In college I took a class in Improvisation, and was part of an improv comedy troupe for a short time (I think we did two performances). One of the exercises, or lessons, or whatever we're calling them, involved making up a blues song on the spot. We were asked for a subject, and someone shouted out "Slime!" So we had to improvise a chorus of the Blues on the subject of slime. For some whacked out reason, I still remember the little verse I came up with:
I got some slime in my pocket
I'm going to give it to you
I got some slime in my pocket,
I'm going to give it to you;
What you do with it, baby,
Well that's entirely up to you.
Yeah. Pure poetry, right? But one of the beauties of the blues is it's simplicity. It's 12 bars, it has a pre-defined chord progression, and the first line repeats. It's a great exercise to get you thinking about this particular song form, and the results can be entertaining, and may lead to an actual song you want to keep.
Try it. Play a 12-bar blues progression. If you don't play an instrument, try singing over the (admittedly a little cheesy) embedded sound file below (in G major). Don't think too much. Just pick a subject, start the music, and go for it. See what comes out.
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