Posted by nick on October 22, 2002 at 12:06:57:
Hi there
Maybe it's these rainy day we have in England that inspire me to sit down and write, or maybe it's that passion that Slip Kid talks of, is so much that you have to share it...But here goes....
The way I see it the blues is like writting a story.It reminds me of a game we used to play at work when there wasn't much to do.One person would start a story and write a paragraph,it could be about any thing.He would then pass it to the next who would read and then add the next paragraph and so on.By the end of the shift you had a story that would sometimes have been good enough and funny enough for a novel.However if the story had been passed to someone else after the first paragraph it may have read differently This is what improvisng is all about. knowing the key of a song helps you to understand the first paragraph knowing the riffs give you something to say and if you've taken the time to make up your own riffs this gives you the chance to make your part of the story your own
I used to go to a blues club there was about 15 of us there all sat around in a circle some with guitars some with harps a piano player or two and even a sax player.The guy that run it would tell us what key and what chords he would be using and then start to play a song,sometimes starting with guitar, sometimes with harp (the clever sod could play both and very well)after the first verse he he would point to one of us and we'd take over until he pointed to the next.Well I have to be honest some of the songs he sang I'd never heard of, but it didn't matter we were telling our own story and even though I say so myself it often sounded bloody good when it was all put together
"Why are you telling us this?" Nick, I hear you asking. I don't know, maybe it's because I've seen the light and just want to share it.It's such a good feeling when you understand what the blues is all about There are still plenty of stories to be told I can't wait to tell you mine and I can't wait to hear yours
Blow the back off it
Nick