The blues is the most overlooked and ignored genre of music but it is an important genre. Why? Whether you all listen to the blues or not… the blues has influenced all of us in many ways. The blues is where rock and metal originated from pretty much. That was how Black Sabbath invented the heavy metal genre ’cause Tony Iommi was very blues influenced. Sabbath started off as a blues band originally. All the rock guys we all love started off playing blues that includes Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc.

I’ve listened to blues music pretty much my entire life. All my favorite bands that I love: Led Zep, the Allman Bros., Joe Satriani, Neil Young, Eric Clapton… they are all blues influenced musicians.

Of course, I do listen to real blues music like Robert Johnson, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, T Bone Walker, Lightning Hopkins, etc. I’m a huge fan of SRV too.

If you notice with my own songwriting, a lot of my originals are blues influenced.

Blues maybe boring music to listen to but if you give it a chance, you would love it. Many of your favorite bands and artists wouldn’t be around today if weren’t for blues music.

Whenever I play lead guitar, my lead guitar playing always seem to sound so bluesy. Can’t help it. That’s how I seem to always play.

I just think listening to the blues a lot will help you become a better rock guitarist. A lot of musicians today would slam the blues, accusing it of being boring and just guitar players noodling. It’s just a bunch of bullshit. A lot of the blues guys can be very talented and a lot of blues stuff can give you pretty big goosebumps.

Forget listening to fuckin’ John Mayer. John Mayer maybe a talented blues guitarist but that’s all he is, in my opinion. You should listen to real blues artists like the ones I listed above.

If you haven’t heard Robert Johnson, then you really need to get educated with music. Most of the classic rock bands we all know and love was because of Robert Johnson. Eric Clapton picked up the guitar because of him. Led Zeppelin was Robert Johnson inspired too. Same with the Grateful Dead, Cream, etc.

I think every music lover needs to listen to the blues. I think I would wanna play more blues music on the guitar myself more. Blues will help you become a better musician and songwriter. It shouldn’t be ignored. Listening to Robert Johnson is recommended. Once you do, you would see why so many famous rock legends look after him.

Kev