tough choice. when i began, almost any I-IV-V would do in whatever genre, blues, folk, country, rock, whatever.
over a lot of years- and hearing a lot of different subsets of blues- and other music as well- my taste changed.
1- acoustic duo stuff has always been a favorite, for its elemental nature, and its simplicity. but as it's simple it also has afforded me a l0ot of challenge to fill in the spaces left by just one guitar.
2- electric band doing full tilt blues like slim harpo, muddy, wolf, etc etc has also been a favorite for as long as i could get on a jam stage.
3- over more to the jump/swing/even a bit of jazz side, ala william clarke and others. there is a real thrill to playing lines like the horn guys do to a more sophisticated progression. not TOO much more sophisticated!
It's easier to say what I don't like, regardless of the style, e.g. Chicago, Mississippi, etc.
1. Blatantly cliched playing, which I find very hard to avoid.
2. Blatantly cliched playing, which I find very hard to avoid.
3. Blatantly cliched playing, which I find very hard to avoid.
I'm not being lazy, but that is my biggest dislike. Having said that, I do tend to lean to the more rootsy, acoustic stuff. It seems a lot more human in the sound, if you know what I mean. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
As long musicians put their souls into the music they play i like but i prefer that raw blues aka John Lee Williamson and the Chicago sound.I also enjoy prety much slide guitar or just a guitar and vocals.
I love the slow blues songs that make me wanna' cry. Like Ian Siegal's "Falling On Down Again" and Janiva Magness' "I Won't Be Around" or the Wolf's "Goin' Down Slow." Yep, show me your soul man.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2009 4:37 PM
1 Blues Bands with Rock n Roll Guitar example : Led Zep 2 Versatile Bands that mix Blues, Rockabilly, Jazz Psychadelic example: The Grateful Dead
3 Any good music that has a rich soul I caught a late night PBS program that introduced me too a band called The Steeldrivers look them up on youtube. Bluegrass with soul, great harmonies, which I love, and the fiddle player plays it like a lead guitar, she's slick. Ok that's really not blues so I'll give you another.
4 Acoustic Blues. I Saw Paul and Annie earlier this year and they are great.
If you have to ask the question, I think you may not understand the answer.
The whole system of western tonality, or 'painting by numbers' as Frank Zappa once called it, is cliched.
It takes a very high level of creativity to break the predictable cadences and phrasing that have become part and parcel of that system. But, some people can do it.
Hell, what do I know? I've only been involved in music for 33 years.
Either you're taking a cheap Internet age 'pop' at me, or you have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to what constitutes originality in music. The harmonic constraints / conventions have been in place for centuries, but great artists do rise above them.
My best advice would be look up 'cliche' in a dictionary and take it from there.
EDIT:
OK, going to a jam and hearing my millionth Little Walter impersinator is cliched; Jerry Portnoy's playing on Muddy's Hard Again - I think it's Portnoy - is now cliched, good, but cliched. Doc Gussow's re-invention of Crossroads is not cliched. It sounds like something that transcends where it came from. Now do you see what I'm driving at? ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
http://www.youtube.com/user/SlimHarpMick
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2009 5:12 PM
1) Anything that DRIVES... ie. Stevie Ray Vaughan. 2) If it makes you stop whatever you are doin and LISTEN. When blues is done right it oughtta stop you in your tracks and FEEL something. If it doesn't it ain't blues. Whether it's a slow jam about your ol' lady runnin off and you shot her for it, or somethin that makes you get outta your seat and get a groove on, it's gotta make you FEEL something.
Mickil, I weren't takin' no pop at nobody. I like some blues (but not all of it), but it is not exactly your most diverse music genre for the reasons I cited above...It all follows the same structure. It's too limiting.
I'm a member of Harptabs.com, and I recently bought a "fake book" containing 500 blues songs. I thought I'd have a whooooole bunch of songs to tab for the site (I like blues played on harmonica), but after I tabbed several of them, I got tired of it...They all started to sound the same...(Well, a few different sounds.) That kinda fits my definition of "cliche."
I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes. Sorry. Tell ya wut...You can get even with me by telling me you hate The Doors...Far and above my most favoritest music.
Last Edited by on Jul 26, 2009 1:49 PM
Can't do dude: I like the Doors. I'm sorry too. I can still be a bit of an immature hothead, I'm sorry to say. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
Thats a good question and really difficult for a blueslover like myself to answer. Even though most blues is based on that simple I,V,IV progression, once in a great while someone comes along (seemingly from another planet) ala Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn and blasts everybody out of the water. I remember the first time I heard "Pride and Joy" by SRV on my car radio on the way to work one afternoon, I almost had a heart attack and had to turn around and go back home to call the radio station and ask 'Who the hell was THAT?!!'
Hi I am new to the site looks like it's going to be a fun ride. I am trying to find tab for srv Texas flood specifically the intro does anyone have any leads?
Late sixties and early to mid seventies. It wasn't classic blues. There was some good stuff. Not alot of mindblowing harp for me, but not harmonically speaking that was a good period.
I dig stuff with space/dynamics in it. That leaves room for the imagination. Most all of the classic blues guys were kings of space and dynamics. Way too many guys/bands of today do walls of sound and leave no room for the players/listeners imagination. Way too many of the videos I watch of todays gigs are lacking space and deep in forced/over rehearsed dynamics that leave me flat. Things are definetly going towards fast and busy. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
One of my favourite albums is ZZ Top's "One Foot In The Blues" but I like most types of blues boogie. Gary Moore and Midnight Blues Band do some good stuff too, and an old favourite blues song by John Mayal's Bluesbreakers called "Mail Order Mystics" always gets my foot tapping.
My favorite kind of blues is old-time country blues. I'm not familiar with subgenres names (Delta blues, Piedmont blues, etc.), but I like particularly the style represented by Fred Mc Dowell, R.L. Burnside and others, and these days I'm digging the Atlanta bluesmen like Barbecue Bob, Curley Weaver, Buddy Moss...
