The difference, by ear
Rock and roll is faster, shorter and for dancing. Blues rock slows the same source material down and makes room for a four-minute solo, which is the thing rock and roll had no time for.
Both are sung cleanly, but rock and roll is faster: 140 to 180 bpm against 90 to 130. Songs run longer in blues rock: usually 4 to 8 minutes, against 2 to 2½ minutes in rock and roll. To hear the difference, play Cream next to Chuck Berry. Both grew out of rock, rock and roll first and blues rock nine years after. Chicago appears in the origins of both.
In figures
Blues rock
Where it sits
In short
Electric blues played louder, longer and with improvised solos. The direct bridge between Muddy Waters and Black Sabbath.
How it sounds
- Pentatonic scales and long bends inherited straight from B.B. King and Buddy Guy.
- Amplifiers driven into natural saturation - the distortion comes from volume, not a pedal.
- Long songs with room for live improvisation.
Key acts
- Cream
- The Yardbirds
- Jimi Hendrix
- Fleetwood Mac
Start here
The pickCream - Sunshine of Your Love. The riff that showed how thick a trio could sound.
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Where it sits
In short
Ground zero: twelve-bar blues sped up, piano hammered hard, lyrics about cars and girls. It made the electric guitar the defining instrument of the century.
How it sounds
- Twelve-bar blues sped up, with piano pounded in eighths and saxophone where the guitar solo would later go.
- The guitar plays short repeating riffs rather than long solos - Chuck Berry essentially wrote the vocabulary.
- Mono production, one room, dance-hall energy.
Key acts
- Chuck Berry
- Little Richard
- Elvis Presley
- Bo Diddley
Start here
The pickChuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode. That opening riff is the DNA of the entire tree.
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