What Is The Blues?

Blues is truly the original American music. It’s artistic, soulful, and very innovative. The twelve bar blues progression is a structure of chords combined with melodies and improvised. Blues played on the guitar is generally slow and melancholy, and accompanied by vocals. On the piano, blues often has no vocals, and the music is much faster, and full of creative energy.

Blues is a kind of jazz, and it’s a great way to get introduced to the world of jazz improvisation. Blues and jazz have influenced music for decades. It’s everywhere, and internationally loved and appreciated. Some popular blues players piano players are: Oscar Peterson, Abdullah Ibrahim, Otis Spann, Dr. John, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Professor Longhair, Barrelhouse Chuck. Blues piano can evoke emotions in many ways. Its constant swirl of textures can be imaginative, delicate, rambunctious, evocative, captivating, elegant, and playful.

 


 

Les blue notes ce sont ces notes qui devraient être dissonantes mais auxquelles on s’est habituée en jazz : 3ce mineure sur un accord majeur, quarte augmentée, et septième de dominante sur un accord de septième majeure.

Pour la petite histoire, ces notes viennent des chants esclaves noirs qui, lorsqu’ils essayaient de chanter les chants des blancs américains (car à force de génération, ils avaient oublié leurs chants africains), avaient tendance à baisser la tierce ou la quinte. C’était naturel chez eux, ils ne pouvaient pas s’en empêcher (et c’est toujours le cas)

http://www.apprendrepianojazz.fr/2012/08/gammes-pentatoniques-et-gamme-de-blues.html


 

EIGHT BARS BLUES – apprendre à jouer le blues à 8 mesures au piano 

antoineherve.com


 

Beginning blues stride lesson 2/2 (crazy bass lines) accords approches

 


 

Boogie Woogie Blues Piano by Silvan Zingg

Here’s a video of Silvan Zingg and his band playing his composition “Silvan’s Night Train Trip”. Enzo Muci is on Bass and Michel Denis on drums. This is a very typical Boogie Woogie style. Silvan Zingg is a Swiss pianist, specializing in Boogie Woogie, Blues and Jazz. In 2002 he created the International Boogie Woogie festival located in Lugano, Switzerland. Zingg was born in a musical family and was already playing piano before he started school. He has performed all over the world, having given his first concert at the age of 18. He has performed with Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, B.B.King, Michel Petrucciani, and many other artists.

 

Blues Piano is very popular today. 

There are many styles of Blues Piano, including Boogie Woogie, Swing, Jazz, R&B, Rock and Roll, New Orleans, Barrelhouse, and Chicago. Most blues is played in a 12 bar pattern, although there are variations using 16 bars and even styles of blues waltz in 3/4 time.

Here are some well known traditional blues artists:

Albert Ammons
Leroy Carr
Ray Charles
James Crutchfield
Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport
Blind John Davis
Fats Domino
Champion Jack Dupree
Cecil Gant
Dr John
Henry Gray