{"id":15973,"date":"2025-01-14T18:50:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T23:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?p=15973"},"modified":"2025-11-19T11:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T16:11:30","slug":"6-original-blues-guitar-architects-to-rediscover-this-black-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/6-original-blues-guitar-architects-to-rediscover-this-black-history-month\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Original Blues Guitar Architects to Rediscover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The following information on acoustic blues guitar pioneers is excerpted from the Berklee Online course Acoustic Blues Guitar<\/a><\/em>, written by Dan Bowden<\/a>, and currently enrolling.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tracing the Roots of Acoustic Blues Through Its Most Innovative Guitar Trailblazers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Blues<\/em> is a word that describes a distinctive form of musical output, developed by African Americans that lived primarily in the South. Blues was conceived in the cotton fields of the South, from field hollers and work songs that expressed the hardships of an oppressed and exploited African-American underclass. The musical elements of blues are distinctly African in origin\u2014the pentatonic scales, polyrhythms, use of microtones and pitch bends, and call and response phrase structure all originate from the African continent. The first strains of what we would identify as blues were identified around the turn of the twentieth century, around the same time recording technology was developed. With this legacy of recording, we can identify distinctive regional styles through the work of the most representative and influential artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charley Patton<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Born:<\/strong> 1887 in Edwards, MS
Died:<\/strong> April 28, 1934 in Indianola, MS
Considered by many to be the \u201cFather of the Delta Blues.\u201d He impressed audiences with flashy guitar playing, gaining notoriety for his showmanship, often playing with the guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back. Although Patton was a small man at about 5\u2019 5\u201d and 135 pounds, his gravelly voice was rumored to have been loud enough to carry 500 yards without amplification. Patton\u2019s gritty bellowing was a major influence on Son House, Robert Johnson, and the singing style of his young friend Chester Burnett, who went on to gain fame in Chicago as Howlin\u2019 Wolf.
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