The Many Types of Blues

[Tim]

I have always been interested in learning the difference between the ‘types’ of blues. I often heard people talk about New Orleans blues, Chicago blues. Mississippi blues, Delta blues, etc.

So I did a study on the topic. The following is what I put together to share with my fellow fretters. For those of you who have more knowledge and/or first hand experience please share it with the rest of us.

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The phrase New Orleans blues is sometimes used to refer to a type of blues or R&B music that is characterized by extensive use of piano and horn sections, complex rhythms and celebratory lyrics. The lazy, plodding rhythms are perhaps most distinctive of all of Louisiana blues.

The Louisiana blues is a type of blues music that is characterized by plodding rhythms that make the sound dark and tense. As a result of this sound, a subgenre appeared called swamp blues (based largely out of Baton Rouge), which emphasizes the dark sound and laidback rhythms of the standard Louisiana blues.

The St. Louis blues is a type of blues music. It is usually more piano-based than other forms of the blues, and is closely related to the jump blues, ragtime and piano blues. Typically, a small number of singers, a pianist and a few other instruments (used primarily for rhythm) make up a band.

The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois by adding electricity, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic string/harmonica Delta blues. The music developed mainly as a result of the "Great Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial cities of the North, and Chicago in particular, in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Memphis blues is a style of blues music that was created in 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows, and was associated with Memphis' main entertainment area, Beale Street. Some musicologists believe that it was in the Memphis blues that the separate roles of rhythm and lead guitar were defined. This two guitar concept has become standard in rock and roll and much of popular music.

Detroit blues is blues music played by musicians resident in Detroit, Michigan, particularly that played in the 1940s and 50s. Detroit blues originated when Delta blues performers migrated north from the Mississippi Delta and Memphis, Tennessee to work in Detroit's industrial plants in the 1920s and 30s. Typical Detroit blues was very similar to Chicago blues in style. The sound was distinguished from Delta blues by its use of electric amplified instruments and a more eclectic assortment of instruments, including the bass guitar and piano.

The Piedmont blues is a type of blues music characterized by a unique finger picking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb bass pattern supports a melody using treble strings. The Piedmont blues typically refers to a greater area than Piedmont, which refers to the East Coast of the United States from about Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia. Piedmont blues musicians come from this area, as well as Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida.

The Swamp blues is a form of blues music that is highly evolved and specialized. It arose from the Louisiana blues and is known for its laidback rhythms which dominate a music that is simultaneously funky and often lighthearted — for a blues sub-genre. Influences from Cajun music (such as zydeco) can also be heard in the sound, which has long been based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jay Miller's Crowley, Louisiana-based Excello Records was perhaps the best-acknowledged label supporting swamp blues.

Texas blues is a subgenre of the blues. It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles.
Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900s among African Americans who worked in oilfields, ranches and lumber camps. In the 1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson innovated the style by using jazz-like improvisation and single string accompaniment on a guitar; Jefferson's influence defined the field and inspired later performers, like Lightnin' Hopkins and T-Bone Walker. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many bluesmen moved to cities like Galveston, Houston and Dallas. It was from these cities that a new wave of popular performers appeared, including slide guitarist and gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson and legendary vocalist Big Mama Thornton. Duke Records and Peacock Records were the most important labels of the scene.

The West Coast blues is a type of blues music characterized by jazz and jump blues influences, strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos (which originated from Texas blues players relocated to California).

The British blues is a type of blues music that originated in the late 1950s. (Though it would perhaps better be described as "UK Blues", taking into account the notable Irish, Scottish and Welsh band members of the time, eg. Jack Bruce, Rory Galgher (Taste) etc.). American blues musicians like B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf were massively popular in Britain at the time. Muddy Waters is said to be the first electric blues player to perform in front of British audiences circa 1959, and others like Sonny Boy Williamson and Chuck Berry followed him. British teens began playing the blues, imitating various styles of American blues. Gradually, a new distinctly British sound arose by the mid-1960s. This form of the blues, and various derivatives, became massively popular in the US, leading to the British Invasion.


NOTE:

Many blues elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. Sylviane Diouf has pointed to several specific traits—such as the use of melisma and a wavy, nasal intonation—that suggest a connection between the music of West and Central Africa and blues[8]. Ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik may have been the first to contend that certain elements of the blues have roots in the Islamic music of West and Central Africa.

[Tone2TheBone]

Hey interesting info Tim...thank you.

[warren0728]

here's a great website for all things blues...

http://thebluehighway.com/

ww

[Tim]

Warren - Cool site. It will take a while to go through the whole thing. Looks like another forum to join. When will I ever have time to play guitar?

[warren0728]

i'm not on their forum....but the website is a wealth of information!

ww