The Blues

Bessie Smith (1894 - 1937)

The Blues originated in the American South after Emancipation, evolving from Spirituals and African American work songs. Common musical techniques included pitch-bending, call-and-response, and the use of "blue" notes.

Blue notes are tones outside the prevailing mode. These were eventually somewhat standardized into the "Blues scale," a hexatonic scale consisting of the tonic, minor third (♭3), subdominant, tritone (♯4), dominant, and minor subtonic (♭7).

C Blues Scale

The Blues became prominent in the early 20th century, and singers like Ma Rainey (1886 - 1939) and Bessie Smith (1894 - 1937) helped to popularize the genre on a wide scale.

Structurally, the Blues tended to fall into "12-bar Blues Form."

I	I	I	I
IV	IV	I	I
V	IV	I	I