Posted 2012-04-11 5:12 PM (#453080) Subject: Fundamental Rules if you are a blues player
Joined: March 2005 Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains
I am a big fan of Michael Allsup, guitarist for Three Dog Night. Here is a great list from him detailing Fundamental Rules on Writing and Singing the Blues. Good Fun. Enjoy!
Michael Allsup's Fundamental Rules if you are a blues player (attrib. to Memphis Earlene Gray with help from Uncle Plunky):
If you're new to Blues music, or you like it but never really understood the whys and wherefores, here are some very fundamental rules:
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then, find something that rhymes -- sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. "You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch...ain't no way out."
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs, and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis .
7. Blues can take place in New York City , but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada . Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle are probably just clinical depression. Chicago , St. Louis , Kansas City, Memphis , and N'awlins are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway, b. jailhouse, c. empty bed, d. bottom of a whiskey glass.
11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's, b. gallery openings, c. Ivy League institutions, d. golf courses.
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it.
13. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt, b. you have a harp and it cost more then your car, c. you shot a man in Memphis, d. you can't be satisfied.
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth, b. Your a fan of Brittany Spears, c. the man in Memphis lived,( or you missed ) d. you have a 401 K or trust fund.
14. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Lis-ton could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.
15. If you ask for water and your darlin' gives you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine, b. whiskey or bourbon, c. muddy water, d. black coffee. The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier, b. Chardonnay, c. Snapple, d. Yoo Hoo (all flavors)
16. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So are the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie, b. Big Mama, c. Bessie, d. Lucille
18. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe, b. Willie, c. Little Willie, d. Big Willie
19. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Jennifer, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
20. Blues Name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.),
b. first name (see above) or name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Peach, etc.),
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.). For example: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Pegleg Lime Johnson, or Cripple Peach Fillmore, etc.
Submitted by: MusicMishka aka Blind Big Willie Jackson
Posted 2012-04-17 11:57 AM (#453286 - in reply to #453080) Subject: Re: Fundamental Rules if you are a blues player
Joined: April 2012 Posts: 25
Location: SoCal
Love playing and performing the blues. I dig that entire list there Mishka! I think what makes me laugh the most is that I am originally from Hawaii where it rains alot, currently live in Southern Cal where it rains usually one month of the year and have a 401K.
However, I do drive a Ford, have ridden the Greyhound, don't like shopping malls, not a teenager but not older than dirt and at times will play a harmonica.
Reply written by: Modern Saint aka Blind Watermelon Jefferson
Posted 2012-04-18 6:35 PM (#453333 - in reply to #453080) Subject: Re: Fundamental Rules if you are a blues player
Joined: April 2010 Posts: 823
Location: sitting at my computer
After careful consideration and much consumption... or was it... much consideration and careful consumption... oh well whichever... of "Buffalo Theory" brain efficiency increasing, brewed libations, at the local tiki bar... I was thinkin' up a Blues nickname. How's... Sandy Banana Slim ?
Blues qualifications:
- Older than dirt: depends on which dirt
- Can't be satisfied: like Mick said "I can't get nooo satisfaction"
- Beverages: cheap wine (cheap beer too), black coffee, old rum (wasn't listed but musta been an oversight)
- 401K: nope (that turned into a 101k)
- Ford: check (with an oil leak)
- Ugly white people: check
- Bad luck: well... lost my job... sellin' the house... the cat died... can't pick winning lotto numbers...
- *Haven't shot nobody in Memphis... *yet.
Aw man, now I've got the blues. I'm goin' back to the bar. Una mas cervesa!
Fundamental Rules if you are a blues player
