Why aren't there any degree programs for the Blues?

[okcrum]

Bullets. There's gotta be bullets. You either gotta shoot somebody or be shot by somebody. At the VERY least you gotta witness the shooting. But there's gotta be bullets.

Indeed. I did a NYE gig up in Utah with Long John Hunter (RIP) a few years back. He'd played for years in Juarez 6-7 nights/week. As the trip to the gig was 5 hours and everyone else from the band was in the van, I took my car with John and his wife as passengers.

We talked some on the trip. At one point I asked him how many times he'd had gunfire on the gig. He said "I stopped counting at 40". I was pretty impressed, since I'd only had it happen a few times.

I'm sure he saw everything, including babies born, on that long stint in Juarez.

 

[George Dennis]

Apparently you can learn a lot about the blues from a 20-year term at St Quentin

 

[Fergie Fulton]

I am sure if you want a qualification to do talks on Blues and demonstrate there will be a course somewhere.

If you want what I consider an in-depth lesson on bass in Blues, the Willie Dixon's Dixonary if the place to study..5 Cds of what I consider the start of Blues based Blues bass as we know it today.

Yes many had done it before, but Willie brought it to the masses, via his association with Chess, and the legends he wrote and worked for, through sheer volume of sales and commercialism...check out the link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blues-Dixo...+dixon+Dixonary&qid=1576185865&s=music&sr=1-2

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I was shocked when I saw four pages of them!!!

A few thoughts.

Just because you have lived the blues and "get" the blues doesn't mean that you can't also look for a pre-structured learning environment to work in to find out as much as possible on the subject. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. An approved course of study implies that a lot of areas may be found that self-directed learning might not cover. My desired end is the knowledge, not the paper degree itself. A degree program would simply provide a framework.

Some people are just life-long learners that enjoy doing things that support it, I'm one of them, it's my 'other' hobby. I've got the time now, and the resources, I like learning and applying new things, why would I not want to pursue something that I have so much interest in if it were available? Having it in an on-line environment would be even better.

Again, thanks for all your insight!

I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time with this. Listen to the records, only because all these guys have gone to the Great Jam In The Sky. You want a pre-structured learning environment? Then go to a blues jam and play! Paraphrasing the great Larry Raspberry:

"You cannot just walk up to the counter and say 'Hi, I'm here to pay my dues'.
'Oh, yessir, how much do you want to pay? A little pain? A lot of pain? Cataclysmic pain?'
"You cannot do it!"

Here, how about a line from John Milton? What does a blues player do? He "Warbles his native wood-notes wild." No class is going to teach you how to do that. You reach inside yourself and just do it.

I don't know why this is pushing my button so hard, but it is.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I was shocked when I saw four pages of them!!!

A few thoughts.

Just because you have lived the blues and "get" the blues doesn't mean that you can't also look for a pre-structured learning environment to work in to find out as much as possible on the subject. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. An approved course of study implies that a lot of areas may be found that self-directed learning might not cover. My desired end is the knowledge, not the paper degree itself. A degree program would simply provide a framework.

Some people are just life-long learners that enjoy doing things that support it, I'm one of them, it's my 'other' hobby. I've got the time now, and the resources, I like learning and applying new things, why would I not want to pursue something that I have so much interest in if it were available? Having it in an on-line environment would be even better.

Again, thanks for all your insight!

There just instruments enough theory to warrant a college course. It's not a matter of jazz people being snobs. There just is a LOT more to jazz music than blues music.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

Duly noted, and

I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time with this. Listen to the records, only because all these guys have gone to the Great Jam In The Sky. You want a pre-structured learning environment? Then go to a blues jam and play! Paraphrasing the great Larry Raspberry:

"You cannot just walk up to the counter and say 'Hi, I'm here to pay my dues'.
'Oh, yessir, how much do you want to pay? A little pain? A lot of pain? Cataclysmic pain?'
"You cannot do it!"

Here, how about a line from John Milton? What does a blues player do? He "Warbles his native wood-notes wild." No class is going to teach you how to do that. You reach inside yourself and just do it.

I don't know why this is pushing my button so hard, but it is.

He's interested. Let him explore. Musically, I'm a nobody, but I know this.

When you know what you know, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, that's the blues. That's as complex as it gets. I wish my fingers could understand what my heart has known far too well.

 

[fishdreams]

If you want to study blues on a graduate level you need to look for musicology departments with an Ethnomusicology faculty.

For example Invalid Link Removed

 

[ElMon]

I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time with this. Listen to the records, only because all these guys have gone to the Great Jam In The Sky. You want a pre-structured learning environment? Then go to a blues jam and play! Paraphrasing the great Larry Raspberry:

"You cannot just walk up to the counter and say 'Hi, I'm here to pay my dues'.
'Oh, yessir, how much do you want to pay? A little pain? A lot of pain? Cataclysmic pain?'
"You cannot do it!"

Here, how about a line from John Milton? What does a blues player do? He "Warbles his native wood-notes wild." No class is going to teach you how to do that. You reach inside yourself and just do it.

I don't know why this is pushing my button so hard, but it is.

I had a head full of music theory/structured jazz combos in College, but man, what I learned in just 6 months of gigging clubs (this was a hip-hop band, but still applicable) eclipsed every bit of the 'book learning' I received prior.

I studied the Chess Records stuff quite a bit, and what I gained from trying to match their feel/phrasing was immeasurable.

Turns out that I landed in a 'if it don't sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan it's crap' area of the country, but still ...

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

In Blues, you get your degree once you've toured all the dives in Tennessee singing/complaining about that girlfriend of yours who always wants you to buy her pretty things and spends all your hard-earned money

 

[Ostie]

Bullets. There's gotta be bullets. You either gotta shoot somebody or be shot by somebody. At the VERY least you gotta witness the shooting. But there's gotta be bullets.

You’re talking about Bluegrass now. It ain’t Bluegrass till somebody dies.

I know that Maryville College in Maryville, TN has a BA program in Bluegrass. But that ain’t The Blues. I think the essence of the Blues is sharecropping, Jim Crow, selling your soul, drinking away your sorrow, missing your best girl, and being flat broke. The Blues ain’t nothin but a good man feeling bad, according to BB King. It’s all feeling, in three chords. I don’t think you can teach that. You either feel it or you don’t. But I think the ethnohistory of the blues is fascinating. It’s been traced back to Africa. It was brought over here on the slave ships, and those people had a lot to feel bad about. So keep on playing the blues, brother, cuz the audience is dying out. Blues is black music played for a white audience, which is a shame, but I guess I understand why young Black people don’t want to be reminded of the above mentioned injustices. Nobody does, but it’s history and it can’t be erased.

 

[Hundred proof]

Move to Memphis. The competition for gigs there might very well give you a bad case of the blues at the graduate level. Last time I was through there it was a Wednesday night and saw dozens of performers jump up on open stages (Handy Park and a few clubs) that could have easily headlined shows in large venues here. A truly humbling experience as a musician who at least dabbles in the blues.

Yeah it’s different here ... the competition is deadly

Forgot the hackneyed “gotta play it like they did it” we switched the classic Hootchie Coochie Man to a tribal kinda drone and then to a minor key. Memphis has always pushed limits.

Forget ya need a Pbass with flats ... most nights on Beale I’m driving a Peavey with rounds we have guys using 6ers

 

[LBS-bass]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I was shocked when I saw four pages of them!!!

A few thoughts.

Just because you have lived the blues and "get" the blues doesn't mean that you can't also look for a pre-structured learning environment to work in to find out as much as possible on the subject. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. An approved course of study implies that a lot of areas may be found that self-directed learning might not cover. My desired end is the knowledge, not the paper degree itself. A degree program would simply provide a framework.

Some people are just life-long learners that enjoy doing things that support it, I'm one of them, it's my 'other' hobby. I've got the time now, and the resources, I like learning and applying new things, why would I not want to pursue something that I have so much interest in if it were available? Having it in an on-line environment would be even better.

Again, thanks for all your insight!

I think you could embark on a very interesting course of self-study by looking at the history of the music and immersing yourself in each decade and location as this music develops over time. A lot of folk historians have done similar self-study and people like John Fahey and others did a lot of research into some of the earliest delta blues guitarists, but I'm not sure how much research exists beyond looking into these early bluesmen (and women). If you have the time and you have the interest, I think you could do a lot of interesting research on your own.

But as far as theory goes? There really isn't much. This is a music wholly based on a three chord progression and a few variations on that theme. The point of the blues was how it represented (and still represents) something people feel, and all that feel is wrapped up in that three-chord package. This music wasn't developed by people steeped in theory. It's a form of folk music. There's a lot more historical interest than theory interest there.

What makes Delta blues different from Chicago blues? How did all that influence the blues based bands in Britain during the 60's? There's all kinds of history to be traced here.

 

[InhumanResource]

So I'm interested in a post-graduate course, being retired I've finally got time. I really love playing the Blues and all the history and background and theory and everything. You'd figure someone would offer a program somewhere.

Ha, it appears everyone has a jazz program, but I don't see anything specifically for Blues. What the heck?

I really don't like much jazz, and I have zero interest in getting into something that only has Blues as a sidelight. Yeah, maybe the common roots are there, but come on.

The whole thing could cover a huge area just by itself, it's not that narrow of a focus or anything. You could spend a lifetime learning about it. Arguably it may be shy on the technical side, but still. What, maybe we're not "good enough" for the university types?

Anyway, just my rant. I'm not knocking the jazz crowd by any means, I really admire you folks, but it's just not my thing.

Because there's three friggin chords.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

I bet Brushy One String could teach the blues, the soul part of it. That one string makes a good bass line too.

You can’t teach soul. You have it or you don’t. That can’t be taught.

Or Richie Havens at Woodstock.

 

[BOOG]

I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time with this. Listen to the records, only because all these guys have gone to the Great Jam In The Sky. You want a pre-structured learning environment? Then go to a blues jam and play! Paraphrasing the great Larry Raspberry:

"You cannot just walk up to the counter and say 'Hi, I'm here to pay my dues'.
'Oh, yessir, how much do you want to pay? A little pain? A lot of pain? Cataclysmic pain?'
"You cannot do it!"

Here, how about a line from John Milton? What does a blues player do? He "Warbles his native wood-notes wild." No class is going to teach you how to do that. You reach inside yourself and just do it.

I don't know why this is pushing my button so hard, but it is.

I’m sorry, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity

 

[Kukulkan61]

 

[LBS-bass]

I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time with this. Listen to the records, only because all these guys have gone to the Great Jam In The Sky. You want a pre-structured learning environment? Then go to a blues jam and play! Paraphrasing the great Larry Raspberry:

"You cannot just walk up to the counter and say 'Hi, I'm here to pay my dues'.
'Oh, yessir, how much do you want to pay? A little pain? A lot of pain? Cataclysmic pain?'
"You cannot do it!"

Here, how about a line from John Milton? What does a blues player do? He "Warbles his native wood-notes wild." No class is going to teach you how to do that. You reach inside yourself and just do it.

I don't know why this is pushing my button so hard, but it is.

I know why. It's because the idea of making an academic exercise out of something like the blues seems like squeezing the life out of something that's fundamentally organic and home-grown.

 

[higain617]

The formula isn’t as straightforward as country. For that, your mama has to get hit by a train on the day of your prison release (old), or you can tailgate in some Crocs down at the mud hole (new).

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

Best way to learn the blues is to play it. A lot.

 

[bass_case]

Actually I think there is plenty of room in blues for an academic course of study. You could look at the different styles - Mississippi country blues, Chicago blues, Texas blues, Louisiana blues and so forth. You could look at the transition from acoustic to electric instruments, the inclusion of horns and keys. You could look at how it influenced everything from jazz to folk to soul to rock to zydeco to rap and on and on. You could look at lyrics as expressions of social and political movements. You could look at the African roots of the music and how that thread has carried through in the work of people like John Lee Hooker and Junior Kimbrough.

In other words, totally suck all the fun out of it.