Blues Tempo

Stratguy

Stratguy

Coffee Junky
So, I was never a Blues fan growing up, although much of the music I listened to was heavily Blues influenced, without my knowing it. In the last couple of years, I've gotten more interested in Blues, from both a listening, and a playing perspective.

So, from the playing perspective, I wanted to know what a typical Blues tempo would be, and I googled it. The information I was pretty much a definite "from slow to fast." That really didn't help much. I figure I could let my own emotional gut instinct guide me, but what if I have a different emotion response to a song that it should be if I've playing it for someone else?

I'd really like to hear some thoughts on this subject, even though it might seem a little beginnerish. The truth is that I really am a beginner in many things when it comes to the Blues.
 
well, that's what Motörhead does, and they are blues-based rock


I really don't know.

for s shufly kind of thing, I'd say maybe about 100bpm...?
 
Honestly there is not any one tempo range that can define blues music. Play it where it feels good.

Here is a blues played with a "2 feel" that is pretty quick:



here is a much slower tune:



something more in the middle:

 
Mark, the last 2 are what I've typically listened to in the Blues genre. I guess I had never thought of Blues being upbeat. It really surprised me when I read about upbeat Blues, so I wanted to hear what you guys thought. So, would you just play it the way that you want it to be felt by your audience, and create whatever tempo you want?
 
Stratguy said:
Mark, the last 2 are what I've typically listened to in the Blues genre. I guess I had never thought of Blues being upbeat. It really surprised me when I read about upbeat Blues, so I wanted to hear what you guys thought. So, would you just play it the way that you want it to be felt by your audience, and create whatever tempo you want?
Click to expand...


Yeah...just like any other style. If you play a nights worth of music in a narrow range of tempos you are going to bore people (and yourself) to death. The more you listen to various blues artists the better more you'll get a handle on picking tempos for your music.
 
Thanks for the input. I play drums for a garage band (that occasionally get out), and the guitar/vocalist tends to play everything with the same distortion, and at the same tempo. It drives me nuts, because I realize that it will all sound the same out front after a while. He's starting to understand, but he still needs to vary the tempo more, and if he'd just pick a song or 2 to do clean, at least it wouldn't all sound the same. He tends to play only what he likes to hear, and I keep telling him that it's fine for the basement, but when he's in front of an audience, it's not about what he wants to hear, it's about what they want to hear. Slowly, very slowly, it seems to be sinking in. :rolleyes:
 
If I may follow up on King Weiners sage advice...Check out Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets, The Fabulous Thunderbirds. They play a style of jump blues at times which is very much like what King Weiner noted in "Got My Mojo Workin" . It's lively, fun to play, and dancers love it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top