The Blues Music The 12 Bar Blues and Slavery. By Annabel rainbird 8h2

Blues Music  During slavery times, the slaves would play music to express their unhappiness.  The slaves would use drums as it was the most popular instrument. They played it using the palms of their hands, their finger tips or with sticks.  The slaves would use objects they found on the ground and turn them into instruments. For instance, jawbones became scrapers, the teeth were scraped with keys or metal objects.

The 12 Bar Blues  The 12 Bar Blues consists of three sections;  Arpeggio, The melody line and the scales.  Lets start with Arpeggio;  The three primary chords of Arpeggio are C,F and G.  The arpeggio chords are played one after another, they are also called the broken chords.  They are;  C-Cega  F-Facd  G-Gbde

The Melody Line GGG C3D D#DC3 Rest and Count 1,2 These 3 notes are played in quick succession 1-8 seconds You play these notes with different fingers; G= Pinkie D=Index C3=Thumb D#=Middle The easiest way to find the note c on the keyboard/piano is to find the two black notes, got to the left then the first white note is c

The Scale C3D#FF#GA#C4 The scale chords All or some of these notes can be used for the musical technique ‘IMPROVISATION'. This is played within the time slot of the 1-8 count. The black notes on the piano are; D#,F#, A# C3=Thumb D#=Index F=Thumb F#=Index G=Middle A#=Wedding ring finger (opposite side) C4=Pinkie These chords are played with all your fingers