Chicago blues

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Chicago blues
Stylistic origins
Delta blues, instrumentation
Cultural origins
Typical instruments
Fusion genres
Rock and roll, Rock music

The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois by adding electrically amplified guitar, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic guitar/harmonica Delta blues. The music developed mainly as a result of the "Great Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial cities of the North such as Chicago in particular, in the first half of the twentieth century.

Chicago Blues has a more extended palette of notes than the standard six-note blues scale; often, notes from the major scale are added, which gives the music a more "jazz feel" whilst still being in the confines of the blues genre. This is not, however, as prominent as Texas blues, which contains many other notes such as the major 3rd and major 6th. Chicago blues is also known for its heavy rolling bass.

Another notable point is that Chicago blues contains many dominant 9th chords, and the scales usually contain 9th notes. Note that a 2nd is the same as a 9th (the notoriously confusing '9=2' seen on many chord charts reflects this fact), and this is especially emphasized on guitar, on which it is much more difficult to span octaves, than on a piano.

[edit] Notable Chicago blues musicians

Below is a list of notable Chicago blues musicians (and groups) alphabetized by first name (or stage name):

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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