Blues Techniques : Instruments : Rhythm : Other Styles

Rhythm

The Piedmont blues beat is most often a cross between ragtime and 1960s rock and roll. In fact, several rock musicians, such as Bob Dylan, picked up some of the Piedmont blues style, so it's possible that the older style influenced the 1960s artists. The regular, alternating thumb bass melody creates a highly syncopated rhythm reminiscent of country dance songs. In fact, since string bands were more popular in the southeast than in the Mississippi Delta and in Texas, the blues of the Southeast could have adopted the rhythm of string band dance tunes.

Piedmont blues has a "rock" sound and a heavy beat, unlike some of the more melancholy numbers of its Delta and Texas cousins. The tone tended to be more lighthearted, similar to bluegrass music; in fact, Piedmont blues may be an uncle to the contemporary, fingerpicked folk music.

Just as regions exhibited different personalities, so did Piedmont blues rhythms. Guitar Shorty fragmented the typical rhythm. Some guitarists fingerpicked most of their songs. Others, like Blind Boy Fuller, used a slide technique with some regularity.