Uke ʻnʼ The Blues by Paul Hemmings Since its inception in the early 20th Century, the Blues has influenced every style of American music that has followed since. Jazz, rock, country, Broadway show tunes -each of these peculiarly American styles of music can trace part of their origins back to the Blues.
This workshop will provide you with a basic understanding of the Blues,
which is essential for playing jazz, swing, rock, and just about any other genre of American music. Weʼll cover swing rhythm, the Dominant 7th chord, the 12-bar blues chord progression, and the Blues scale.
Then weʼll finish up by putting all of this
knowledge to work in our own ukulele Blues band. Swing Rhythm Instead of spacing notes (or strums) evenly, as is most often the case in Western classical music, “swing” is a rhythmic feeling where the notes that fall in between the beats are slightly delayed. This creates a push and pull between notes that fall on the beat and those that fall on the offbeats, providing a lilt that is instantly recognizable and makes people want to move! Weʼll use the six strumming patterns below to illustrate the difference between “straight” and “swing” eighth notes:
4 ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ &4 V V V V V V V V
12 ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ &8 V V V V V V V V V V V V
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&
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≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ & 12 8 V V V V V V V V V V V V
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12 ≥ &8 V
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≤ ≥ VJ V
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≤ ≥ VJ V
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7
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–
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≤ ≥ VJ V
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10 –
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≤ VJ
12
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≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ & 12 8 V VJ V VJ V VJ V VJ 4
1 – 3
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7 – 9
10 – 12
"Swing 8ths"
4 ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ &4 V V V V V V V V 6
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