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Author Topic: Blues music  (Read 866 times)

Ancre

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Blues music
« on: March 23, 2011, 01:53:06 pm »
Good evening everyone !

I've wanted to play music for a long time and I recently purchased a ukulele. I'm truly terrible at it but it's quite some fun to play ! So anyways, I've been browsing youtube in search of nice ukulele videos, and I've found some pretty amazing blues music pieces on the ukulele.

Now, I'd really like to know more, but I don't know much about music in general, and I don't know a thing about blues - and searching "blues music" on youtube only gets you so far. So I'm asking you, Bay12forumer who knows a bit more than me ! What's the great blues musicians everyone should know ? (Yes, I'm that clueless.) Where can I read about the history of blues (wikipedia gives me technical music stuff I don't understand, and not lengthy articles about where it was born and the different subgenres or whatever exciting history there is behind that kind of music) ? It's probably a very wide subject I know, and I don't know where to start really. I'm not limiting myself on ukulele songs also, I'm pretty sure blues on ukulele is pretty marginal in blues music anyways.

Thank you for your help and I wish you a nice day ! :) Ancre.
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Vector

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Re: Blues music
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2011, 04:36:38 pm »
Learn the blues scale and play it over and over again.  Do it until you want to beat it to death.  Then get your favorite tune and start improvising.  I recommend American bluegrass and old-timey fiddle tunes, to start.

I used to play fiddle, and one of the things I was supposed to learn was blues... this is basically how I learned it.
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ChairmanPoo

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Re: Blues music
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2011, 09:10:50 pm »
John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Screaming Jay Hawkings, B. B. King (of these I particularily like JL Hooker and Muddy Waters)
More modern ones: Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton... Dire Straits, too, at least some of their songs.

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hemmingjay

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Re: Blues music
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2011, 07:31:16 am »
Great list so far. Here is a few more accessible blues musicians. Slim Harpo(James Moore), Jimmy Reed and in addition to the blues scale listen to AC/DC who are blues fueled rockers. Their music is almost entirely blues scale.

Also, I second Muddy Waters as being one of the best.


edit: OMG, I forgot Stevie Ray Vaughan!!!!!!
« Last Edit: March 24, 2011, 07:38:53 am by hemmingjay »
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Miggy

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Re: Blues music
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2011, 09:57:29 am »
I'd just like to bust in and say that if you're completely new to playing music, don't restrict yourself to a single genre immediately. Learn the instrument first, then learn the genres. Learning how to improvise sweetly over a scale is not only a difficult feat in itself, but especially so if you're not comfortable hitting the notes to begin with. :D

That's not to say you shouldn't play blues, though. Just keep your eyes open, and don't reject music because it's not blues.
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