Why modern blues artists get on my nerves....

[Cadillac_Mike]

A lot of them are darn good players and singers don't get me wrong.... The problem I have is that all of them act like modern audiences should be super impressed they can play fast mid-tempo 1-4-5 stuff and expect me to start jumping up and down when I literally can just pick up my bass and play to it without even knowing the structure. I think it's cool that we're getting back to a lot of the roots stuff but don't expect me to be impressed by playing a blues song from the 50's and passing it off as new material. Listen to what some of these blues guys in the mid 80's had to do to stay relevant; all the snappy pop-jazz changes George Benson had to add on this. If he played some traditional 1-4-5 blues thing in the studio in the mid 80's expecting a hit the producers would laugh at him.

 

[Filmosound 621]

blues is dead, and it smells funny.

my opinion, of course.

try Jazz instead.

 

[Milspec]

I really don't feel that it has to be complicated to be good. Blues doesn't require Steve Vai-like sweeps, it is a basic and repetitive form, but still my favorite to play and one of my favorites to hear. I can listen to RL Burnside all day long and often do.

A guitarist might need to see something that requires greater technical skill to be impressed, but the general audience doesn't care a damn about any of that. If it strikes a nerve, it is good stuff.

 

[Cali Dude]

Interesting topic. I've seen George Benson in concert. He is very talented, but his music does little for me. I'm with Milspec on this one. I really enjoy all kinds of blues. I enjoy playing it, and have in a semi professional fashion. I really enjoy seeing blues live as well. Anything from California jump blues, to traditional old school blues, to modern blues rock, I love it all . I never could get into jazz.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I don't mind a blues band in a bar when I'm there drinking. But I find straight blues very tedious to listen to any other time.

 

[sloppychops]

The problem I have with a lot of the modern blues artists is that they're just too slick. Part of what I like about blues is the raw and primitive style of so many old school players.

 

[sax4blues]

My dad always said, after the first two kinds of music, country and western, all the rest was crap. Apparently he knew what he was talking about in 1956.

 

[msalama]

1-4-5 blues is ubiquitous and no wonder, because it's still fun to both play and listen to - at least occasionally. However, I'd never join a full-time blues band myself, because variety's the spice of life IMO...

 

[Novak]

I respect the skill and dedication required to master the art form, but IMO over the last 20 years or so the blues format has just been done to death. Sometimes I think if I ever see another Stevie Ray Vaugnabe or hear another flatted 5th or I-IV-V progression I might go jump off a bridge.

But that's just me......

 

[black_doug]

As the saying goes, it’s all good.

Jazz musicians like Count Basie, and Miles Davis, have been adding “snappy pop-jazz changes“ to the blues long before George Benson.

 

[dogmeat]

yeah, the world has moved on. one, MAYBE 2 per set might work. as long as there are a lot of geezers in the audience. and I'm a geezer. I still play blues, and songs with blues based progressions, but blues stopped being my mainstay over 50 years ago

 

[srblue5]

I think what also bugs me about modern blues performers is how a lot of it just sounds like hard rock with some pentatonic noodling thrown in. I’m not a stickler for 12-bar/1-4-5 but when it’s basically something you could hear at the dentists office, it’s kind of bland (to my ears, anyway). It’s still rock n roll to me…

I keep coming back to Muddy Waters and Lightnin Hopkins. That’s the blues to me.

 

[drewg]

The problem I have with a lot of the modern blues artists is that they're just too slick. Part of what I like about blues is the raw and primitive style of so many old school players.

The old time delta blues and some of the Texas blues is what I like. I feel like the Chicago blues style is what is repetitive and I get tired of. There are always exceptions though.

I saw a Taj-Mo outdoor concert that I quite enjoyed. There’s a lot of blues in folk music I like. Like milspec says, if it strikes a nerve….

Good lyrics and an original riff or undercurrent make all the difference

 

[drewg]

I think what also bugs me about modern blues performers is how a lot of it just sounds like hard rock with some pentatonic noodling thrown in. I’m not a stickler for 12-bar/1-4-5 but when it’s basically something you could hear at the dentists office, it’s kind of bland (to my ears, anyway). It’s still rock n roll to me…

I keep coming back to Muddy Waters and Lightnin Hopkins. That’s the blues to me.

I almost wrote Lightning Hopkins. And Mississippi John Hurt. But I have a lot to learn, and the further I go back in time, the more great ones I discover.

 

[wulfenganck]

Why does this thread remind me so much of the Simpsons "Old man yells at cloud"?

 

[wabashslim]

Sometimes I think if I ever see another Stevie Ray Vaugnabe or hear another flatted 5th or I-IV-V progression I might go jump off a bridge.

That would be a great subject for a blues tune...how ironic...

 

[tlsmack]

My favorite current players are Josh Smith and Joe Campilongo. Also guys like John McLaughlin and Robben Ford are still tearing it up.
Plenty of good blues out there, no need to spend time on the glorified blues daddys. I will end here before I name of he who's name is not to spoken

 

[Oxidao]

I‘m not tired of the I IV V, it is all over almost any genre for some reason, I don’t think I will ever being bored of a plain simple good song.
I still love plain Delta blues with one, two or three chords, with a repetitive nice simple riff, and a good story behind.

I’m tired of the endless up and down minor pentatonic scale noodling over I IV V, and really, over any other progression.
In my short experience, scales are good for improvising, but why sticking to a single one when writing?, why don’t we use our own path when doing so?, do we have any good music in our head to throw out?. I am still trying to figure out.

 

[middy]

Most of the great old blues goes beyond 12 bar I IV V and minor pentatonic. That’s the codified Chicago style, but the southern styles have odd/variable number of bars, sometimes only 1 or 2 chords, but sometimes 4. A lot of major pentatonic, as well, and a lot of ragtime/country sounding tunes.

 

[Filmosound 621]

And Mississippi John Hurt.

I listened to him a lot, but that is folk music, isn't it ?

Blues is such a huge Genre, hard to get around it.
I hope everybody got my Zappa reference with the funky smell.