The Blues Is Always Played Within A Strict Twelve Bar Structure

MUSI 10017 Riffs: Guitar Culture and Practice 1
Assignment
Topic: The Blues is always played within a strict twelve bar structure. True or False? Discuss with reference to the changing role of the guitar in Blues from 1900 to 1945.
Since the second half of the twentieth century, the Blues music has become one of the most important music styles, continuing to significantly impact contemporary pop music around the world. The Blues is generally considered to be played in the twelve bar structure with re- peated progression of chords.1 However, my opinion is that the Blues had not always been played within a strict twelve bar structure, especially during the early stages of the Blues mu- sic as the standard format had not been established yet.

Around the start of the twentieth century, the string bands in America had become popular, and guitars were primarily used by the players for bass notes and chordal rhythm. Therefore, the role of guitar in string bands turns to be significant in helping to introduce some fundamental positions of chord into the tradition of Blues guitar.6 Other instruments used in the string bands at the same time influenced the emerging blues guitar styles as well. For example, the mandolin introduced the tremolo technique to the Blues gui- tar. This technique would normally have been done with a plectrum on the mandolin, howev- er, the Blues players on the guitar would simply use a finger or the thumb with rapid move- ments instead. Meanwhile, the genteel guitar tradition not only helps to introduce the basic chord positions into the Blues guitar, but also introduces the two critical tunings: ‘Spanish’; and ‘Sebastopol’ tuning. These two famous tunings were primarily used in the 1920s by the Blues guitarists, and still can be found in the early Blues recordings.7 By the end of 1920s, the guitar had become the emblematic instrument of the Blues, since the reason is the guitar is such an instrument that can absorb variety of techniques, tunings, and all the harmonic

For example, ‘Saint Louis Blues’ of W.C. Handy, which published in 1914, can be regarded as one of the earliest Blues pieces. However, this song is played in thirteen bars, not the standard twelve bars. As previously discussed, other music genres influenced the Blues at the early stage quite significantly. This was true of ‘Saint Louis Blues’, with its lively rhythm affected by the popular Jazz and Tango styles of the 1910s.10 Another early Blues piece, ‘Stack-O-Lee’ of the 1920s, has an eleven bar structure instead of the typical twelve bars. It is clear the guitar has developed significantly regarding the techniques, skills and tuning since its arrival to America. Additionally, as the Blues music is essentially a black-rooted music which developed and grew alongside the guitar, the Blues music has evolved throughout