I suppose this would be a good time to post the email one of my buddies sent me, the rules for the blues:

1) Most Blues songs 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) Suitable Blues cars include Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and
broken-down trucks. However, no self-respecting Blues singer travels
in Volvos BMWs or sports 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' ta die.

6) Only adults sing the Blues. Teenagers can't sing the Blues; they
ain't fixin' ta die yet. 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 is probably
just clinical depression. Clarksdale, 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.

A man havin' 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 an alligator be chompin' 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 - unless
you're a really old person, and you slept in the suit.

13) Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a) you're older than dirt
b) you're blind
c) you shot a man in Memphis
d) you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a) you have all your teeth
b) you were once blind but now can see
c) the man in Memphis lived
d) you have a 401K 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 Liston 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) black coffee
d) muddy water
These, however, are NOT Blues beverages:
a) Perrier
b) Chardonnay
c) Snapple
d) Slim Fast

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
during liposuction.

17) Some good Blues names for men:
a) Joe
b) Willie
c) Little Willie
d) Big Willie

18) Some good Blues names for women:
a) Sadie
b) Big Mama
c) Bessie
d) Hot Dumpling
However, women with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie or Heather can never sing the Blues - no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19) Blues Name Starter Kit
a) name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame etc.)
b) first name plus name of fruit (Lemon Lime, Peach, etc.)
c) last name of a president (Jefferson, Johnson, Filmore, etc.)

Some valid Blues names might be Blind Lemon Jefferson, Pegleg Lime
Johnson or Cripple Peach Filmore.

20) No matter how tragic your life is: if you own a computer, you
cannot sing the blues, period. Sorry.

_________________
I traded my car in for a microphone.

WOW I guess nothing shocks me anymore. First let me say that I do not think Nevins comment was racist so lets not raise a big stink there. What it did show is that he has a lot of music to listen too or catch up on his history of the blues.

If he thinks guys like Clapton,SRV, Peter Green,Johnny Winter,Gary Moore,Ronnie Earl,Mike Bloomfield, Duane Allman just to name a few cannot play the blues he should go look up what guys like Albert King, Freddie King,BB King, Muddy Waters or Howlin Wolf or Buddy Guy have to say about there playing. And what these guys had to say were things not just to be kind.

The one thing each one of these guys have stated and you can search and look it up is that they are very grateful that the young English white guys GOT IT, or the blues would probably have died in the early sixties as it never was very popular outside of African Americans in the US and it was the young English guys who idolized these players and had them come over to the UK to perform which gave them the international stardom they deserved.

BB King will be the first to tell you you dont have to be black to play the blues. He is also a huge Django fan, and knows a lot more about the fretboard technically then he lets on. So if he puts a little Django into his lines which he does at times does that make him a fraud because he is not a gypsy. Forget skin color everyone feels the same emotions on the inside and the blues is what you are feeling, no matter what color.

As Hard rock evolved it was almost 100% white guys that were playing it so I would guess a lot of guys at that time might of thought black guys cant play this music. Then a guy named Hendrix showed up and blew everyones mind.

Now back to the original thread. Yes I have seen her on the net many times in fact if you go to www.licklibrary.com where they have the interviews and performances they have like a short set by her and she is very good. I think you might want to retract the statement of her having more soul than SRV but if that is how you feel that is your opinion. Other than that I agree she is a terrific player.

You're right Nevin - it IS just you.


Peace, Gridlok

You're damn right it is just him. I don't like being referred to as 'whites' the same way here in N.I. I dont like being called a 'fenian' or a 'taig'.

I can't believe in 2009 people are using terms like 'blacks' and 'whites' what the $@!&?? I thought we were all just PEOPLE or HUMANS.

That $@!& is backwards as $@!& and has no place on the Fender Forum.

Music is, for me at least, about unification. Not this $@!&.

Some people may not be offended and in that respect fair do's but I have to admit, I for one am.

CC

_________________
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Zenith Type-17
Marshall 70's JMP Superbass 100w
Blackstar HT-5

Capo the Rules for Blues was %&# hysterical. But oh so true. Shouldn't your 3 legged dog getting hit by your wife's boyfriend driving his Cadillac be a number.

_________________
2015 Epiphone Casino Goldtop
2011 Taylor 814ce
2009 EC Custom Shop Merc Blue
2008 Schecter ATX
1964 Epi Granada E444T
Fender Super Champ XD

Blues is a feeling not a skin color.

Please don't feed the troll.

Blues is a feeling and a skin color...just you jump into a lake up in the Adirondack Mountains in January...your skin will turn blue.. , yes guys I am trying to steer this topic to something better...Teles rock!!!

SRV and EC.

But people also said black people cant play rock but then came jimi hendrix

airbornestrat said

RickyD agrees - lets rock on out of here onto something better to talk about!

_________________
Old age and treachery will win every time over youth and enthusiasm.

"You can never have too many Tele's." A quote from my Sweetwater Sales Engineer

Then he should have said there have been no good white blues players instead of white players cant play blues

Ah, this is a slippery $@!&#. Maybe we should all find another thread.

That would be ideal, but if there is anything we have learned over the years from the precedents set, it's that when someone makes a racial comment like what was said people have to confront that person and let them know how racist it was and how offended they are even if it requires having a civil rights leader speak out on their behalf for everyone of said race. I mean surely the same rules apply when white people are the victims of racism, right? Or is that different?

_________________
I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.

No its racial equality for everyone except White people. Duh where have you been

Definitely open season on the white male. I mean I already knew we were terrible at everything we do, dirty heathens and the lowest of the low, and this morning I woke up to find out we can't play the blues. So this is the post-racial society? Alright!!!!!

_________________
I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.