What are your favorite blues keys?

[Charlie Bernstein]

Been playing "Cocaine" (the folk song that Dave Van Ronk popularized, not the J.J. Cale song) in D for a couple of days now, and it's a world of fun. D just seems to be well situated for grabbing all sorts of hot riffs.

What keys do you get your best blues sounds from?

Thanks!

[Perry]

G, A, D, C, E, B

in that order generally

each one has it's own little idiosyncrasies due to where the chord tones, blue notes and combinations thereof lie on open and closed strings...adjacent strings especially

[foldedpath]

I don't play Blues on mandolin, but I used to play a lot of it on guitar in electric Chicago Blues-style bands. If I were playing it on mandolin, I think I'd stick to the common guitar-centric keys, because those are the ones you're most likely to run into if you attend a typical Blues jam. Or if you play along with recordings, which is a great way to practice Blues improvisation.

From memory, that would mostly be the keys of E,A,D, and G. All easily available on mandolin, natch. Sometimes key of C, because it's a popular key for singers, but some guitar players avoid it because it requires (gasp) a barre F for the IV chord.

You'd want to be comfortable in F and Bb if you ever play along with horns.

[DavidKOS]

I can play the blues in any key, it matters not.

[Nevin]

F, Bb, G

[Charlieshafer]

I'm close to Nevin. Bb, B, F, C. The C because it affords lots of low notes on a 'cello

[jaycat]

A flat minor. Which is also the punchline to a corny joke.

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . You'd want to be comfortable in F and Bb if you ever play along with horns.

HORNS?! We don't need no steeking HORNS!

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm close to Nevin. Bb, B, F, C. The C because it affords lots of low notes on a 'cello

Wow. Who knew?

[Charlie Bernstein]

G, A, D, C, E, B

in that order generally

each one has it's own little idiosyncrasies due to where the chord tones, blue notes and combinations thereof lie on open and closed strings...adjacent strings especially

G keeps sounding like bluegrass no matter what I do! (What can I say? I'm new to this mando business.) I can get bluesy on A, but D has opened up a lot more. So far.

Yep, I figure if I can do some respectable blues in the CAGED keys, I'll be in a good place. You're making me think I should put some time into G next.

[Charlie Bernstein]

G, A, D, C, E, B

in that order generally

each one has it's own little idiosyncrasies due to where the chord tones, blue notes and combinations thereof lie on open and closed strings...adjacent strings especially

Yup, I'm finding that with D - like playing an Ab against the open A on the V chord. That's the kind of stuff I'm hoping to find in other keys - sort of why I asked the question.

[foldedpath]

HORNS?! We don't need no steeking HORNS!

Awww, c'mon! Blues Brothers?

Or better, dig into some King Curtis recordings for the real stuff on sax. Translating that non-fretted flow is what it's all about.

[mandocrucian]

Playing a single line over a 12-bar progression isn't necessarily "the blues". (Hey, you can play polkas in any key too. Yahoo! - But not for the really cool Nordic minor key ones if you want retain the impact of those tunes)

(And the "blues" is a lot more diverse than the 12-bar structure with or without substitutions or jazzy chords.)

You want to fingerpick your blues.....Mississippi John Hurt tunes in piedmont style? Or take the Cooder route ("Goin' To Brownesville", "Billy The Kid" and other mando songs which never made it to studio recordings, but are floating around on live solo performance tapes)?

I'd just as soon play blues on mando with just a bass and drums; I really don't need a guitar player to help me hold it together, cause I've got that rhythm end covered. Now if it's someone like Martin Simpson, that's another story entirely!

John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, SRV, Hendrix...that's the real deal, imo. Depending on how heavy you are working the doublestops, triplestops, drones and stuff to really fatten up the sound, don't kid yourself that "all keys are equal". If you want to do "Cold Shot", you are best off in A (if you will be replicating SRVs rhythm riffs).

G A D and E are all good (major or minor or in between). C works good for some stuff...I keep Waters' "I Want To Be Loved" there. "Hoochie Coochie Man"....D. "Pride & Joy", "Voodoo Child", "Big Boss Man"...E. "Boogie Chillun", "I'm Ready"...G

BTW: On sax, there's nobody I'd rather hear play bluesy stuff than Art Pepper.

[Ron McMillan]

Rich DelGrosso, one of the masters of blues mandolin, often plays in G.

Another blues maestro, my friend Bert Deivert, plays in just about any key.

[Frankdolin]

Mostly D and G so I can whomp the open G string. But I think all keys have their own unique flavor partially because they force you to play a little different than you would in any other key. At least that's what happens to me...

[Charlie Bernstein]

Awww, c'mon! Blues Brothers?

Or better, dig into some King Curtis recordings for the real stuff on sax. Translating that non-fretted flow is what it's all about.

Wow, you nailed me. The King Curtis Band is the only horn band I'd put up with! (Can I get Aretha for keys and vocals?)

[Charlie Bernstein]

Rich DelGrosso, one of the masters of blues mandolin, often plays in G.

Another blues maestro, my friend Bert Deivert, plays in just about any key.

Love that guy! Got to jam with him this spring at a guit/mando camp. (I was playing guitar. He really dressed up my version of Fred McDowell's "Kokomo Blues.")

[Charlie Bernstein]

Mostly D and G so I can whomp the open G string. But I think all keys have their own unique flavor partially because they force you to play a little different than you would in any other key. At least that's what happens to me...

Thanks! Glad to know my D theory isn't totally off the wall. I like being able to come up to it from the G. It has that in common with playing in open G tuning on guitar.

Now 'scuse me while I go whomp that G!

[mandopops]

Got me talkin' Blues.
Playing keys? E,A,D. F & Bb for Jazzier tunes.

Yes, more to Blues than 1,4,5 in 12 bars, yes, but those Jazzy subs are a fun way to "dress them " up. Also, try tunes like "Tain't nobodies Bizness". Great changes & been done by plenty of the greats. It's not just the chords, either. The Groove, too.

"Don't need no horns"!? Please, don't take the horns out of the Blues. How about Louis Armstrong? He's one of the Kings of the Blues, Vocally or Instrumentally. Don't miss out on him. Bird, of course. Coltrane's Blues are so emotionally charged.

I was lucky that I was getting into Blues more heavily here in Chicago (60's..) when I could hear Muddy & Wolf. Plus, plenty of other less big name players, Otis Rush, J.B. Hutto & Mandolin Man, Johnny Young (this was way before I played Mandolin). Many others.
Later, I would take my EM-150 down to the South side to the Checkerboard & Theresa's, with my brothers, to jam. We'd play with Sammy Lawhorne, Lefty Diz, Pete Allen and others. Quite the time.

Keep an open mind on tune possibilities. I used to hear Sammy Lawhorne (an ex Muddy Guitarist) do an instrumental version of "Ode to Billie Jo". Outstanding. I heard Roosevelt Sykes, the old Barrelhouse Piano Man, do "Misty". Yes, I did. Wonderful. I heard Brownie Mc & Sonny Terry do Sam Cooke's "Bring it on Home to Me". In harmony. A joy. Gatemouth Brown played a diverse set, from Blues to Swing to Cajun fiddle.

I play in a Bluegrass band now, we do several Blues tunes. Even my little "Classical' Duo, I've found a way to work in some Blues influenced numbers. We do Joplin Rags, couple Bluesy Ellington's & W.C. Handy. All fair game.

Joe B

[Bren]

I like C , F & Bb for blues and old time jazz.

Although Count Basie's Jive at Five is one of the most natural G tunes on the mandolin.

[Ron McMillan]

While on the subject of blues mandolinists, Lino Muoio is an Italian player whose YouTube channel deserves more attention than it currently gets.

[DavidKOS]

HORNS?! We don't need no steeking HORNS!

I've played in horn bands all my life as I was born in New Orleans.

Believe me, most of the horn players "don't need no steeking" mandolins, either!

[lflngpicker]

I love playing the blues. I tend to play in lower keys than most-- I have always had a vocal pitch that is on the lower side for a lead singer. Friends used to say I sang in the Neil Diamond area, if you catch my drift. (none of that "there are two kinds of people, those who love Neil Diamond and those who don't"). Tend to be a baritone with bass range and the ability to flirt with tenor. So, I play blues in these keys, in this order: G, A, E and C. I do love that the sharp and flat keys are fine for blues as well and find that F# and Bb are good keys to play and sing in as well.

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . Friends used to say I sang in the Neil Diamond area . . . .

Vegas?

[Austin Bob]

My favorite blues keys?

Why, the keys to the Bluesmobile, of course.