The World's Most Important Chord Progression

Why the Blues is one of the most influential musical inventions in American history.
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The past century has seen the rise of lots of new styles of music, from jazz to rock to hip-hop to funk, but at the heart of it all sits possibly the most important musical invention in American history: The Blues. The genre lent a voice to struggling communities in the late 1800s, and it's persisted in one form or another ever since, helping shape the musical vocabulary of a nation and the world. You can't understand modern music without understanding the Blues, and you can learn a lot about the Blues just by studying its signature song form: The 12-Bar Blues. It's an iconic device that's been used to great effect by artists in all sorts of styles for over a century, and it just might be the most influential chord progression ever written.
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Script w/ sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1y...
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

[@12tone]

The first 500 people who click the link in the description will get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium: skl.sh/12tone23 Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) I tried to choose my wording carefully on this one, but just in case it didn't come across in the video, I want to draw a very clear distinction here between "different from traditional European musical vocabulary" and "bad". A lot of theorists fail to properly differentiate between those two things and wind up, intentionally or otherwise, implying that the Blues is a "lesser" art form than the harmonic language of the Common Practice period. So, to be absolutely 100% crystal clear: The Blues is great, it's just as valid an approach as Classical music, and honestly it's probably a lot more influential these days. 2) Again, I should stress that while the 12-bar pattern is helpful in understanding the Blues, it is not the extent of the tradition, nor does it represent the entire musical vocabulary. It's just a good starting point for exploration.

[@HungryGuyStories]

After going back and watching your early videos, I noticed that your voice has gradually become deeper over time.

[@Cesar-ey7wu]

have you some examples of recordings where harmonic 7th or microtonal blue notes can be heard ?

[@east5871]

12tone “I want to draw a very clear distinction here...”. Bahahahaha I see what you did there.

[@andystube6713]

Could you do a video about Billie Eilish's music and what makes it different? What makes it so catchy, how she writes music or mabye what scales/notes it uses. An "Understanding" this song type of video mabye?

[@robertbrawley5048]

No thankyou . I will pass

[@chickennuggies906]

„it’s all over the place“ *draws zubat*

[@paulsam4159]

i don't get it and i'm upset for that

[@Cyssane]

@@paulsam4159 I don't get the drawing of whatever-it-was when he mentioned a "moan". It didn't look like anything that moans -- it looked like a worm? Kind of? PS: I didn't get the zubat reference either.

[@solsar3011]

Paul Sam I’m guessing it’s a Pokémon go reference?

[@roadogsc]

@@solsar3011 in the original pokemon games (and many other pokemon games) zubat always showed up in caves every few steps, it was a very annoying thing and was hated by pokemon players.

[@KrBme78]

​@@roadogsc The Pokemon Red&Blue Honest Trailer referred to Zubat as "cave herpes" and it's a very accurate.

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

There's no way to explain the blues and the plagal cadence at the end, and the somewhat unusual 12-bar structure without addressing the West African griot tradition and the neighbouring traditions, the Chadic/Yoruba/Niger continuum. There you get your shuffle rhythm, you get your blues scale, you get your ''staying on the tonic for as long as I feel like it, then go to the IV sound for a culmination and then go back" thing, you get a lot of 14 bar (three phrases for 12 bars and a 2-bar tag) form or similar. Introduce the V chord briefly, drop the tag and you get the blues. Also the Dorian sound of the R&B/Disco is "stay on I minor for tonic sound, then IV major for some tension, then go back" can be traced to this sensibility, I think.

[@yubtubtime]

That is insightful, my dude 👍

[@Markle2k]

And Malian music. I don't know if you already referred to that because I am not familiar with the slash terms you used, but the music from international Malian artists just screams "blues!!!"

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

@@Markle2k Mali is one of the countries in West Africa, so yes, it's 100% in that continuum. Chad and Niger is right there and Yoruba is the largest language/culture/religion/tribal umbrella or affiliation in that region.

[@saam6768]

@@mentalitydesignvideo Psh. Real music theorists know its bc plagal cadence just sounds sick. the squares can keep the authentic.

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

​@@saam6768 Psh x2 Authentic is for squares Plagal is for theory dweebs Real men use backdoor resolution, bVII7 -> I

[@mjtsuk]

Great shout out to the Riemann Zeta Function!

[@diegosanchez894]

"unproven theory" *writes out Riemann function maths and music nerd? this channel's great!

[@gooball2005]

*math

[@nelsonnicholson6175]

@@gooball2005 Britain.

[@karlwaugh30]

**maths (for there is more one)

[@dawgd0g]

I have been subscribed to this man for over a year now and I just noticed he is left-handed

[@luxinveritate3365]

Lol, I am too and it was my wife who pointed it out that he was, a couple days ago.

[@mesientogut6701]

Didn't he say once that the animator is not him?

[@charlesporsbjer2416]

@@quave_ @TokaM @Nick It used to be a right handed guy helping him on his first couple of videos. He did draw a bit better. Now he does it himself to save money and he's gotten better with time!

[@hannabaal150]

They are also drawing from right to left. It does keep the hand out of the way of the drawings. I've always liked illustrators.

[@want-diversecontent3887]

@mark heyne we can't see through hands

[@reillywalker195]

One thing that becomes more apparent about the blues if you play the harmonica is that the V chord is often played as a minor v chord rather than as a major V chord. That effectively puts the music into the Mixolydian mode, further stripping away the sense of resolution to the tonic and creating a sound that's bright but wants to resolve down rather than up.

[@theccarbiter]

Usually the V stays major even when playing minor blues

[@PaulGarnerBlueskiwi]

The I and the V both have an ambiguous major/minor "blues" harmony. It's very common for lead instruments to be emphasising the minor 3rd of the V chord, even while the rhythm instruments are staying on the major side playing dominant 7th or 9th chords. Mixolydian fits over it, but I wouldn't say blues is "in" Mixolydian mode because then you lose this important sense of ambiguous tonality. Blues harmony is its own thing.

[@GizzyDillespee]

What happens is you're on the flat7th of the I, and then you forget to let it go when you move to the V major, so that ends up sounding a bit minor too, when that happens.

[@ericchin739]

Yeah, it's a borrowed chord. Very common technique in music, especially on the V or v chord.

[@DanteMorius1]

I saw the title and I was like "Yeah, I know that stuff", 6 minutes later it was more like "I KNEW SHIT MAN". Thanks for that!

[@liquidsolids9415]

Very cool video. Any two guitar players can say to each other “12-bar blues in E” and instantly make great music together, even if they’ve never met before. Thanks!

[@hannabaal150]

For years and years. It's the ticket in.

[@Sierrahtl]

Absolutely

[@oliversutton7592]

5:37 Shine On You Crazy Diamond🎶

[@Apost0345]

I couldn't have been the only one that noticed it lmao

[@Razz415]

Ah, I remember memorizing the blues scales in High School. It was almost like magic. Made improv easy. Lost all that now that I don't play anymore, but yeah over 100 years later blues defined most of the music I listen to today.

[@lucianodebenedictis6014]

I think blues approach to harmony through it and its derived genres is so engrained in our generations that it's harder to explain why it's different from a common practice perspective than the opposite (how common practice has certain rules that aren't relevant in blues)

[@bodanerius]

Check out some of the really early blues recordings of the musicians who was born in the 1800s. The 12-bar structure is a rarity, sometimes theres turnarounds but not always. Robert Johnson didnt always follow the 12-bar format. And listen to Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night. The original Black Betty, early John Lee Hooker etc. The one constant are blue notes. Both in the vocals and the open chord tunings. Not the 12-bar. That came later.

[@rod9785]

Yeh, add Lightnin Hopkins to that list of guys who would stick to the 1 indefinitely, then only shift to the 4 or the turnaround 5 as the story demanded, not the rules of 12 bar.

[@andrewsemisch7297]

I was going to comment something similar. Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Bo Carter, whoever didn’t really follow the 12-bar much at all.

[@brucekentallen]

This wasn't on his extensive wikipedia research lmao

[@thebrazilianatlantis165]

"The 12-bar structure is a rarity" You're flatly wrong about that. And Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker weren't born in the 1800s. And Blind Willie Johnson made no blues recordings. "That came later" Nope, the two blues songs that can be traced back the furthest, "Joe Turner" and "Got No More Home Than A Dog," used 12-bar.

[@malaquiasalfaro81]

Drone notes and a low growl or mumble for the singing. Earliest blues were called secular spirituals, which tended to sound pretty haunting, as it moved away from a heavenly hope in spirituals, and expressed the excruciating physical emotional and religious pain of an oppressed people.

[@awookieandagerman]

Like I always say, everything always comes back to the two B's: the Blues and The Beatles. If you find a modern song with no connection to either one, I'll be surprised.

[@anon8740]

Is Shostakovich modern

[@luigivercotti6410]

Anon Yup, but no songs. You'll get'em next time.

[@anon8740]

@@luigivercotti6410 okay technically you're correct, the best type of correct. But really in a colloquial setting, like a KZbin comment section, songs are just any musical work so Shostakovich made plenty. But yes you are technically correct.

[@anon8740]

@@luigivercotti6410 what about early Latin American music? Like afro Cuban stuff? That stuff was kinda developed separately from what the north American blacks were doing with blues

[@luigivercotti6410]

Anon Emphasis on "early". When the tradition was brought to the US and became mainstream there was naturally a strong influence of the established style, in order to make it palatable to a foreign audience. And regarding Shosty, seeing as he idolised Stravinsky, ie a Jazz-God almost equal to Miles Davis in power, and even wrote an entire jazz suite, I wouldn't exactly call him uncompromised.

[@ec0ec0ec000]

PLEASE go deeper into this topic! it left me quite intrigued.

[@protostargaming3972]

When I was a boy down in South Illinois I heard a man playin' the blues oh what a wonderful noise He had an old guitar but not a dollar to his name Makin' music so sad but he was happy just the same He said son come on here, let me give you a clue If you want a happy life you gotta learn to play the blues

[@linatwoones]

Oh my gosh this is that Phineas and Ferb song right

[@protostargaming3972]

@@linatwoones Yes!!

[@AndromedaCripps]

A much more thorough explanation of the blues than I've ever heard, even in my Jazz Theory course that started by explaining the blues 😂

[@songfulmusicofsongs]

Well, perhaps in Jazz they don't really care about the folk blues. It was the city jazz-blues from the beginning.

[@richardwentworth6904]

"You could only really use one chord quality or else you'd have to fret with additional fingers as well, so making everything dominant made actually playing the chords a lot easier." Personally I'm not aware of any early players who used a dominant tuning. I'd be surprised to find any. Besides, slides in blues are typically used for playing vocal-like melodic parts or licks (and often with additional use of the fingers for fretting anyway), not strumming chords.

[@mostesthighest]

I can't tune a guitar very well because everything sounds good to me

[@hannabaal150]

Keep playin', it doesn't matter, it will sort itself out, just keep playin'.

[@baronvonbeandip]

Very relatable... but with music in general.

[@ZipplyZane]

I actually continue to argue that the IV7 chord does resolve to the I chord---just in a nonstandard way. It's a plagal cadence with an addtional note that brings it home--that 7th. Since it is the flat 3 or shart 2of the key, it can resolve up by halfstep to the 3. In other words, if you're in C, then the F7 chord has an Eb, which resolves up to an E. Combine that with the plagal cadence and you get a sort of resolution. I've actually used it outside of a blues context instead of the more typical Fm-C (IVmin-I)progression, when I need the A natural for the melody. It could kinda be my signature sound at this point--if I ever actually released my comps to the public.

[@ZipplyZane]

@fjf sjdnx Someone else doing it wouldn't make it not characteristic of my music, any more than other people having a gruff voice makes it not characteristic of Louis Armstrong's singing.

[@MischieviousJirachi]

@fjf sjdnx When? How???

[@macsnafu]

The blues progression is a great way to add movement to your music, especially when you don't know what else to do. And it doesn't even have to sound bluesy. I've added it in some rather unexpected places in my own music. 78th

[@chzzyg2698]

Great info! I've been studying Delta Blues lately, getting back into playing guitar again, and when I tried to dig deeper than the 20's I hit a brick wall. The recordings were getting more and more scarce, and horrible in audio quality for obvious reasons. Knowing the name W.C. Handy, gives me a starting point. Thanks!

[@campsjams]

I understood this 10x more than the last video, and enjoyed both the same! Love the channel.

[@colonelsanders1617]

The 12 bar blues that we used in my high school jazz band warm up was | 1^7 | 4^7 | 1^9 | 1^9 | | 4^9 | 4^9 | 1^9 | 1^9 | | 2m7 | 5^7 | 1^7 | 5^7 | It was cool I really liked the 9 chords

[@mrrodgers5871]

the ii-V plus the quick-change makes that much more of a jazz blues than a traditional one. Plus the 9s. Not a bad thing at all, nor wrong, but just putting it in the historical context of the many blues out there.

[@sepehrsetakhr4996]

Please make more videos on blues! And explore it more; thanks

[@terryremaly957]

Thanks love this channel

[@dustcircle]

You're such a good educator

[@pilchardpliskin9381]

Interesting thing about the 4:5:6:7 chord is that 19 tone equal temperament approximates it well

[@fernandolamadrid9889]

And 12 does too, it's just that 12 folds the three main flavours of minor sevenths into one note that can stand for all of them. 19 distinguishes the harmonic seventh but keeps the just minor and Pythagorean sevenths merged, and 22 distinguishes the just minor seventh but merges the Pythagorean and harmonic ones.

[@jeffyutzler309]

I can't wait to watch this video. I've been hearing about 12-bar blues my whole life but I don't yet really know what it is.

[@krisjaniswhittaker-lee6149]

Nice use of the Riemann zeta function at 6:10

[@TRKTKO]

Nicely done

[@BrandyHoelscher]

Your doodles are a delight. I get distracted watching the doodles and realize I wasn’t listening. :)

[@east5871]

Seriously you should have started with “Hey let me draw this out for you!” or “I don’t want to draw this out any longer than necessary but....”

[@kevinleonard9633]

Thanks for the free 2 months of skill share!!!

[@snir-music]

A though about the harmonic seven, It's actually rooted in the harmonic series, the harmonic series of C for instance, goes C c g c e g And then a wierd something in between A and Bb. Before reaching d and completing the pentatonic scale. Many pentatonic scales in the east use the Bb instead of the western standart A. And with ear tuning, it makes sense that they found what was purely phisical harmonic sounds that appear naturally with every note played. Which is in between the sixth and seventh.

[@randomguy263]

I'd love it if you could do an analysis of Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson.

[@loganwarnermusic]

Great song

[@VaughanMcAlley]

At university, one of Australia's best Blues pianists (Bob Sedergreen) explained Blues in terms of two tritones- rocking back and forth between C#-G and C-F#, which fits the A7-D7 narrative neatly. It would be great if some gnarled Blues legend had told him that when he was young, but who knows?

[@minogallone3053]

there's a book called Africa and blues by Gerhard Kubik who tries to find similarities of african music and the afromerican music

[@elizabethmaravillas5060]

i love hearing people rant about something theyre passionate abt even if i dont understand anything at all

[@Sam-qc6sz]

That is an amazing reason for which you drew Zubat

[@bombercountyblues]

Interesting how on a single string or in open tunings, the 1 the 4 and the 5 are where you find the harmonic notes.

[@Krieghandt]

Hey music theory nerd (Hey, me too) can you discuss Phillip Tag's extended tonal present, chord loops, and dual tonality? I would love to hear your views on this subject.

[@briankeegan8089]

A few thoughts on (1) the 7th chords not providing direction and (the absence of the 3rds for each if the triads. 1. 7th chords . . . are definitely used directionally, but perhaps its only left that way if you're familiar with the idiom. For example, if you were playing blues in A, it would be very common for the 1st 4 bars to go A-A-A-A7, and anyone familiar with the idiom feels E up to G as an arm waving signal of the impending shift to D. 2. Among the most common forms of blues is the shuffle, which is based in a power chord pair of the 1 and the 5, with a 5-6-dom7 melody. The missing 3rd means that minor versus major is dealer's choice. In A, play the m3 (C) and it feels more like blues, while if you play the major 3rd (C#) it feels more like country. Guitarists almost all freely trill between them, which is, again,idiomatic. At this point, i wouldn't even know what _THE_ blues scale is, because it's only a skeleton or a vestige of where I started. Over 12 bar blues in A, pretty much every note except A# works at some point. Even the F, in the 5th + 6th bars. if I feel like it. but usually hammered into an f#.

[@Invert_Scrub]

It's also worth remembering that the first Boues artists likely never gave any thought to theory. Chances are, they just played what "sounded good" to them.

[@MadassAlex]

I know I'm a year late to this comment, but here we go: 12 bar, dominant chords, pentatonic scales, and chromatic notes (such as the b5) are, in fact, blues theory common to blues musicians. That's what music theory is: Common understandings and terminologies about how music ought to be composed and played. Your comment was pretty frustrating because it implies a view on theory that defines it by academic or institutional verification. Music theory is just any idea about the composition of music.

[@Invert_Scrub]

@@MadassAlex @Windwalk Howdy friend. I guess my point is just that the academic verbiage came after the inception of the music. I seriously doubt the earliest artists were worrying about b5s or dominants in such language. Having never been exposed to formal theory, the vast majority of them were just imitating each other or drawing on previous musical exposure. Which, as we both know, is how music and culture evolves. Of course, blues evolved from call and response, gospel, and field songs. I think we'd both agree that academic language can be very cumbersome and exclusionary. All the formal analyses and definitions came after the fact upon inspection and retrospect.

[@MadassAlex]

@@Invert_Scrub Sure, but I'd argue that all of the above constitutes a form of theory. Even tuning to 12 tone equal temperament suggests a theoretical preference (or limitation). That's one great thing about music theory: There's no beginning and no end.

[@Invert_Scrub]

@@MadassAlex I can agree with that. Who says anything has to be analyzed or codified for it to be considered theory? I see what you mean, any emergence of a musical preference can be considered theory.

[@captainalex8003]

Title: The World's Most Important Chord Progression Viewer: Ah yes, the Four Chord Song Thumbnail: Exploring The 12 Bar Blues Viewer: WHAT THE F-- *glass breaks*

[@travsnipes1]

Hey 12 tone, I recently subscribed to nebula because I love yours and polyphonic content. Could you do a video on house of the raising sun? I’m assuming they are borrowing the d chord from Dorian and that the e major chord is a secondary dominant of a minor? But I’m curious what your thoughts are? Or your fans thoughts are? Anyway thank you for all of your content. This is one of my favorite channels. Keep on rocking.

[@thomasrivet2821]

Not sure on either the theory or the common colloquial name, but it seems to be an early version of a "rock box" where you move through notes in a rectangle on the fretboard -- like in Rock You Like A Hurricane, you get a box as the guitar ascends G, A, C, D, or Smells Like Teen Spirit, where the box gets a bit longer, F, A#, G#, C#, passing through G to get to that upper side. House of the Rising Sun follows this box on the 5th and 4th strings. If you can find an analysis of this box pattern, you've pretty much got an analysis of House of the Rising Sun's harmony (I'm sure you could do another analysis on how it switching between 3 variations on the box influences things). I'm no expert, but I feel it in harmonic minor so the box i iii IV VI feels very much in a single scale. There's definitely something interesting going on with those minor 6th leaps (F to Am and C to E) but I couldn't tell you what except that it shows up in versions of the box (like Teen Spirit). Edit: aand almost immediately realized watching more 12tone that that minor sixth leap might feel so right because the root of the first chord pulls down a half step to the fifth of the next, creating some sense of resolution, whether it's to the i chord or the V.

[@ethanrummel7638]

So I'm a blues guitarist, and its worth noting that part of playing over a 12 bar blues is an interesting mix of scales to fit whatever chord you're playing over. So I slip into Dorian if I'm playing over the IV and its in major, Aeolian if its minor, and might steal a few notes from the major scale over the I chord to emphasize that tonality. I suppose you could just view these as accidentals, but I honestly I am not an expert in this, and kind of learned just enough music theory to play guitar, and that's about it.

[@zbr76]

5:37 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond!

[@azunc9423]

Has a "understanding X song" video been done on Black Sabbath? I'd really love seeing a video on "The Straightener", my favorite outro ever.

[@stevehurl298]

In the time it takes to watch this video, you could listen to 3 blues classics & hear it for yourself. But yeah, if you want the book version, this is really good.

[@stairwaytoholiday]

Can you do a video on Suicidal Tendencies, specifically their chord patterns on How Can I Laugh Tomorrow, When I Can't even Smile Today, it's got such a weird and awesome sound and I'd love a deeper look into it

[@songfulmusicofsongs]

Can you also say more about the minor-major third (they often are played together or alternating or inbetween) and also blue notes (the b5 and other).

[@oedebiri]

European music is meant to climax and finish; it is hobby. African music is meant to continue forever; it is life.

[@veridicusmaximus6010]

What??? Stop!

[@AnimusInvidious]

It would have been cool of you to explore variations on the 12-bar pattern, of which there are numerous. Another video perhaps?

[@mixolyde]

Speaking of blues, I would love to see a video on Blue Travelers' Hook and how it is a slightly modified Pachelbel Canon in A, but blues-ier.

[@james8426]

Solid

[@thomasmacmillan]

If you haven't already, check out “The Hendrix Chord: Blues, Flexible Pitch Relationships, and Self-Standing Harmony” by Rob van der Bliek - from Popular Music, Vol. 26, No. 2 (May 2007), pp. 343-364.

[@RastaLlama]

Came for the explanation. Stayed for the doodles😁

[@stitchgrimly6167]

3:44 it only creates dissonance if you're using dominant 7ths (for eg.) instead of just major/minor triads, which is your next point. Continuity issue.

[@east5871]

I came here to learn about 12 bar blues and got an art lesson too!

[@lucasdelay89]

To my ear, one of the defining features of blues, along with the 12-bar chord progression, is the constant tension between major and minor. I hear it in Dark Was the Night, which I just listened because it was mentioned in the comments. Tell me if I'm wrong but this major/minor thing pops up everywhere in our current musical landscape, right? The most unlikely song that comes to my mind with this "mijor" bluesy feel is Kiss From a Rose. I guess you could call it modal interchange but I'm not completely sure what that means, so...

[@Panicagq2]

Yep, and bluesy players will use both major and minor pentatonic scales in the same song, even the same solo. It's part of what gives me chills when done well.

[@ivo1423]

The 4th augmented is the Blu note

[@AndriyVasylenko]

Could it be that W.C. Handy just happened to hear that particular progression, and there were other variations that didn't survive? I mean, that's basic harmony, but the number of bars and structure is counterintuitive: 4+2+2+1+1+2. Though, it sounds very natural, maybe we just got used to it.

[@omaravila5310]

I'd give Chopin credit for innovating his music style into what the blues evolved..

[@beenaplumber8379]

Do you think early slave descendants were listening to Chopin?

[@Sam-qc6sz]

5:38 Would that be like, on a guitar, ever so slightly bending the major sixth up but not fully reaching the minor seventh?

[@kirkmarshall2853]

Wait I always thought The Blues was made when Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Dark Lord? 😂 this was a great video

[@veridicusmaximus6010]

Wait! Wasn't early blues basically call and response without harmony or accompaniment? Handy was later and used this chord progression with this early style. He was well versed in Classical, Folk, Church hymnody, and minstrel music.

[@matthewodell9129]

Anyone else notice that 7:22 is the introductory notes to 2:45 by Elliott Smith?

[@chetruane]

Do you record the audio to these videos and then listen to it slowed down while you draw everything, then speed it all back up so the drawing is timelapsed and the audio is normal? That sounds like a very strange experience.

[@ComicPower]

The blues is the father of all American music.

[@rglover444]

Zubat.... You just HAVE To follow me everywhere huh...?

[@mrrodgers5871]

Would love a break down of the blues scale (minor-based) starting on the tonic root compared to using the blues scale from the relative minor of tonic. i.e. Bb blues, instead of Bb Db Eb E F Ab, using (moving the G to keep Bb as root) Bb C C# D F G Bb. I know that's much more common by the time we get to the mid-20s, but I'm not familiar with it before that time. Anyone got the low down on when using the relative minor's blues scale to create the major blues "happened"?

[@PaulGarnerBlueskiwi]

Relating use of dominant 7th chords to use of slide guitar would surely only make sense if the guitar was tuned to a 7th chord? But typical open tunings for blues slide guitar are just plain major chords. If anything, 7th chords are less convenient to play when in open tuning vs standard tuning.

[@anthonybeers]

Come to Africa and listen to children scat singing in the very rural areas. Most of these components can be found in the back waters of Mozambique.

[@AnimusInvidious]

That's the first time i've heard blue notes described as "in between piano keys". It's my impression they are just notes added to a scale... for example using A# in Em.

[@liquidsolids9415]

You’re both right! The tritone is often referred to as “the blue note” (like you said, playing A# in E major or E minor). Bending a note so it’s somewhere in between the 12 “standard” notes can also be called a “blue note”.

[@adrienbidal9622]

The #4 became the "blue note" by approximation. But blue notes are often "between" two notes Basically, there are 4 of them : The second that you bend to the minor 3rd, the minor 3rd that you bend to the major 3rd, the four that you bend to the 5th, the #4th that you bend to the 5th, the 6th that you bend to the 7th and the 7th that you bend to the major seventh Often, musicians will not bend enough and will land in between, that is what it is. It can be with a slide btw As a whole tone bend is not an easy thing on acoustic guitars, the 4th will be often just bent to the #4th instead and then you have your usual blue not of your blues scale But blue scale with #4 is just a "lazy" shortcut that books and teachers teach because it is a good way to get started with blue notes But just a #4 is not a blue not, it is just a chromatism. It's phrasing, intonation and inflexion that make it a blue note :)

[@bean4423]

they tuned they guitars like that bc the blues comes mostly from the griot tradition in the senegambia n mali. thas how the djeli storytellers use to tune they string instruments (akonting, gonjey, kora etc)

[@jhutt8002]

I really like the idea of harmonic 7th being in the historic base of blues. And by my own theories as well it fits perfectly: Harmonic 7th is the fourth most consonant interval out there. However, I'm huge sucker for playing blues stuff with guitar and focusing on using harmonic 7th in favor of minors just doesn't work: It doesn't sound like blues at all! Due tradition it needs that dominant dissonance. It does sound really smooth and jazzy though. If that's your thing.

[@urzathehappy72]

"HEY WELCOME TO TWELVE TONE"

[@Kaleb-Mayhew]

I hope one of your patrons requests either Tool or Primus.

[@jhellert1]

Are there any songs in existence that use a 13 bar blues?

[@jasonmighty3328]

Sometimes I hate when a video tries to explain a topic because sometimes the person explaining gets lost in their ego and makes it more about how smart they are rather than actually explaining the topic at hand in a simple manner. Case and point, here's a full 10min video about 12 bar blues that never actually plays the full 12 bars blues. I know the history, I know that a "turnaround" signifies the end of a section, I know that there are "blue" notes but I actually don't know what 12 bar blues sounds like. It's like giving a history lesson on what an elephant is to a someone who has never seen an elephant.

[@user-jb5sk7pc2m]

Great point on the harmonic 7th - this is why Western musicians need to start learning from Arabic ones and work on producing quartertones (it's possible on a trumpet, for example)!

[@user-ui8mi2si9k]

I agree

[@alfiekovacs]

nice vid v heplful

[@hadiiiiii6_9iiiiiiiii45]

Damn, like the video

[@good.citizen]

thank you lefty im gonna share this over advertisingism will be useful one-day

[@Kurtlane]

OMF! It's so complicated. So, because of the blue notes, there is no REAL way to write down blues in regular Western notation. Will quarter tones do? Or is it even further in between? What do you think about Maurice Ravel's Blues (2nd part of sonata #2 in G major for violin and piano)?

[@turbobusa2]

and now for something completely different=the foot?

[@Typical.Anomaly]

8:13 *ALLEGEDLY* dissonant notes lol

[@east5871]

For some reason I was drawn to this video. I don’t know why.

[@jkf9167]

I'm surprised that your description of the "blues scale" doesn't include the transition from minor to major 3rd (on piano or guitar) or to a sharpened minor third (on guitar and voice). To me, it seems like one of the sonic signatures of the blues is that the third is presented as a continuum between a minor and major third rather than one or the other. This is part of why it doesn't necessarily sound weird to play that minor pentatonic over the major chord. Sometimes this continuum goes all the way down to the maj 2.

[@beenaplumber8379]

The 3rd in blues has always been at the discretion of the musician (major or minor), depending on the feel they want. I joined a blues-rock band in the 90s on bass, and I found a blues bass instructor, and the only thing he had to teach me was that - the 3rd was my discretion. The minor 3rd in the vocals or lead instrument is always a wail of pain, agony, stress, whatever, which is why it doesn't matter if it matches the rhythm instruments (guitar, bass, organ, whatever).

[@hsadreamerofrlyeh7516]

The blues ain't nothing but a good man feeling bad thinking about the woman he was once with.

[@OfficialPrinceEden]

Not always it also revolves around life’s struggles loss of a friend and or family not just women that broke the man’s heart vise versa

[@davidvelasco4423]

This is literally just Ça plane pour moi.

[@moe45673]

You touch upon some of the questions i have about the blues but do NOT answer any of them (do the 7ths resolve? How do they work? Why does the b3 in the blues scale work over a major chord? Etc). Still, props for bringing them up (rather than just accepting it dogmatically), so you get a like from me. FWIW, i asked these questions years ago on a guitar forum and all i got was "well, you just dont understand the blues" 🙄

[@olafvanrijnsbergen1177]

Why has no one pointed out that the metronome in the intro is not in 4/4. It has 5 beats.. It hurts me.

[@frostburnspirit9065]

My explanation of how it is like it is is because V IV I sounds good

[@michaelpdawson]

1:13 - "Small communities of oppressed elephants."

[@MaceGill]

Just a note if you're jamming this into a western vocabulary, I think the juxtaposition of essentially 'minor' melodic tonality over a 'major' harmonic structure is why there was a rise minor sevenths that don't function traditionally. After all, in "C", the C7 has the presence of the minor 7th from the C blues scale, the Eb in the F7 couples with the minor third in the blues scale, etc. But there seems to be SO MANY wonderful harmonic variations! Even more so in the 20s and 30s, and I'm just talking about the 12-bar pattern here. I think it's a shame, honestly, that post WWII seems to have lost a lot of that and the 12-bar pattern has become ubiquitously static.

[@ElizabethStJohnRamirez]

For a clue to the early origins of "The Blues" you might want to watch the movie 'Rumble, The Indians Who Rocked The World'. rumblethemovie.com

[@donparker4521]

Is there any evidence to the concept that an even more basic blues is 1 line (4 bars) of the I, followed by 1 line of IV, then 1 line of V? ie | I | I | I | I | | IV | IV | IV | IV | | V | V | V | V | where each line is its own call and response? The is simple for just vocals (think worksongs) , but musicians got bored and needed more diversity.(?) Thank you for your time and efforts, very much a fan of your work!

[@beenaplumber8379]

That sounds a lot like the music that was coming out of southern Africa during the early 20th century. More often than not I've heard it described as Jazz-influenced. It developed when US jazz records became available in the region (notably Johannesburg). Local musicians tried to emulate the sound using their own understanding of music, and what emerged was a lively form of music that became very popular and scared the white people! It was a separate evolution from the blues, but it was uniquely African.

[@actualzafra]

And suddenly blues is now complicated