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Read about this pioneering blues artist

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe- "Didn't It Rain?" Live 1964 (Reelin' In The Years Archive)

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Robert Johnson - Love In Vain - High Quality

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B.B. King was an American musician. He was an important figure in the development of blues music. He created music for many decades on his guitar named Lucille. B.B. King was...

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The blues is a form of music that started in the United States during the start of the 20th century. It was started by former African slaves from spirituals, praise songs, and chants. The first blues songs were called Delta blues. These songs came from the area near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Many afro-Americans migrated to the north esp. in the northwest of the United States, to find work. They took the blues with them and developed it into new styles. The most important is the Chicago Blues, which is played with electric amplified instruments. But other cities and states have their own form of Blues developed from the Delta Blues (f. e. Texas Blues, West Coast Blues and others).

Chord pattern

Blues is based on a simple pattern. "Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel"- Jimi Hendrix. A common form for the blues is a repeating 12 bar form (each bar has 4 beats). This is put together as 3 phrases or sections, each being 4 bars long. The basic blues only needs 3 chords, one based on the first note of the scale - the tonic chord, one based on the fourth note of the scale - the subdominant chord, and one based on the fifth note of the scale - the dominant chord. The first section or phrase of 4 bars only uses the tonic chord. A common variation is to use the subdominant chord in the second bar. The second phrase has 2 bars (8 beats) of subdominant chord then 2 bars of tonic chord. The third phrase has 1 bar (4 beats) of dominant chord, 1 bar of subdominant chord and finishes with 2 bars of tonic chord.

In a scale based on the note C the blues pattern would be like this:
C, Eb, F, F#, G, Bb, C.

Melodic pattern

The melody of the simplest blues scales are based on the minor pentatonic scale for example C Eflat G A Bflat C, with extra notes (called "blue notes") added like this C Eflat Gflat G A Bflat C. Blue notes do not normally fit a scale, but they give the music a special feeling.

Lyric pattern

The lyrics (words) are usually about life, more specifically, the bad things in life. They are simple blues songs that are also based around the form of 3 phrases. The first phrase is set over the first 4 bars of music. The second phrase words are a repetition of the first phrase, this always happens and emphasises the message. The third phrase completes the "story" and rhymes (ends with the same sound) as the first line. This verse from Robert Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" shows how these phrases work in a song:

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please

Blues influenced music

The blues have made a difference in newer American and Western popular music, such as jazz, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, and country music, as well as common pop songs.

Notable blues musicians

Images for kids

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The blues is a form of music that started in the United States during the start of the 20th century. It was started by former African slaves from spirituals, praise songs, and chants. The first blues songs were called Delta blues. These songs came from the area near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

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Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer. She is considered by some to be the greatest jazz singer of all time. Holiday is also known by her nickname Lady Day. Holiday was…

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In 1938 Fitzgerald recorded a song based on the popular "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" nursery rhyme. That recording sold more than a million copies, and Fitzgerald became famous. During the 1940s she toured the United States with a popular jazz group. Fitzgerald also performed outside the country and soon became an international star. Audiences enjoyed the singer's rare ability to glide between low and high notes. Fitzgerald also became a master of "scat," which is a way of using the voice like an instrument by singing meaningless syllables.

In the 1950s, Fitzgerald began recording the "songbooks," a series of albums celebrating the works of well-known American composers. One songbook was devoted to the music of brothers Ira and George Gershwin. Her versions reportedly inspired Ira to say, "I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them." She also sang the music of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and others.

During her long career Fitzgerald recorded more than 100 albums of several kinds of music, including jazz, ballads, show tunes, and pop songs. She performed with such artists as jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie as well as singers Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. In addition to winning many Grammy awards for her recordings, Fitzgerald was honored with lifetime achievement awards by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Despite health problems, she continued to record and perform in her later years. Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California.

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In 1938 Fitzgerald recorded a song based on the popular "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" nursery rhyme. That recording sold more than a million copies, and Fitzgerald became famous. During the 1940s she toured the United States with a popular jazz group. Fitzgerald also performed outside the country and soon became an international star.

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In 1938 Fitzgerald recorded a song based on the popular "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" nursery rhyme. That recording sold more than a million copies, and Fitzgerald became famous. During the 1940s she toured the United States with a popular jazz group. Fitzgerald also performed outside the country and soon became an international star. Audiences enjoyed the singer's rare ability to glide between low and high notes. Fitzgerald also became a master of "scat," which is a way of using the voice like an instrument by singing meaningless syllables.

In the 1950s, Fitzgerald began recording the "songbooks," a series of albums celebrating the works of well-known American composers. One songbook was devoted to the music of brothers Ira and George Gershwin. Her versions reportedly inspired Ira to say, "I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them." She also sang the music of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and others.

During her long career Fitzgerald recorded more than 100 albums of several kinds of music, including jazz, ballads, show tunes, and pop songs. She performed with such artists as jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie as well as singers Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. In addition to winning many Grammy awards for her recordings, Fitzgerald was honored with lifetime achievement awards by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Despite health problems, she continued to record and perform in her later years. Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California.

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In 1938 Fitzgerald recorded a song based on the popular "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" nursery rhyme. That recording sold more than a million copies, and Fitzgerald became famous. During the 1940s she toured the United States with a popular jazz group. Fitzgerald also performed outside the country and soon became an international star.

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Kids learn about the biography and life of jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong including his early life in New Orleans, learning to play the trumpet, the nickname Satchmo, moving to Chicago, and fun facts.

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Nina Simone "Love Me Or Leave Me" on The Ed Sullivan Show

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Dizzy Gillespie Quintet-(Jazz 625) 1966.

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Billie Holiday & Count Basie - God Bless The Child +

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Show of the Week - Count Basie and his Orchestra (1965)

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Louis Armstrong - When the Saints go Marching in

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Louis Armstrong - When the Saints go Marching in

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Louis Armstrong "When The Saints Go Marching In" on The Ed Sullivan Show

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Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

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Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

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Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

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Little Richard - Tutti Frutti (Official Lyric Video)

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Aretha Franklin | Respect | 1967 | Best Version

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Etta James Performs "At Last" at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

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Diana Ross and the Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love

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Diana Ross and the Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love

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The Supremes "You Can't Hurry Love" on The Ed Sullivan Show

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The Temptations "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" on The Ed Sullivan Show

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Bill Withers - Lean On Me (BBC In Concert, May 11, 1974)

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Sam Cooke - A change is gonna come - 1963

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Prince " Starfish and Coffee" with the Muppets