Blues is a music genre and musical form originated by African
Americans
in the Deep South of the United States around the
end of the 19th century.
The genre developed from roots in
African musical traditions,
African-American work
songs, spirituals, and European folk music.
Blues
incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers,
shouts,
chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.
The blues
form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and
roll
is characterized by the call-and-response pattern,
the blues scale
and specific chord progressions, of which
the twelve-bar blues
is the most common.
Blue notes,,
usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch,
are also
an essential part of the sound.
Blues shuffles or
walking bass reinforce the
trance-like rhythm and form
a repetitive effect
known as
THE
GROOVE