Minor-Key Blues
tagStarted late 1940sPeak 1956–1972Last big hit still active
Minor-key blues darkens the usual major-key shuffle vocabulary with tense harmony, unresolved mood, and a more wounded melodic contour. Guitarists often lean into sustained bends over minor tonality, giving the music a haunted, inward pressure rather than the swagger of brighter blues.
History
Though minor blues existed earlier, the electrified form became especially potent in the hands of Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Albert King, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and later Peter Green. The style strongly influenced soul-blues, West Side Chicago blues, and blues-rock, because a minor vamp plus a great guitarist is a known gateway drug for emotional overstatement—in the best sense.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica on electric-blues pioneers
- Chess Records history
- The Blues Foundation on traditional and contemporary blues categories.