers-Legendary-Bassist-Donald/dp/1495052923

 

[Avezzano]

"Jazz blues fusion" and "Moving on" (John Mayall) were my imprinting, out of the standard rock stuff during the early seventies...

 

[Bright Midnight]

For one thing I was completely impressed seeing that part of the Elvis movie where this blues guitarist/singer is heating things up in a shed or bar....man that was impressive....the intensity jumped off of the screen! It looked deceptively simple, his playing, yet with an intensity that was hypnotic...and that hypnotism is what I've been looking to hear in the blues

 

[tvbop]

Its all good. If you really want to get to the bones of the blues then try, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly and all those early pioneers.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

I’m just piling on, but I love the stuff so it’s difficult for me to refrain from adding something.

In the past couple of years I have become enamored with Son Seals. An uplifting comparison taken from his first album:


Here he is in live concert with one of my other favorite guitarists at 32:00:


A different Son, my first love for old Delta blues, from a ‘new’ 2022 release:


Junior’s entire album is tight, tight, tight:


This Junior is loose, loose, loose, but that’s just trance-y Hill Country blues:


More Delta blues from Mr. Shines. I love the album cover:


We saw Corey and his band at the Harlem Avenue Lounge back in 2016, and they put on a great show. He’s got a knack for stage presence:

A nugget for Christmas, with The Groundhogs backing Billy up. You can look up the first track from this album for yourself:


Just some loose change.

 

[Hot Rats]

Individual albums by artists are great and all but I recommend checking out this 13 CD series. You'll get a lot more exposure to many different players and then you gravitate to what piques your interest.

 

[LBS-bass]

I'd also suggest that like the best religious music, blues needs to have deep feeling and powerful conviction to be played well. I've often gone to see this or that Blooz Band, only to find a lazy crew sleepwalking through the usual song forms as a way to finance their drinking.

This is the difference. It's not blues without the feel.

I'm no expert in the blues. I got hired by a local guy to travel and play blues with him about four years ago, and up to that point I'd mostly just learned rock and pop songs and played what I learned, but prepping for that gig was a lot different. What I did was listen to a lot of the music he'd sent me, much of which has already been mentioned on this list. He had videos of his own band doing much of it and then I'd go back and listen to people like Albert King and Otis Rush and Muddy Waters doing their versions, and then I'd listen to version of those same songs done by others, to get a sense of the feel.

Learning the blues in the same way you learn pop songs is futile. You think, at first, that you're just learning lines but what you're really doing is acquiring tools that will allow you to improvise further on up the road.

So I did all that and joined that guy for several shows where he would just call out what he wanted to play by saying things like "shuffle in A- starts on the five with a quick four" and then he'd count us in. At its best it's trial by fire.

You string all those simple pieces together and if you're lucky you find an endless range of variety and expression available within them. Nowadays I play with a different blues band that's comprised of three really good improvisational players and, for some reason, me. Every time we play a song it's different. We toss solos around to various players, nobody ever knows when the song is going to end until the bandleader lifts the neck of his guitar and signals it. Verses and choruses and solos can go through a variety of dynamic fluctuations which will include me and the drummer deciding on the fly when to quiet down, when to bring things up, and what patterns to play. It's an improvisational treat to play with those guys. That's what makes it fun, and when it's fun those hour-long sets fly by so darned fast.

I'm not a very good player and I have a limited number of tools in my tool box but working with these blues guys has challenged me to become a better listener, and that in turn has made me a better player. I'm at a place now in my musical career where I feel like I can learn just about any song, even complicated songs, but blues is what challenges me.

In my musical world I hang out with rock musicians in one scene and blues musicians in the other scene, because I'm in two rock bands and two blues bands. In my rock world I'm always hearing effusive praise from other musicians; I'm at the top of my game there, and I'm not playing a bunch of simple stuff. I've worked hard to get there.

In my blues world, I'm "meh" compared to other, better players. A mere beginner. I still don't know the standard repertoire and my ability to play the standard stuff is still pretty limited.

I'm OK, but there are many players who are better than me. Anyone who thinks blues is easy or simple has not bothered to scratch deep and find what's below the surface. I thought it was simple too, at first.

 

[Nobis17]

Hey guys,

I've been swallowing music in much any type or form since I was a toddler, now I'm almost 44....yet for some unknown reason I never got around to the world of blues. Strange. I know Zeppelin, The Doors etc were heavily influenced by blues, and I've had a Robert Johnson album, John Lee Hooker, etc....but I never gave them much time.

What would be a good starting point to really get to know blues a genre? Any artists, bands you could recommend?

Album: completely well by BB King

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Hey guys,

I've been swallowing music in much any type or form since I was a toddler, now I'm almost 44....yet for some unknown reason I never got around to the world of blues. Strange. I know Zeppelin, The Doors etc were heavily influenced by blues, and I've had a Robert Johnson album, John Lee Hooker, etc....but I never gave them much time.

What would be a good starting point to really get to know blues a genre? Any artists, bands you could recommend?

join a blues band whereby you're forced to learn the tunes. also, experience severe heartache because the person you love ran off with someone else. you'll play good blues then.

 

[filmtex]

Always a recommended starting place for the blues are the 3 Kings.

Absolutely. And let's not forget Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill of ZZ Top fame.

 

[Robscott]

Aside from the fact that so much talent(who, at that time, where overlooked or forgotten about)got some exposure, that film is a demeaning, patronizing fraud. Plus, there’s precious little actual straight ahead blues in it.

I agree with that. Those two murdered a lot of good songs

 

[Robscott]

Wow guys, I wasn't expecting this amount of response, but thanks!!!!
I've got some homework to do I guess....love it

Now, does blues go down even better with a triple Belgian beer? (asking for a friend)

No (read post #32)

 

[Moe Town]

In my (admittedly very personal) experience, the blues can require a different approach.

I grew up in a musical and academic family, and was therefore brought up with a backdrop of orchestral standards, with all of the harmonic complexity, melodic exposition, and cerebral theory to go along with them. From there I discovered jazz, and delved into the many phases of jazz, each with its own sophistication and rich harmonic and rhythmic palettes, but also with an extra dose of that intangible "feel" that begins to dawn on all of us as we mature as musicians. Parallel to this journey was my immersion in the Classic Rock radio of the day, and later Punk and New Wave, all of which brought a very definite energy and enthusiasm to bear, and often with clever or unique arrangements, melodies, and sometimes rhythms.

Later I learned of the history and cultural evolution of these genres, and discovered that both jazz and rock can trace their roots back to early blues. And while I understand that cognitively, it turns out that whenever I try to embrace the blues as a musical form in its own right, it feels - simplistic. To borrow a literary analogy, it's like I jumped into the story halfway through, when the characters were already developing, and the arc of the storyline was already well underway. From that vantage, it can be anticlimactic to then turn to the beginning of the book, where things are basic and nearly skeletal. To be honest, in comparison to all of those other genres that I've loved for decades, the blues feels simplistic and childish.

And that's when I have to remind myself that the blues, as an artistic expression, is less about musical sophistication or complexity, and much more about the unveiling of the more somber and sorrowful side of human existence itself.

In other words, you might have to consciously adopt a different mindset when exploring the world of blues.

Good luck, and have fun!

Well said.

 

[OkayistBassist]

I was introduced crash-course style to the blues this year. My family moved halfway across the US to our new home. I was leaving behind a pretty regular gig schedule. I searched on Facebook to find musician groups. During my search, I found multiple open blues jams in our new town. I figured “how hard could it be?! It’s 1-4-5 walks all the time!”

Welp, that was wrong!

I have learned a lot over the last six months or so! Introduced to a bunch of artists and standards that are posted in this thread. They’re now part of my rotation when I’m listening. I love it.

 

[jnewmark]

If it hasn't been said already, give a deep listen to the recordings of Little Walter and his band at the time, The Aces. You want to hear a great shuffle drummer, its Fred Below. I really got the hang of playing, classic Blues, mainly Chicago Blues, by listening to everything I could get that had Below drumming on it. After that, the classic recordings of Muddy Waters, who had some of the best Blues harp players, not to mention Willie Smith on drums, and Calvin Jones on bass.

 

[Jjacks651]

Hey guys,

I've been swallowing music in much any type or form since I was a toddler, now I'm almost 44....yet for some unknown reason I never got around to the world of blues. Strange. I know Zeppelin, The Doors etc were heavily influenced by blues, and I've had a Robert Johnson album, John Lee Hooker, etc....but I never gave them much time.

What would be a good starting point to really get to know blues a genre? Any artists, bands you could recommend?

Bb The Thrill is Gone

JJ

 

[Acoop]

I's suggest locating John Mayall's Jazz Blues Fusion with Larry Taylor on bass. It's got lots of different blues grooves and on the back John lists what key each song is in. I don't remember them all but I remember it was a great help to me 50-years ago. 1) Having to keep up to the playing and 2) Playing in all those different keys. ...

https://www.amazon.ca/Jazz-Blues-Fu...ocphy=9000869&hvtargid=pla-569897038949&psc=1

 

[brianrost]

My favorite blues bass line of all time. Jack Myers is the bassist.

A master class in coming up with something really different. The bass line cranks right along although the actual tempo is deathly slow. He only uses three notes for each chord and never plays the third or the fifth! Nailing that rolling feel of the triplets is not as easy as you might think.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Hey guys,

I've been swallowing music in much any type or form since I was a toddler, now I'm almost 44....yet for some unknown reason I never got around to the world of blues. Strange. I know Zeppelin, The Doors etc were heavily influenced by blues, and I've had a Robert Johnson album, John Lee Hooker, etc....but I never gave them much time.

What would be a good starting point to really get to know blues a genre? Any artists, bands you could recommend?

Jump all the usual list of ancient blues gods with very badly recorded albums .. go directly to the original soundtrack of the great movie “The Blues Brothers”; you can get all major scales/chords blues you may be willing to learn from there and the bass player was a certain Donald “Duck” Dunn ..
Learn all sax, guitar and trumpet solos by hear and fix them in your mind .. they’ll help.
When you’ll will be there waiting for the drums toms to announce the start of solos section of Sweet Home Chicago, you will have the blues !

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Someone told me to check out Howlin Wolf.

Only song I’ve heard of is Smokestack Lightning.

But your TB handle is the title of one of his tunes.