blues

Rather than telling stories, blues singers use their vocals above all to express feelings, typically of sadness but often of defiance as well. As a musical form, the blues is typified by a 12-bar structure that forms the basis for improvisation. Other characteristic elements were derived from African music.

the blues, (used with a plural verb) depressed spirits; despondency; melancholy: This rainy spell is giving me the blues. (used with a singular verb)Jazz.

a type of popular music with a strong beat and jazz influence, developed by African-Americans in the 1940s and 1950s. (Definition of rhythm and blues from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

The social significance of Blues music resides in the revolutionary element of African Americans creating their own aesthetics. Blues music represented the opposing voice that refused to be silenced by oppression and segregation. The Blues expressed this with unprecedented clarity, honesty and simplicity.

The characteristic of blues music is a melancholic musical style expressing harshness of everyday life. In this genre, musicians use guitars and harmonica, a 12-measure melodic structure, and lyrics that talk about issues such as poverty, hard work in the fields, and violence by the police and white people.

Meaning of blues in English a type of slow, sad music, originally from the southern US, in which the singer typically sings about their difficult life or bad luck in love: Billie Holiday was famous for singing the blues. a famous blues singer. See also. blue adjective (SAD) informal.

Blues music is so good because it reflects life and it's form is simple and catchy. Blues music also incorporates a call and response pattern that makes it even more memorable.

R&B diverged from traditional blues songs by expanding beyond the typical blues song-structure – twelve bars, an A-A-B verse pattern, and a one-four-five chord progression – to use widely varying chord progressions and often, distinct and unique melodies.

Fast answer: R&B is usually upbeat, with funky rhythm and/or energetic. Blues is usually slower, has a more even rhythm and a bit more (if not a lot more) mournful. If you speed up a lot of Blues songs or add a funky drum part, you can get an R&B song.

In the decades that followed, the Southern blues' influence flowed throughout the nation, morphing into the electric blues in Chicago and combining with gospel to create doo-wop in black communities across the country. It fed into R&B and rockabilly, and then rock 'n' roll (whose name came from a coded term for sex).

“The blues style represents . . . a saying of things that are very painful, deep and poignant, with a feeling of ease. In the very best blues the pain changes, because of the music, into something light.”

The blues has become the basis for nearly every form of American popular music over the past 100 years: jazz, R&B, rock, hip-hop.