Hey y’all! CMC here with today’s mini-intro to
Blues Guitar Chords. We’ll take a look at that awesome musical foundation of so much of today’s Pop music. After all, where would people like
Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, BB King, Hendrix and oh so many others be without the Blues?
From my fairly superficial knowledge, the Blues is an art form that developed primarily in the
African American community in the first half of the 20th century. Word has it that it started out in the deep south in areas like New Orleans and migrated up north to find a home in places like Chicago. Black folk -mostly males, developed a deeply expressive musical style in which they were able to lament life’s problems; mostly women gone astray, poverty and many other ills of life.
It caught on big time. It’s such a powerful and soulful (although it’s nothing like “soul” music) musical form, that it instantly leaped the “fence” so to speak and became a universal language, that appealed to all races. Heck, I just saw an amazing young Japanese woman playing some great blues licks on YouTube. can you imagine what the founders of the blues would think if they could see that?
When people like
Elvis got a hold of it and it’s musical cousin, “
rock and roll” -they made it “safe.” In the
60’s, bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream and others played it with vigor and force and injected a kind of Brit attitude. The combo proved effective at selling record numbers of records and tickets, to sold out shows all over the world. These “super-groups” embarked on world tours, selling out stadiums
and vaunted venues like Madison Square Garden.
Anyway, I’m assuming you already have a basic knowledge of guitar of you are reading this. You’ve already learned a few basic chords and the parts of a guitar. Now on to one of the most impressive and expressive ways to play: check out some
Blues in G for your Bluesy blessing!