Define the blues

HAL9000

Lots of us here (me included) say we like listening to or playing blues, but what exactly is the blues?

Certainly not the 12 bar format - I'm aware of 8, 10, 16 bar formats that are still very obviously blues.

The major/minor ambiguity? Nope, that exists in rock too.

How about the 'call and response' thing between instruments and/or vocals then? Well maybe, but not all blues has that.

Phrasing or feel? Certainly important, but then Howlin' Wolf doesn't sound like Muddy Waters doesn't sound like Peter Green doesn't sound like Walter Trout.

Maybe a mix of all the above? 

Ok, I know these things can't always be categorised (and possibly shouldn't be) but what do you think it is that makes something clearly a blues number?

scrumhalf

The blues ain't nothing but a cold rainy day, and all night long it stays that way.

oh_pollo

The first paragraph of the wikipedia entry is probably as succinct a definition as you're going to get.

RustySpanner

It's like pornography. No fixed definition, but you know it when you see (or hear) it. 

Defining music by genre is pointless anyway. 
It's all just noise - some you like and some you don't.

Nothing sadder than two grown men arguing on the internet about whether something is Metal.

zepp76

The blues ain't nothing but a good man feeling bad.

fastonebaz

I think blues guitar is more about facial expressions than structure. 

That and the horrible painful treatment isolation and captivity of a slave from the olden days. 

viz

It’s what you hear when you wake up this morning

fandango

Blues must be common, because everyday i got the blues, and yet the blues on Mondays are stormy, implying blues aren't always the same. Indeed, as we now know that there's different shades of blue. How blue can you get? There's the same old blues, yet there's also future blues. Are they old or new? I've heard someone sing they're forever blue? And yet, we find blue shadows, which are fleeting and don't age. But hang on, didn't blues have a baby called rock n roll? Now I've got the moody blue, because I can't define the blues. Sigh. I now got to play some blues.





Eleven references for those who like a little challenge. 

JerkMoans

Your old lady walked out, your dog died and you got nothin’ but half a bottle of whisky.

ArchtopDave

JerkMoans said:

Your old lady walked out, your dog died and you got nothin’ but half a bottle of whisky.

Dang.... even the bottle's half empty.

earwighoney

Blues like many genres has really branched out from it's origins, and consequently some of the branches have evolved to be quite different from one and another.  A similar things applies to heavy metal and the almost endless subgenres that seem to exist. 

JerkMoans

ArchtopDave said:

JerkMoans said:

Your old lady walked out, your dog died and you got nothin’ but half a bottle of whisky.

Dang.... even the bottle's half empty.

If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all 

fandango

earwighoney said:

Blues like many genres has really branched out from it's origins, and consequently some of the branches have evolved to be quite different from one and another.  A similar things applies to heavy metal and the almost endless subgenres that seem to exist. 

The Blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll - Muddy Waters (Hard Again 1977)

RustySpanner

"If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all "

True.
If I fell in a bag of nipples, I'd  crawl out sucking my thumb. 

I currently have the blues because I'm not Magic Sam and didn't  buy that bargain of a Vintage 335 copy at the Cumbria guitar show.
Priviledged white boy blues. 

And it's gone dark, so I can"t even see my jumper hanging on the line.

Corvus

Son House: you don't know whether to cut their throat or cry again. B L U S E.

digitalkettle

JerkMoans said:

ArchtopDave said:

JerkMoans said:

Your old lady walked out, your dog died and you got nothin’ but half a bottle of whisky.

Dang.... even the bottle's half empty.

If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all 

Started out with nuthin'...still got most of it left

Jalapeno

More of Son House

 My definition is simpler - a b5 and screwed up forehead