The Blues

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Blues

Blues is a genre of Afro-American folk music which originated from slaves working on plantations in the southern states of the USA. Blues music reflected the status of Black Americans after slavery was abolished; there were over 4 million Black people in the country, a power that could not be denied. 

The slaves developed field hollers in a “call and response” style which served as the basis of all blues music. Blues kept the “call and response” form of expression but it differed in that the “call” was not answered by another participant but by the singer themselves.

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Early instruments used in Blues include the guitar, banjo and harmonica, these usually accompanied a solo singer. Blues players developed new instrumental styles, using typical banjo picking styles on the guitar and combining both chords and single notes by picking the melody on the bass strings and brushing the higher strings. In the 1920s the slide style was introduced, this used a glass or metal tube on the fretting hand to produce a glissando like effect. The slide effect was also used on the banjo. Later when Blues became more popular and moved north singers were accompanied by jazz ...

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This essay contains some useful information on the blues style although it is very disappointing that the 12 bar blues chord sequence has been annotated incorrectly as this is a very significant piece of information. There is some excellent use of musical vocabulary.