Blues Guitars


The genre of music popularly referred to as "the blues" has its origins in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America, though it certainly is not confined only to that country. The blues draw heavily from West African roots, brought to America as a part of the culture of the African-American slaves. Within these roots, call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics, the use of blue notes, and the 8-bar structure are key features.

Call-and-response patterns in blues music are most often characterized by one musician playing a line of music, and a second musician (or the same musician) playing a line that "responds" to the first musician, as though the second musician was answering a question or affirming a statement by the first. It can also refer to a lyrical call-and-response, or a combination of lyrical and instrumental call-and-response. As it applies to blues guitars, however, it is best described in the first manner. A good modern example of the call-and-response pattern is in Stevie Ray Vaughn's song "The Sky is Crying," where the guitar follows and punctuates each line of the lyrics.

Blue notes are a more complex concept to explain succinctly. The basic description of these notes is that they are lower pitched notes than those of the normal major scale. Rather than playing the chords of a standard major scale, a blues guitarist will add in additional or different notes, accomplished by a change in the finger positioning used for the chord, which give the chord a more "bluesy" feel. Blue notes can also be applied to a minor scale, as heard in the song "Why Don't You Do Right?" performed by many female performers over the years, including Peggy Lee in 1942 and the character of Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".

8-bar structure refers to the number of measures of music played during one verse. In most blues songs, there are eight bars, or measures, of music for each verse. Over the course of those eight bars, the same three sets of chords are played in a particular pattern, and those chords, in different patterns, are then repeated throughout the song. Blues music also makes use of 12-bar and 16-bar structures, but 8-bar structure remains the essence of blues musical structure. For a guitarist, this regular repeating pattern makes learning a blues song or playing along with a blues band a fairly simple matter; adding interesting flourishes to the pattern is what makes a great blues guitarist stand out amongst his or her peers. There are a great many songs which could be cited as examples of this aspect of the blues genre, as it is used for nearly every blues song and many songs in other genres as well.

Although the term "the blues" refers to depression or sadness, not all blues lyrics are entirely sad; some blues songs are more humorous and often raunchy. While the blues are a genre in which vocals are preeminent, "bluesy" guitar is also a well-recognized aspect of this genre of music. Bluesy guitar generally refers to a guitar line where the guitar almost sounds as though it is crying or talking, due to the nature of the notes. Of all of the aspects of blues music which have been adopted by other genres, the bluesy guitar is probably the most commonly borrowed.

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is probably one of the best early blues guitarists, but he is also one of the most obscure, due to very few facts being known about his life. He is cited as an influence of many modern guitarists whose music has a bluesy feel to it, and Rolling Stone Magazine placed him at number five on their 2003 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Better known names of early blues guitarists include Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and Bo Diddley.

In more modern music, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton are both well known for their use of blues techniques of guitar playing in their own music. Even many modern guitar players who do not really play what would qualify as traditional blues are heavily influenced by the styles and techniques of blues guitar players. Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Los Lonely Boys, and many other individual guitarists and bands fall into this category of "blues-inspired" guitar playing.

The use of guitars in blues music has a long tradition and history. Blues guitars continue to have an impact on music today, as so many guitarists are inspired by blues musicians, or by those who were themselves inspired by blues musicians. Although the two genres have not always been closely associated, blues and rock share many similarities, including some of the major techniques for playing guitar.