Blues

Blues is a music genre^[3] and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s.^[2] Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

Quick Facts Stylistic origins, Cultural origins ...

Blues
American blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell in 1960
Stylistic origins	Work songs Spirituals folk music[1]
Cultural origins	1860s,[2] Deep South, U.S.
Derivative forms	Bluegrass country jazz jug band ragtime rhythm and blues rock and roll
Subgenres
Subgenres Boogie-woogie classic female blues country blues Delta blues dirty blues electric blues hokum blues jump blues
Fusion genres
Fusion genres Biker metal blues rock desert blues gospel blues punk blues soul blues
Regional scenes
Regional scenes British blues Canadian blues Chicago blues Delta blues Detroit blues Hill country blues Kansas City blues Louisiana blues Memphis blues New Orleans blues Piedmont blues St. Louis blues Swamp blues Texas blues West Coast blues
Other topics
List of genres list of musicians lists of musicians by genre list of standards origins African-American music

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"The Blues" is characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans.^[4]

Many elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community, the spirituals. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery. Later, the development of juke joints. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues and West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock developed, which blended blues styles with rock music.