Is it the guitar or vocal lyric that makes a blues, song or is it the singers delivery

I offten wonder if the blues, is the sound of the crying guitar or blues piano or is it the words of the song, I feel the words/ lyrics is the real ellement behind any blues song, it's the feeling the singer puts into the delivery of the lyrics, for example, if I write the lyrics, "Well my girl friend don't love me nomore," it;s not the sentance that is the blues, is it the way the singer delivers it, I feel it true to say not all forms of music rely on singers to really live the lyrics through their vocals, if some one says to me theres a blues singer on tonight, I expect a heart felt feeling of sorrow and misery along with a beat that carries me through the song and story.

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Tags: blues, delivery, is, the, understanding, what

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Permalink Reply by Jake Green on August 11, 2009 at 4:08am

I don't really agree...

In my opinion what makes a blues song is the general feel much more than the different components.
You can do beautiful instrumental blues just as well as you can make acapella blues.

A moan from a guitar/sax/harp can touch you just as deep as a howl of a singer, or a well placed riff from the piano.

Its the general delivery and mood that makes a blues song, no matter who sings or plays what. This is also why its silly to claim that one form of blues is more correct or right than another. Its all about explaining to the audience how you feel through words and tone.

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Permalink Reply by Jake Green on August 11, 2009 at 6:02am

Just realized that it looks like I'm disaggreing with Patti. Thats not the case, I was disaggreing with some of the posts on page 1. =)

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Permalink Reply by Dave Ciarella Murray on August 11, 2009 at 3:49pm

I agree Jack with the audiance being a apart of your explanation about what makes blues, as it's the audiance who sucks the emotions in from who ever is playing and singing, which gets them caught up in the tention and theatrical presentaion of the stories (lyrics-music) been delivered. cheers Dave,