Skip to main content

Queens of the Stone Age - little sister

From its very beginning, the blues has been a largely improvised music, created spontaneously without written music or prior planning. In the early days of the genre, poor African American farmers would often gather together on each other’s porches and in churches and homes to jam for hours. They didn’t have printed music, and so they would make up tunes and lyrics on the spot. 

Singers or instrumental soloists can both do this act of invention, building from the chord progression, melody, and rhythm already being played... as the two in a musical conversation banter back and forth phrase by phrase. In fact, you improvise every time you have a spoken conversation. And it’s just the same between a harmonica and a singer, or a banjo player and a guitar player. Note that improvisation is no substitute for study or musicianship, on the contrary, the early blues musicians couldn’t read or write music so they developed new skills centered on listening to and learning traditional songs from other musicians.

Improvisation is also an important part of the blues because it allows for spontaneous, heartfelt personal expression of pain and longing for a better life.


Queens of the Stone Age - little sister
  • Released in: 2005
  • Genre: Alternative
  • Duration: 2:57

"Queens of the Stone Age is an alternative rock band formed in 1997 in California. Formed after the demise of Homme's previous band, Kyuss."

See previous Song of the Day 

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jackson Browne - Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Europe has a rich history of embracing blues and jazz music. In the early 20th century, American jazz musicians began touring Europe, introducing the continent to a new sound that was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Jazz became an instant hit among European audiences, and many European musicians began incorporating jazz elements into their music. Today, jazz festivals are held all over Europe, attracting thousands of fans from all over the world. In addition, many European cities have thriving blues scenes, with local bands and musicians performing regularly. Blues and jazz have also made their way to Asia, where they have found a devoted fan base. Japan, in particular, has a thriving jazz scene, with many Japanese musicians achieving international recognition. In addition, China has also seen a rise in the popularity of jazz music in recent years. Jazz festivals are now held in major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, attracting jazz lovers from all over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Veronica Swift - A Little Taste

There has always been an uncomfortable tension between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, a cyclical influence that vacillates between inspiration, appropriation and separation. Popular music has broken off into categories of rock, pop, country, and R&B, each with their own origin stories. But R&B and rock, usually codified as vastly different, Black and white styles, have long been intertwined in ways our historical memory may have us forget.  Despite the innovation that comes from separation, rock and R&B always find their way back to each other. In recent years, rock veterans have turned to the genre’s classics for inspiration. Queens of the Stone Age veered from their typical hard rock with 2017’s Villains, a dance y album inspired by frontman Josh Homme’s love of 1920s jazz and swing, other Black genres that laid the groundwork for the popular music of today. The whitewashing of rock’s history has oversimplified music’s malleability and silenced the voices of Amer...
Post a Comment
Read more

Moondog - Behold

The history of jazz has been one of fusion. Its musicians and composers have continually drawn upon a huge range of different musics to create the rich and diverse tapestry that is world jazz today. Jazz is an evolving tradition of music making. And how often, in the life stories of individual jazz musicians, do we see these same patterns operating at microcosm? The richness of Turkish music and culture sometimes seems at odds with its turbulent and cruel history. In 1979... the country suffered its third military take over in thirty years... Every kind of music was in Turkey at that point. But it was not appreciated. To understand the culture of the country, with those three military takeovers, Turkey could not go anywhere. Musically, it was very difficult. But things were beginning to happen. Traditional Turkish music is essentially monophonic, rich in melody and rhythm but with little by way of harmony. The contrast with western music, with its beautiful harmonies but rhythmic weakn...
Post a Comment
Read more