ABSTRACT
The blues is an American art form. Originally, blues were primarily sung, with one of the objectives being to tell a story as vividly and expressively as possible. The ability to tell the story from one's perspective came to represent blues performance practice in particular, and jazz improvisation in general. The form of the generic blues can be partitioned into three four-bar phrases labeled as AA'B. The expressiveness of the blues comes from the melodic inflections added to particular notes. The blues scale not only allows us to add expression to our playing, but it also demonstrates our understanding of its historical importance and its role in the jazz tradition. The generic or three-chord blues, without any additional chord changes, was often employed in early jazz, particularly in Early Blues, Boogie-Woogie, and different New Orleans styles. The chord structure of the minor blues is characterized by the presence of traditional tonal progressions.
