Writing the Blues

Chapter::Structure

Chapter Summary:

Musically, we’ll look at the 12-bar blues… 12 bars of music that repeat, giving structure to the song, both instrumentally and allowing for call and response vocals.

Article::Chord Patterns

The 12 bar blues are defined by a repeating pattern of chords. Each cell in the table below is a measure--12 in all.

I	I (IV)*	I	I	IV	IV
I	I	V	IV	I**	V**

*you can also use the IV chord for a “quick change” progression to add variety

**these two measures are the turnaround measures, and you often do some “walking” between the chords here, or play a standard blues turnaround