Year 8 Blues Music - key terms

In the 12 Bar Blues chord sequence, the pattern of chords when we start on C are:

C C C C

F F C C

Then...?

• C F C C

• E F C C

• G F C C

• G F G C

The Blues is a musical genre that originally developed in:

• West Coast, United States

• Deep South, United States

• Mexico, Central America

• Jamaica, Caribbean

African slaves and their descendants, working on plantations and chain gangs in the deep south, sung:

• Work songs with a strong beat to help them work and keep their spirits up

• Lullabies to help them sleep at night

• Alphabet songs to help them learn to read

Blues music developed from work songs, keeping its strong beat and adding chords from the music slaves had learned in:

• The churches introduced by their slave masters

• Guitar lessons they had at school

• Books about music

Chords are:

• Rows of notes going up and down

• A repeating idea in a blues, pop or rock song

• Groups of 2 or more notes played together

Scales are:

• Rows of notes going up and down

• A repeating idea in a blues, pop or rock song

• Groups of 2 or more notes played together

A riff is:

• Rows of notes going up and down

• A repeating idea in a blues, pop or rock song

• Groups of 2 or more notes played together

To build a chord on the root note F, I use the pattern:

• Play 1, miss 1, play 1, miss 1, play 1

• Play 2. skip 1, play 1

• Play 1, miss 2, play 1, miss 2, play 1

The type of blues played by a singer with their acoustic guitar is:

• Country Blues

• City Blues

• Boogie Woogie

The bass line is the:

• Accompaniment

• Lowest part

• Main melody / tune