Do You Really Know the Difference Between Jazz and Blues Music?

Many believe jazz came out of the blues, or that jazz has its roots in the blues. Actually jazz and blues are like brothers, they grew up side by side.It’s not always easy to tell the difference if you haven’t listened or played before.
​Part of why these 2 different styles of music sound similar is that they were both “born” in America, and both originated in the South.

​Jazz originated in New Orleans, while the Blues began in Mississippi. So both genres were influenced by African Culture the experiences of Blacks in the South in the early 20th century.

Actually, when Jazz first started, it was called Jass and only later was it changed to what we now call it, Jazz. Blues music was mostly made of spiritual and work songs from slaves that were largely influenced by their cultural traditions in Africa. Blues music was mostly slow and sad. When Jazz developed, it also took in this African influence but also combined it with European influences to make it a unique sound. Both genres use piano as most important instrument.

So what is different about these 2 styles of music in terms of playing them?

Blues musicians generally opt for a Distortion sound. For example, a blues guitarist might play with a distortion pedal or have the gain turned up on the amp. The goal is to get the signal to distort a little bit, but not as much as a hard rock or metal guitarist would use. A jazz guitarist would be unlikely to do this and instead go for a clean sound.

A blues band would usually have a bass player, a singer, a guitarist, a drummer and perhaps a piano/keyboard player. There are exceptions to this but a blues band is generally small and the focus is on the singer or the guitarist. And a traditional jazz big band will have trumpets, saxophones, trombones, guitar, bass, piano and drums.

Tecnichal Differences

Blues

• There are basically only 3 harmonic chords played in Blues music
  1. Tonic – 1st note of the scale
  2. Subdominant – 4th note of the scale
  3. Dominant – 5th note of the scale
• Blues uses a basic 12 bar progression in most songs
• Blues music is focused more on vocals and having a singer carry the song with one or two instruments accompanying in the background
• Blues music is more “emotional” and expressive than Jazz
• Improvisation is done mostly by the singer and not the other instruments

We are sure that sometimes when we’re feeling down, or things aren’t going our way, or we need a little extra motivation, inspiration can be hard to find. And that’s where these songs come in. Some are inspirational anthems to help you mentally, others are motivational tunes to get you in the best mood…