Blues rock is a musical genre combining bluesy
improvisations over the twelve-bar blues and
extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles.
The core of the blues rock sound is created
by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar
and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually
amplified through a tube guitar amplifier,
giving it an overdriven character.
The style began to develop in the mid-1960s
in Britain and the United States.
British bands, such as the Rolling Stones,
the Yardbirds and the Animals and American
bands such as the Butterfield Blues Band and
the Siegel–Schwall Band, experimented with
music from older African-American bluesmen,
like Albert King, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson,
Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and B.B. King.
While the early blues rock bands "attempted
to play long, involved improvisations which
were commonplace on jazz records", by the
1970s, blues rock got heavier and more riff-based.
By the "early '70s, the lines between blues
rock and hard rock were barely visible", as
bands began recording rock-style albums.
In the 1980s and 1990s, blues rock acts returned
to their bluesy roots, and some of these,
such as the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie
Ray Vaughan, flirted with rock stardom."
Characteristics
Blues rock can be characterized by bluesy
improvisation, the twelve-bar blues, extended
boogie jams typically focused on the electric
guitar player, and often a heavier, riff-oriented
sound and feel to the songs than might be
found in traditional Chicago-style blues.
Blues rock bands "borrow[ed] the idea of an
instrumental combo and loud amplification
from rock & roll".
It is also often played at a fast tempo, again
distinguishing it from the blues.
Instrumentation
The core blues rock sound is created by the
electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit.
Often bands also included a harmonica, usually
called "a harp."
The electric guitar is usually amplified through
a tube guitar amplifier or using an overdrive
effect.
Two guitars are commonplace in blues rock
bands; one guitarist focused on rhythm guitar
- playing riffs and chords as accompaniment
- and the other focused on lead guitar - playing
melodic lines and solos.
While 1950s-era blues bands would sometimes
still use the upright bass, the blues rock
bands of the 1960s used the electric bass,
which was easier to amplify to loud volumes.
Keyboard instruments, such as the piano and
Hammond organ, are also occasionally used.
As with the electric guitar, the sound of
the Hammond organ is typically amplified with
a tube amplifier, which gives a growling,
"overdriven" sound quality to the instrument.
Vocals also typically play a key role, although
the vocals may be equal in importance or even
subordinate to the lead guitar playing as
well a number of blues rock pieces are instrumental-only.
Structure
Blues-rock pieces often follow typical blues
structures, such as twelve-bar blues, sixteen-bar
blues, etc.
They also use the I-IV-V progression, though
there are exceptions, some pieces having a
"B" section, while others remain on the I.
The Allman Brothers Band's version of "Stormy
Monday", which uses chord substitutions based
on Bobby "Blue" Bland's 1961 rendition, adds
a solo section where "the rhythm shifts effortlessly
into an uptempo 6/8-time jazz feel".
The key is usually major, but can also be
minor, such as in "Black Magic Woman".
One notable difference is the frequent use
of a straight eighth-note or rock rhythm instead
of triplets usually found in blues.
An example is Cream's "Crossroads".
Although it was adapted from Robert Johnson's
"Cross Road Blues", the bass "combines with
drums to create and continually emphasize
continuity in the regular metric drive".
Cream also uses some of the lyrics from "Traveling
Riverside Blues" to create their own interpretation
of the song.
History
While rock and blues have historically always
been closely linked, and electric guitar techniques
such as distortion and power chords were already
used by 1950s blues guitarists, blues rock
as a distinctly recognizable genre did not
arise until the late 1960s.
In 1963, American Lonnie Mack debuted an idiosyncratic,
fast-paced electric blues guitar style which
confounded his contemporaries, but which later
came to be identified with blues rock.
His instrumentals from that period were recognizable
as blues or R&B tunes, but he relied heavily
upon fast-picking techniques derived from
traditional American country and bluegrass
genres.
The best-known of these are the hit singles
"Memphis" and "Wham!".
However, blues rock was not named as such,
or widely recognized as a distinct movement
within rock, until several years later, with
the advent of such British bands as Free,
Savoy Brown and the earliest incarnations
of Fleetwood Mac.
The musicians in those bands had honed their
skills in a handful of British blues bands,
primarily those of John Mayall and Alexis
Korner.
At that point, Mack's earlier recordings were
rediscovered and he soon came to be regarded
as a blues rock pioneer.
Other American performers, such as Johnny
Winter, Paul Butterfield and the group Canned
Heat are now also considered blues rock pioneers.
The blues rock genre was defined when John
Mayall released the album Blues Breakers with
Eric Clapton in 1966, which included guitarist
Eric Clapton.
Blues rock was a kind of rhythm'n'blues played
by British musicians.
Cream created a hybrid of blues with jazz
experimentation which was the most innovative
to date.
British band Fleetwood Mac had initially blues
roots inspired by Mayall and then evolved:
their guitarist Peter Green brought many innovations
to their music.
Their music became successful in "white America"
thanks in part to the operatic overtones in
the vocals that captivated the audience.
The electric guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix
and his power trios, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
and Band of Gypsys, has had broad and lasting
influence on the development of blues rock,
especially for guitarists.
Eric Clapton was another guitarist with a
lasting influence on the genre; his work in
the 1960s and 1970s with John Mayall and the
Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, supergroups
Blind Faith, Cream and Derek and the Dominos,
and an extensive solo career has been seminal
in bringing blues rock into the mainstream.
By this time, American acts such as The Doors
and Janis Joplin further introduced mainstream
audiences to the genre.
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd is known for incorporating
a mixture of Blues rock, Progressive rock
and Psychedelic rock into his guitar work.
Gilmour, who has received universal acclaim
for his guitar work, has described Hendrix
as a huge inspiration for his style of playing.
In the late 1960s, Jeff Beck, a former member
of The Yardbirds, revolutionized blues rock
into a form of heavy rock, taking the UK and
the US by storm with his band, The Jeff Beck
Group.
Jimmy Page, a third alumnus of The Yardbirds,
went out to form The New Yardbirds which would
soon become known as Led Zeppelin and would
become a major force in the 1970s heavy metal
scene.
The Who during their early run was a blues
rock standard group, with their posters for
their performances including their catch phrase
"Maximum R&B".
During this period the band covered songs
from Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, and
Mose Allison.
The Australian band AC/DC were also influenced
by blues rock.
Other blues rock musicians influential on
the scene in the 1970s included Dr. Feelgood,
Rory Gallagher and Robin Trower.
Beginning in the early 1970s, American bands
such as Aerosmith fused blues with a hard
rock edge.
Blues rock grew to include Southern rock bands,
like the Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top and
Lynyrd Skynyrd, while the British scene, except
for the advent of groups such as Status Quo
and Foghat, became focused on heavy metal
innovation.
Blues rock had a rebirth in the early 1990s
- 2000s, with many artists such as Gary Moore,
Mad Season, The White Stripes, Rival Sons,
John Mayer, Blues Traveler, The Black Crowes,
The Black Keys, Jeff Healey, Clutch, The Jon
Spencer Blues Explosion Joe Bonamassa, and
Guy Forsyth.
See also
List of blues rock musicians
Texas blues
References
Further reading
Bane, Michael.
White Boy Singin' the Blues.
Penguin, 1982.
270 p. A5, index.
ISBN 0-14-006045-6
Brunning, Bob.
Blues : The 
British Connection.
Foreword by Paul Jones.
Blandford Press, 1986.
256 p., index.
ISBN 0-7137-1836-6.
Rev. & upd. ed. in 1995 as Blues in Britain :
The history, 1950s-90s, 288 p. ISBN 0-7137-2457-9.
Re-publ. w/ original title by Helter Skelter,
2002, 288 p. ISBN 1-900924-41-2
Fancourt, Leslie.
British Blues on Record.
Retrack Books, 1989.
62 p. A5.
Heckstall-Smith, Dick.
The Safest Place in the World: A Personal
History of British Rhythm and Blues.
Preface by Jack Bruce.
Quartet, 1989, hb, 178 p. ISBN 0-7043-2696-5.
New ed. by Clear Books in 2004, w/ a second
part written by Pete Grant, his manager since
2000, now titled as Blowing the blues: Fifty
Years Playing the British Blues, w/ a 7-track
CD.
256 p. ISBN 1-904555-04-7.
Hjort, Christopher.
Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British
Blues Boom, 1965-1970.
Foreword by John Mayall.
Jawbone, 2007.
352 p. ISBN 1-906002-00-2.
Myers, Paul.
Long John Bauldry and the Birth of the British
Blues, Greystone Books, 2007, 272 p. ISBN
978-1-55365-200-7
McStravick, Summer; Roos, John; Foreword by
Bob Brunning.
Blues-Rock Explosion, Old Goat Publishing,
2001.
286 p A4 + xxxi, index.
ISBN 0-9701332-7-8.
Schwartz, Roberta Freund.
How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission
and Reception of American Blues Style in the
United Kingdom.
Ashgate, 2007.
282 p., hb.
ISBN 0-7546-5580-6.
