So where does this emotional side come from. Is this ingrained in the music from it's original creators. Does it come from hard work in the hot sun doing farm work or urban life washing dishes, mopping floors scrubbing toilets. I know who is on the subway platform at 6:30 am me being the only white guy there.
So what is this emotional element.
P.S. I've done all the above.
Emile keep making great music in the City of my Father-John Sebastian.
Always loved Joan Osborne. It's a shame so many people only know her by her one hit (although I guess that's how I got introduced to her music).
Pinning down, aside from the scale and form, what makes blues sound bluesy is tough.
I was just recording a new (non-blues) song with my band tonight. I just wrote the lyrics this morning. I have a habit of inserting too many syllables into lines, which is fine when I'm the one singing, but the other guy was singing this one and it was giving him fits. I've discovered certain tricks for fitting extra syllables in myself- if you put more of the syllables at the start of the line, basically start out with eighth notes and then go to quarter notes it works, if you do it the other way around it sounds like you are trying to fit too many syllables into the line. The funny thing is, I tend to write melodies that follow the natural inflection my voice would have, so the lines come out easily for me, whereas my friend Dan backloads when he sings. He runs out of room. When I'm singing there are little snippets and blues runs that are just sort of ingrained in my head that come out. When I'm resolving the end of a line I do it differently than he does.
A big part of it is instrumentation and tone. And by now I've muddled it enough and made it vague enough that two people won't agree exactly, which, of course, is part of the problem too. No two people are going to agree exactly. Here are a couple examples (same song, different interpretations)
First one I'd can jazz/gospel. Second one I'd call blues.
And one more version, as far from the blues as it can get.
In singing I'd use words like annunciation, and describe different voice types- operatic (not blues), belting (more broadway), growling (definitely can bluesy).
I really would like to see someone articulate it in a way that makes sense to me (and comports with my understanding, because ultimately it comes down to how we personally interpret it when it comes into our ears and someone else's definition, however clear, if it doesn't ring true to me is just their definition).
@Goldbrick Blues dont need to be sad-just gotta have the feel and form
+10 to this. It's common misconception blues is only about sadness or pain. It's as much about the release from that state, especially in a live gig that's so good people start laughing.
