Last week we had a brief introduction to the wonderful world of the blues. This week we are going to start learning how to play the basic blues rhythms, and eventually we will throw in some lead practice as well.
The world of 12-bar blues revolves around three chords. Those chords are the I, the IV, and the V chords. The chords can be major or minor, or even dominant seventh. Let’s look at an example to get started.
A natural starting point would be the key of E. For this exercise we will use all major chords to hear what that sounds like. As we learned in a previous lesson, the I chord for the key of E would be E major. The IV chord would be A major, and the V chord would be B major. Those are all of the chords you need to know to play the blues in the key of E! I shouldn’t even have to show those three chords to you, but just in case you need a reminder, here they are:
I chord: E major
E---------------------------------0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------1--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------0----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV chord: A major
E---------------------------------0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------2--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V chord: B major
E---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------4--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now we just need to learn the changes. This is 12-bar blues, so obviously there will be twelve bars of music. There is a specific chord that corresponds to each bar of music, and in 4/4 time there are four beats in each bar if you’re counting in your head.
The first four bars are the I chord (E), the fifth and sixth bars are the IV chord (A), the seventh and eighth bars are the I chord (E), the ninth bar is the V chord (B), the tenth bar is the IV (A), the eleventh bar is the I chord (E), and the final bar is the V chord (B).
Maybe this would be a little easier to picture the whole thing:
I--I--I--I--IV--IV--I--I--V--IV--I--V
Remember, each chord symbol represents four beats.
Now just play the progression. It will probably sound familiar to you, because whether you play it fast or slow, it has been used for thousands of songs over the years. Try changing the chords to all minors, or all dominant sevenths, or a combination of them. This simple progression has so many variations and strengths that it always sounds fresh, it always has a way of filling a song with just the right touch. Experiment with this progression, and try to make it your own.
Next week we will look at how to solo over these progressions. We’ll be using some pentatonic scales, which were covered in a previous installment, if you need to brush up.
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