Re: Why are the 12 bar blues important? It’s because it is based on the most fundamental chords in music: The Tonic and the Fifth. There’s a whole musical school of thought around this (Schenkerian – no, not Michael!).

A common type of three-chord song is the simple twelve-bar blues used in blues and rock and roll. Typically, the three chords used are the chords on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant (scale degrees I, IV and V): in the key of C, these would be the C, F and G chords.

The standard 12-bar blues progression has three chords in it – the 1 chord, the 4 chord, and then the 5 chord. In the key of E blues, the 1 chord is an E, the 4 chord is an A, and the 5 chord is a B. Let’s talk about blues rhythm.

The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on the I, IV, and V chords of a key.

The 12-Bar Blues form is called that because it has a chord progression that takes place over 12 bars, or measures. The chord progression uses only the I, IV, and V chords of a key, also called the tonic, subdominant, and dominant, respectively. The 12 bars are broken up into three groups of four.

E

C

A 12-bar blues is divided into three four-bar segments. A standard blues progression, or sequence of notes, typically features three chords based on the first (written as I), fourth (IV), and fifth (V) notes of an eight-note scale.

Like most types of music, blues has a specific musical form with two basic components: a lyric form (or vocal form) and a harmonic form. These components work together to create what we know as blues.

Although instrumental accompaniment is almost universal in the blues, the blues is essentially a vocal form. Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories. The emotion expressed is generally one of sadness or melancholy, often due to problems in love.

Metre, rhythm and tempo

• blues is usually in 4/4 time.
• there is syncopation to emphasise the weak beats.
• swing rhythms are heard- quavers are uneven and give a triplet feel to the beat.
• early blues music was very slow but got faster as the style developed.
• walking bass lends a steady rhythm to the music.

Mississippi is considered the birthplace of the blues, and two distinct styles developed in the region—Delta blues and hill country blues.

The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of Afro-American community, the spirituals. It was the low-down music played by rural blacks. Depending on the religious community a musician belonged to, it was more or less considered a sin to play this low-down music: blues was the devil’s music.

Not so much the blues but it’s reinvention through early rock and roll like Elvis and Chuck Berry etc… People referred to this as the devils music because it was widely believed at the time that it caused teens of the day to indulge in sinful activity like pre-marital sex and drugs etc…

For centuries, it was called the devil’s interval — or, in Latin, diabolus in musica. In music theory, it’s called the “tritone” because it’s made of three whole steps.

Undercurrents of racism bore strongly upon the opposition to jazz, which was seen as barbaric and immoral. Because black musicians were not allowed to play in “proper” establishments like their white counterparts, jazz became associated with brothels and other less reputable venues.

Some people say that jazz is America’s only true art form. That’s because it began here, hundreds of years ago, in the fields where black people worked as slaves and made up songs to pass time, to express themselves and to keep alive the culture and traditions of their African homelands.

Yes, radio made jazz better because it expanded the audience for the music and pushed jazz musicians to create more accessible music. No, radio did not make jazz better because it watered down the music for the masses and reduced authenticity.

Jazz music had a profound effect on the literary world, which can be illustrated through the genesis of the genre of jazz poetry. Fashion in the 1920s was another way in which jazz music influenced popular culture.

A New Jazz Culture: Jazz music influenced all aspects of society. Jazz poetry, fashion, and industry were effected by the “basement” music that took the United States by storm. Jazz music also exacerbated the racial tensions in the post war period.

Creole of color musicians were particularly known for their skill and discipline. Many were educated in France and played in the best orchestras in the city. Each ethnic group in New Orleans contributed to the very active musical environment in the city, and in this way to the development of early jazz.

Jazz had an enormously positive impact on society. It built a connection between African American culture and the rest of American society, helping to reduce racism by the shared experience of the music. As a result many people believed the music contributed to immoral behavior and threatened traditional values.