Learning the Blues with Wynton Marsalis | After School Sessions for the Benedetti Foundation

Summary

The video script is a comprehensive tutorial on the blues, a musical genre characterized by its emotive melodies and rhythmic shuffle pattern. It explores the blues' simple yet complex nature, starting with basic scales and progressing to the 12-bar form. The instructor emphasizes the importance of listening to blues songs and imitating melodies to truly grasp the genre's essence. They also discuss the blues' role as a form of emotional expression, using the metaphor of a train to explain its rhythm and the significance of its three-chord structure. The script concludes with advice on creating melodies through imitation and the use of vocal sounds on instruments to convey the blues' emotional depth.

Takeaways

• 🎶 The blues is a musical form that is both simple and complex, characterized by a specific scale and rhythm.
• 🚂 The shuffle rhythm, which is foundational to the blues, is likened to the sound of a train and combines elements of marches and waltzes.
• 🎵 The blues scale is a simplified scale that captures the essence of the blues, sounding like someone moaning or crying.
• 🎶 Learning the blues involves listening to and imitating blues songs, which is more valuable than just playing scales.
• 🎵 W.C. Handy, known as the father of the blues, is a good starting point for learning blues melodies.
• 📜 The traditional blues form is based on a 12-bar structure, which is symmetrical and travels through three chords: one, four, and five.
• 🎼 The progression of chords in the blues follows a pattern: one to four, back to one, then to five, down to four, and finally back to one.
• 🎤 The lyrics of the blues often follow a pattern of three stanzas, with the first two stating a problem and the third resolving it.
• 🎷 Blues playing involves creating melodies through imitation and experimenting with different vocal sounds on instruments.
• 🎶 The blues is not just a musical form but also a feeling and a system of melodies that can help people cope with difficult times.

Q & A

What is the blues described as in the script?

The blues is described as a favorite form of music that is simple and complex, often sounding like somebody moaning and crying.

What is the significance of the train sound in learning the blues?

The train sound is significant in learning the blues because it introduces the shuffle rhythm, which is foundational to the blues.

How does the script suggest practicing the shuffle rhythm?

The script suggests practicing the shuffle rhythm by counting 'one two three one two three' to mimic the rhythmic pattern of a train.

What is the role of the melody in the blues as described in the script?

The melody in the blues is likened to a train whistle, providing the song part of the music, while the shuffle rhythm represents the dance part.

What is the traditional form of the blues mentioned in the script?

The traditional form of the blues is a 12-bar form, which is both complex and simple, and is counted in sets of four bars.

Which three chords are fundamental to the blues according to the script?

The three fundamental chords of the blues are the one chord, the four chord, and the five chord.

How does the script recommend learning melodies for the blues?

The script recommends learning melodies for the blues by listening to blues songs and imitating the melodies.

Who is suggested as a starting point for learning the blues?

W.C. Handy, known as the father of the blues, is suggested as a starting point for learning the blues.

What is the significance of the 12-bar form in the blues?

The 12-bar form in the blues is significant as it provides a symmetrical structure that travels through three chords, creating a sense of movement and resolution.

How does the script describe the process of creating melodies through imitation?

The script describes creating melodies through imitation by playing a phrase and then singing or playing along, encouraging listeners to imitate the played phrase.

What is the role of call and response in the blues as explained in the script?

Call and response in the blues is described as a democratic form where the singer calls out and then responds to their own call, leaving more room for response than for the initial call.

Outlines

00:00

🎵 Introduction to the Blues

The speaker begins by expressing their love for the blues, a music genre that is both simple and complex. They introduce the concept of the blues scale, which is fundamental to playing the blues, and demonstrate a simpler scale that they prefer. This scale, according to the speaker, evokes the sound of someone moaning and crying, which is characteristic of the blues. The first way to learn about the blues is through the 'sound of the train,' which is a metaphor for the shuffle rhythm. The speaker explains that the shuffle rhythm combines elements of marches and waltzes, creating a rhythm that is both stiff and triplet-like. They encourage the audience to practice this rhythm, which is akin to an Irish jig, and is a basic component of rock and roll bass lines.

05:16

🚂 The Blues and the Train Metaphor

The paragraph continues the train metaphor, explaining that the train's whistle represents the melody part of the blues, while the shuffle represents the dance part. The speaker emphasizes the importance of learning the shuffle pattern to understand the blues. They then delve into the concept of playing 'with the blues,' which involves playing around with the established shuffle rhythm. The speaker suggests that the best way to learn the blues is by listening to blues songs and imitating the melodies. They recommend starting with W.C. Handy, known as the father of the blues, to grasp the essence of blues melodies. The paragraph also touches on the 12-bar form of the blues, which is based on three chords: the one, four, and five chords. These chords are fundamental to western harmony and are essential to understanding the blues.

10:19

🎶 Understanding the 12-Bar Blues Form

This section breaks down the 12-bar blues form, explaining that it consists of three sections with one, two, and three chords respectively. The speaker counts through the bars to demonstrate the progression of chords in a blues song. They emphasize the symmetry of the form and how it travels through the one, four, and five chords. The speaker then plays a chorus of the blues, counting the 12 bars to give the audience a sense of what a complete blues chorus sounds like. They also discuss the idea of creating melodies through imitation, encouraging the audience to try to imitate phrases played on their instruments or by singing along.

15:20

📚 The Lyrics and Structure of the Blues

The speaker discusses the lyrics and structure of the blues, explaining that the blues is not a single entity but has many forms. They provide a basic example of blues lyrics, which typically consist of three stanzas in a chorus, with the first two stanzas repeating and the third providing resolution. The speaker uses the example of having the blues in the morning and at night, with the third stanza resolving the feeling by singing the blues all day. They also introduce an exercise for call and response, a democratic aspect of the blues, where the singer calls out and then responds to themselves. The speaker demonstrates this by recording themselves singing and responding to their own lyrics.

20:24

🎸 Creating Vocal Sounds in the Blues

The final paragraph focuses on creating vocal sounds when playing the blues. The speaker encourages experimenting with different sounds like growling, humming, and buzzing, and on string instruments, techniques like bending and sliding notes. They recap the key points discussed, including the blues as a form and feeling, the shuffle rhythm, the 12-bar form, the three basic chords, the importance of listening to blues, the call and response structure, and the creation of melodies through imitation. The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to practice these elements to pursue the blues and expresses their pleasure in sharing this knowledge.

Keywords

💡Blues

The Blues is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the Deep South of the United States. It is characterized by the use of specific chord progressions, often featuring a twelve-bar structure, and lyrics that express emotions, often of a melancholic or introspective nature. In the script, the Blues is described as a form of music that is both simple and complex, with a sound that resembles moaning and crying, which is integral to understanding the video's theme of exploring the Blues.

💡Scale

A musical scale is a sequence of musical notes arranged in ascending or descending order. In the context of the Blues, the scale often refers to the pentatonic scale, which is a five-note scale commonly used in Blues music. The script mentions a simpler scale that the speaker likes, which is central to capturing the 'sound of the Blues.'

💡Train Shuffle

The Train Shuffle is a rhythmic pattern in music that imitates the sound and rhythm of a train. It is used in Blues music to create a sense of motion and is likened to the feeling of a train journey. The script explains that the shuffle rhythm comes from combining the stiff rhythm of a march with the triplet feel, which is a key element in learning and understanding the Blues.

💡Melody

A melody is a linear succession of musical notes that creates a distinct sequence of pitch and rhythm. In the Blues, melodies often convey the emotional content of the music. The script emphasizes the importance of learning melodies through imitation of Blues songs, suggesting that a single good melody is more valuable than playing scales endlessly.

💡W.C. Handy

W.C. Handy, referred to as the 'Father of the Blues,' was an African American composer and musician who helped popularize the Blues genre in the early 20th century. The script recommends starting with W.C. Handy's music to learn the Blues, indicating his foundational role in the genre.

💡12-Bar Form

The 12-Bar Form is a standard chord progression used in Blues music, consisting of twelve bars of four beats each. It is a fundamental structure that provides a framework for improvisation. The script describes how the Blues travels through three chords (one, four, and five) over the twelve bars, which is essential for understanding the structure of Blues music.

💡Call and Response

Call and response is a musical technique where a musical phrase or call is answered by another musical phrase or response. It is a common feature in Blues music, creating a dialogue between different parts of the music. The script discusses practicing call and response as a way to engage with the Blues form, highlighting its democratic and interactive nature.

💡Vocal Sounds

Vocal Sounds in the context of the Blues refers to the expressive use of the voice to convey emotion, often through techniques like moaning, laughing, or crying. The script suggests working on creating these sounds on instruments to capture the emotional essence of the Blues.

💡Chords

In music, chords are combinations of different notes played together to create a richer sound. The script identifies the one, four, and five chords as the fundamental chords in Blues music, which are essential for understanding the harmonic structure of the genre.

💡Imitation

Imitation in music learning refers to the process of learning by copying or mimicking the sounds or styles of other musicians. The script encourages learning Blues melodies through imitation, which is a practical approach to internalizing the Blues' feel and expression.

💡Resolution

In music, resolution refers to the process of resolving musical tension, often by returning to a stable or resting point. In the context of the Blues, the script explains that the third stanza of a Blues song often provides resolution, offering a sense of closure or improvement to the narrative presented in the first two stanzas.

Highlights

Introduction to the blues as a favorite form of music

The blues is both simple and complex

The blues scale is introduced as the foundation for playing

The importance of the shuffle rhythm in blues music

The shuffle rhythm compared to an Irish jig

The role of the train as a metaphor for the blues

The melody part of the blues represented by a train whistle

The concept of 'playing with the blues' explained

The value of listening to and imitating blues melodies

W.C. Handy as a starting point for learning blues

The 12-bar form as the traditional blues structure

The symmetry and structure of the 12-bar blues form

The three fundamental chords of the blues: one, four, and five

Counting and hearing the 12-bar blues progression

Creating melodies through imitation in blues

The significance of lyrics in the blues

The blues as a form of emotional expression and healing

The structure of blues lyrics with three stanzas in a chorus

The concept of call and response in blues singing

Vocal sounds and techniques used in blues music

Recap of the key elements discussed in the blues

Transcripts

[Music]

so

[Music]

so

um

[Music]

[Music]

today i'm going to talk with you all

about the blues

okay it's my favorite form it's an

unbelievable form of music

it is uh many things at once it's

it's simple and it's complex so we're

gonna focus on the simple side but i'm

gonna give you a little taste of what

the complexity is

it is a uh it's a scale

[Music]

that's what we used to play when we

first started off

i can be an even simpler scale

[Music]

that's the one that i like

it's the sound the sound of the blues

sounds like somebody moaning and crying

it's melodies

it's a rhythm

there's many things now the first way

we're going to learn about the blues is

through

the sound of the train so if you listen

to this this is called the old train

shuffle the first thing we're gonna talk

about is

what a train does the train is built for

motion it takes you from one place to

another place

so the first step of us learning the

blues is to figure out what is the

shuffle rhythm

so shuffles come from marches and

waltzes

so if we have a march it's going

very stiff rhythm

now if we add to this the feeling of a

triplet like a trumpet would play

okay that's very stiff now when we put

the two together we get the shuffle

rhythm so it's a combination of

four and six so it sounds like this

so i want y'all to try to do that

one two three one two three one two it's

akin to irish jig

into motions of music all over the world

so that's a good way for us to practice

our introduction to the blues is learn

how to play that shuffle

now we've heard it our entire lives

that's just a basic rock and roll bass

line

so that's the first thing for us to

learn about the train is the shuffle

shuffle shuffle pattern and the feeling

of the blues now at the top

we have the melody part so what does

that train do it blows a whistle

so when you get the the song part of the

blues

is that train whistle and the dance part

is the shuffle

and now it's the second the thing we're

going to talk about with the blues is

playing

we play the blues we play with the blues

so when we start to play this shuffle

rhythm we have our basic

kind of marked shuffle field

then we start to play with it

[Music]

so on and so forth we just play around

with it okay

we heard about the train we learned

about the scale now let's talk about

melodies and and and listening

the best thing to do if you want to

learn how to play blues is listen to

blues songs

and imitate melodies it was a time we

used to learn with the scale first

but you could play up and down this

scale forever never come up with a

melody you could

one good melody is worth a thousand

scales so

i suggest listen to different people the

best place to start is w.c

handy the father of the blues learn some

of wc handy's music

and it'll it'll start you on the right

path a good example of a

basic blues song is uh

that kind of thing gets you started with

understanding what the feeling of

melodies are

with the blues now we're going to learn

and talk about the blues as a form

this could be a little more complex but

i told you in the beginning the blues is

complexity and simplicity

so the blues the traditional kind of

basic blues that we settled on has a 12

bar form

we count the bars like this one two

three

four two two three four now i'm gonna

give you ways

to to understand this form and

understand the perfect symmetry of this

form

the blues travels through three chords

here's the first chord we call it the

one chord

and the key of b flat

that's one now it's gonna travel

to the four chord

now we those of us who know about music

know that we call the four

one cadence and amen cadence like in

church here

so the blues is gonna start in the one

chord and it's going to travel to the

four chord

and from the fourth chord is going to

travel back to the one chord

now there's only one other car we need

to know and that is the five chord

[Music]

okay so the blues goes one to four

to one then it goes to the five chord

normally five will lead right to one but

in the case of the blues five

goes down to four then it goes to one

so those are the only cards you need to

know one five and four and those happen

to be a three fundamental

intervals in our western system

pythagoras discovered these

uh intervallic relationships long ago

and uh when you learn western harmony

the first chords you learn are one

four and five it's the only chords of

the fundamental blues

now let's learn how to count it and hear

it okay

we're going to start with four four bars

of the one chord

[Music]

two three

four okay that's the first section

so if you remember the first section of

the blues has one chord

and that chord is the one chord now

we go from that to

the second section the second section of

the blues has two chords

the four chord

okay let's say that again the 4-4 card

for two bars one

two and the one card for two

bars let's put that together and i'm

gonna count off the measures so

here's the top of the blues form one two

three four two

three four

five six

seven eight

so now through these eight bars we've

traveled through these chords

one chord four chord now

first section of blues has one chord

that's the v one chord

the second section you have two chords

no the four chord back to the one chord

now the third section has three chords

the five chord

to the four chord to the one chord let's

see how that sounds this is the third

section of blues

okay so that's that concludes one chorus

of blues now

let's do it i'm gonna count 12 bars and

you'll be able to hear what one chorus

of blue sounds like

one two

three four

five six

seven eight

nine ten

eleven twelve

and then we and we're back at the top

okay we've covered a lot of information

we talked about the sound of the train

we talked about the shuffle

we talked about melodies we touched on

the blues scale

which now we've turned we've talked

about the 12 bars

of the the blues now we're going to talk

about how to

make create melodies through imitation

so i'm gonna play something and i'm

gonna sing over it

and i want you to hear when i when i

when i play it if you have your

instrument i want you to try to imitate

it

uh if not you can just sing along with

me i'm gonna play a phrase

on the choruses of the blues and then i

want you all

to to sing along with it okay

let's see if we can get out get out get

out thing where you can hear what this

is i don't know if you'll be able to

hear it

you play that doo doo doo doo doo doo

[Music]

do

[Music]

this is you

does you do

[Music]

[Music]

do

[Music]

okay that wasn't bad after we got

started

so that is that is a a

way to learn melodies through imitation

now let's talk about something else

we're going to talk about the words of

the blues

and what they mean now there are many

different types of blues

so it doesn't fall into one thing but

just as just to generalize and give you

a basic example of the blues

you play the blues you stomp the blues

you clap the blues and dance and all the

things you do with the blues

to make yourself feel better in this

time of covet

the blues is like a vaccine you give

yourself a little bit of what's going to

come to you

and it makes you feel better about it

and you can fight it off when it's when

it's with you

so let's take uh

blues basically has three stanzas in a

chorus i showed you all the three

sections

so what are the three stanzas in general

stanzas will have uh

two two two stanzas will repeat

and the third will give some type of

resolution so i'll i'll make up

three stanzas and i'll give you an

example you say i got my blues

in the morning i got my blues

at night i'ma repeat this

i got my blues in the morning

i got my blues at night now i'ma resolve

it

i sing my blues all day i know it's

gonna be

right

so you see i give two i got my blues in

the morning i got my blues at night

then i sing another one i got my blues

in the morning i got my blue tonight

then the third one i say

i sing my blues all day it makes me feel

all right

that's it even though i sing my blues

all day it makes me feel all right

i know it's gonna be all right i know

everything is gonna work out

in some kind of way i'm not playing

blues to feel worse about

i'm not playing blues to feel worse so

that's the blues calling me right here

i'm not playing the blues to feel worse

about my condition

now i'm gonna show you all another

little basic exercise

and this helps with the blues you can

actually take record yourself singing it

and answer yourself and this is going to

this is going to going to going to help

you to uh

to to work on call and response

because the thing about singing on these

stanzas in the blues you actually have

more space

for responding than you do for calling

so it's a very democratic form in that

way so i tell you i sing something to

you

and then i want to hear you respond to

it so

[Music]

if my tape my thing worked i want you to

listen to how i i

respond to myself it's a good exercise

for you all

uh to work on your blues

[Music]

is

[Music]

i've seen the blues all day

[Music]

blah

[Music]

[Laughter]

[Music]

hey

[Music]

so you see that's that's another way for

you to work on your blues

you you you you sing it

on to the form and then you make up

these things now i'm going to end what

i'm what i'm what i'm showing y'all

by talking about how to make vocal

sounds when you play with the blues

i want you to work on this sound

[Music]

but i want you to do different things

with the notes

you can growl and hum and buzz you can

make that kind of sound so it sounds

like

[Music]

for my for my spring players y'all can

do all kind of scraping and scratching

and doing do all

different things but the main thing you

can do really on string instruments is

you can bend notes

you can slide around on a note so when

you play a phrase

[Music]

ah

[Music]

i want you to work on different ways to

moan and laugh and cry these notes

when you get those things together then

you're gonna be playing the blues

okay let's do a quick recap of things

that we talked about

we said the blues was a form it's blues

is a feeling the blues is

a sound it's a system of melodies we

talked about

the blues as a rhythm the shuffle rhythm

we talked about the train

and we said that the blues is uh the the

shuffle

and it's the train wilson

we learned about the the three basic

chords of the blues the one the four and

the five chord

we learned about the the the overall 12

bar form of the blues like 12 months of

the year a dozen eggs

so many things have 12 signs of the

zodiac

so we learned that there's one chord in

the first section two chords in the

second

and three chords in the third section we

went through one

moves to four chord goes back to one

chord goes to five chord four

chord one chord we talked about

uh that blues scale we talk about the

need to listen to the blues we

reference wc handy and we talked about

how we needed to have an understanding

of the sound of something and not just

to learn it through scales

we talked about call and response we

learned the three stanzas of the blues

and we said that the first two stanzas

generally tell you something

uh very bad that's going on in the third

stanza resolves it

then we talked about the fact that the

blues leaves more room for a response

than for call and finally we ended up

talking about

creating uh we created create melodies

through imitation

and then how to create these vocal

sounds on string instruments on brass

instruments

you just got to sit down and moan and

make all these different sounds you want

to make and then do them on your

instrument

i hope these things help you in your

pursuit of the blues

and i look forward to hearing you play

it's been a pleasure talking with y'all

and i hope you took something of value

away from this thank you very much

okay

there you go