STYLE CHARACTERISTICS-1 Flashcards
The Blues
-Call and response
-Descending melody from field hollers
-Use of blue notes
-Simple harmonic progression (I, IV, V)
-Strophic song form
Rural (country) blues
-Male solo singer
-Self-accompanied on acoustic instruments
-Irregular meters
-Do NOT always use 12-bar progression
-Instrumental solos are rare
Texas rural blues
-Single-note bass string runs
-Arpeggiated chords
-Alternate playing on bass and treble strings
-Single-string melody fills
-Blind Lemon Jefferson (Matchbox Blues)
Mississippi delta blues
-Frequent sliding from note to note
-Slide guitar
-Wailing style of singing (forlorn)
-Small melodic range
-Intricate polyrhythms
-Rhythmic chordal fills (rather than melodic)
-Charley Patton “father of the delta blues”
-Robert Johnson (Cross Road Blues)
Urban City Blues
-Male singer accompanied by group
-Big, loud sound
-More regular meter
-12-bar progressions used almost exclusively
-Instrumental solos on recordings
-Instruments: electric guitar, acoustic bass, drums, piano, harmonic, horns
Texas Urban Blues
-Generally use horns in backup band
-Saxophone often the soloing instrument
-Strong piano bass
-Aaron “T-Bone” Walker (Call It Stormy Monday Blues)
Chicago Blues
-Use of slide guitar
-Frequent use of bent notes
-Frequent use of double-stopped strings, bent double-notes
-Intricate rhythm patterns, polyrhythms
-Muddy Waters (Blow Wind Blow)
Boogie Woogie
-Uses barrelhouse rhythm
-Steady pattern (ostinato) in left hand
-Uses 12-bar blues progression
-Complex polyrhythms between the two hands
-Meade “Lux” Lewis (Honky Tronk Train Blues)
Southern country
-Simple melodies (narrow range)
-Simple rhythms, clear meters
-Use of two-beat bass
-Little elaborate instrumental improvisation
-Vocalists often have a nasal quality, use yodeling technique
-Texts often about unrequited love, jilted lovers
-Jimmie Rodgers (Blue Yodel)
-Hank Williams (Move It On Over)
Southwestern country swing
-Mixes elements of Southern country with big band swing
-Added drums, piano, steel guitar, and often horn section to country string band
-Bob Willis (Swing Blues)
Rhythm and Blues
-Strophic song form
-aab blues text form
-Descending melody, blues notes
-12-bar blues progression
-Ostinato bass line
-Barrelhouse rhythm
-“smooch tenor” (ballads), “shouter” or “screamer” (adult quality lyrics), solosit usually saxophone
-Louis Jordan/Tympany Five (Choo Choo Ch’Boogie)
Northern band rock ‘n’ roll
-Steady, mechanical meter
-Fast tempos
-Quick and even surface rhythms
-Staccato guitar chords on the backbeat
-A slapped, walking bass line
-Bill Haley and the Comets
New Orleans Dance Rock
-Overall bass foundation
-Boogie woogie barrelhouse rhythm
-Triplet feel
-Rhythms and meters are looser
-Surface rhythms vary from lively, bouncy beat to a slow, intense shuffle
-Lead vocalists featured prominently
-Rarely any backup singers
Memphis country rock
-Emphasis on backbeat
-12-bar blues format
-Instrumentation (string bands)
-Strict rhythms
-Nasal singing style
-Twangy
-Instrumentation: lead electric guitar, lead vocal, generally no backup singers
-Lead guitar style: bright, tinny character, corresponds with nasal vocal
-Vocal characteristics: stuttering, yelps, cracked falsetto, sometimes slur words together, nasal singing
-Fast tempo
-Propelled by slap bass
-Developed principally at Sun Studios
Carl Perkins (guitar style)
-Fingerpicking on electric guitar
-Right hand dampens string
-Single, double string bends
-Extended chords (9th and 13th)
-Syncopated rhythms
-Chord anticipations
