Jazz is not Blues and Blues is not Jazz.......

“Difficult” is not an easy thing to define; it’s all more complicated and subtle than that. The best Jazz players are not always the best Blues players. In fact, they seldom are. What that does that tell you about “difficulty”?

Speaking as a guitar player myself I will say it's much easier to learn to play the blues with no formal music theory training.  Jazz is difficult to play well w/o having some fundamental understanding of music theory.  This is all the mechanical part of music.  Now how to play the blues and convey soul stirring feeling?  You're simply born with that ability.

@edcyn @three_easy_payments 

true true true

jazz musicians are much more skilled and technically adept

First and foremost, there is only one Blues, and that is the "Delta Blues"; all other blues are fakes derived from imitating the "Delta Blues".

When jazz musicians refer to the "Blues", they are referring to the emotion of "Blue" as expressed in their music. Have you ever heard a jazz musician sound like "Howling Wolf"?

The most distinctive aspect of the two Genres (jazz and Blues) is where the artists hone their crafts; the majority of Blues players worked in the deep south originally, while jazz musicians worked the big cities; Chicago, Detroit, LA, and New York. Have you ever heard of a jazz musician playing a "Juke Joint"?

I could go on and on in regard to the differences between not only the differences in musicians, but the differences in music that you can plainly hear, but I wont.

Gee, there is only Delta Blues? All my years of listening to Chicago blues, and now I find out it's fake. No more Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush. And what about Piedmont blues, Sonny Terry - Brownie McGhee? And Texas blues, Johnnie Copeland, Albert Collins.

I wonder where people would put T-Bone Walker. Jazzy blues or bluesy jazz?

And Bessie Smith, the Queen of the Blues, playing with all those New Orleans jazz musicians.