The Afro-American Blues

The Afro-American blues follows some of the characteristics of the Western African music tradition, such as the syncopation, harmony, and rhythm. Like Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad”, similarities with the Western African music is the way Johnson swing the lyrics and rhythm, it is very similar to Western African music. Charley Patton’s “Spoonful Blues” also have a similar style with Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad”. One more artist that I listened to is Huddie Ledbetter’s “Take This Hammer”. I think that the way he strums his guitar is similar to the way Western African drum players hit their percussions, there is a similar syncopation and rhythm to it. I would say that Western African music is a bit more up-tempo, and the blues has its characteristic