How To Play A 12 Bar Blues
There are many different variations on the blues...
A few examples you might want to listen to for starters include : C-Jam Blues, Things Ain't The Way They Used To Be, Night Train, Route 66, Everyday I Have The Blues, Now's The Time, Straight No Chaser, Au Privave, Honky Tonk, Alligator Boogaloo and countless others. Listening is your first step in learning the blues. Lot's of listening... Once the sounds are already in you, the theory below should help you get it out.
Now here's how to play a 12 bar blues... once you've learned how to voice out chords using simple rootless voicings, check out these changes...
F7 | Bb7 | F7 | (C-) F7 |
Bb7 | Bdim | F7 | (A-) D7 |
G- | C7 | F7 D7 | G7 C7 |:
Here are some simple rootless voicings for these chords :
F7 - - A Eb G
Bb7 - - Ab D G
C-7 - - Bb E G
B dim - - B D F Ab
A- - - G D
D7 - - Gb D
G- - - F Bb D
C7 - - E Eb D
If you are playing a keyboard instrument you can hold the root down in the bass In your left hand) so you can hear the changes (train your ear to hear the root movement, a job which is the actually carried out by the bass player on a real bandstand).
The basic form of a blues consists of three dominant chords built on the first, fourth and fifth degree of any scale. For example, in the key of F you'd have F, Bb and C. The chords are arranged as follows :
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
4 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
The catch is that these chords can be substituted, passing chords can be used, or other effects can be made with various substitutions... As an example, the 1 chord in the second bar is often replaced by the 4 chord...And to get to the 4 chord in the fifth bar, a II V progression leading to it is often played in the fourth bar (and so on and so forth...) F7 | Bb7 | F7 | C- F7 |
Bb7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
You can create a gospel style walk up in the bass in the second measure by going from the 4 chord, to a diminished chord a half step above it, then playing the 1 chord with a pedal tone then going to a 6 chord... The bass will sound like this :
Bb Bb Bb Bb | B B B B | C C C C | D D D D
F7 | Bb7 | F7 | C- F7 |
Bb7 | Bdim7 | F7/C | D7 |
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
And finally, while a traditional blues would more likely go from the 5 to the 4 chord in the last meaure, such as...
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7
...during the swing era, musicians began using a II V walk up to get back to 1...
G- | C7 | F7 D7 | G7 C7 |
The bass would sound like this (try it on the keyboard even if you're not a bass player)...
G A Bb B | C D Eb E | F Eb D Db | C Bb A Gb | F...
You can even make the line swing a bit harder by playing a II V progression in the bar before... (A- D7 instead of just the D7...)
A Eb D Ab | G A Bb B | C D Eb E | F Eb D Db | C Bb A Gb | F...
(These last two bars are known as the turnaround - - they're very important as it tells the listeners that the tune is going back to the top !)
*If some of the stuff in this article sound a bit too technical, its very important that you stop and learn about II V progressions and how to handle them in all keys. They're the meat and potatoes of Jazz, or atleast the cement which connects all the building blocks together !
A few examples you might want to listen to for starters include : C-Jam Blues, Things Ain't The Way They Used To Be, Night Train, Route 66, Everyday I Have The Blues, Now's The Time, Straight No Chaser, Au Privave, Honky Tonk, Alligator Boogaloo and countless others. Listening is your first step in learning the blues. Lot's of listening... Once the sounds are already in you, the theory below should help you get it out.
Now here's how to play a 12 bar blues... once you've learned how to voice out chords using simple rootless voicings, check out these changes...
F7 | Bb7 | F7 | (C-) F7 |
Bb7 | Bdim | F7 | (A-) D7 |
G- | C7 | F7 D7 | G7 C7 |:
Here are some simple rootless voicings for these chords :
F7 - - A Eb G
Bb7 - - Ab D G
C-7 - - Bb E G
B dim - - B D F Ab
A- - - G D
D7 - - Gb D
G- - - F Bb D
C7 - - E Eb D
If you are playing a keyboard instrument you can hold the root down in the bass In your left hand) so you can hear the changes (train your ear to hear the root movement, a job which is the actually carried out by the bass player on a real bandstand).
The basic form of a blues consists of three dominant chords built on the first, fourth and fifth degree of any scale. For example, in the key of F you'd have F, Bb and C. The chords are arranged as follows :
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
4 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
The catch is that these chords can be substituted, passing chords can be used, or other effects can be made with various substitutions... As an example, the 1 chord in the second bar is often replaced by the 4 chord...And to get to the 4 chord in the fifth bar, a II V progression leading to it is often played in the fourth bar (and so on and so forth...) F7 | Bb7 | F7 | C- F7 |
Bb7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
You can create a gospel style walk up in the bass in the second measure by going from the 4 chord, to a diminished chord a half step above it, then playing the 1 chord with a pedal tone then going to a 6 chord... The bass will sound like this :
Bb Bb Bb Bb | B B B B | C C C C | D D D D
F7 | Bb7 | F7 | C- F7 |
Bb7 | Bdim7 | F7/C | D7 |
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7 |
And finally, while a traditional blues would more likely go from the 5 to the 4 chord in the last meaure, such as...
C7 | Bb7 | F7 | F7
...during the swing era, musicians began using a II V walk up to get back to 1...
G- | C7 | F7 D7 | G7 C7 |
The bass would sound like this (try it on the keyboard even if you're not a bass player)...
G A Bb B | C D Eb E | F Eb D Db | C Bb A Gb | F...
You can even make the line swing a bit harder by playing a II V progression in the bar before... (A- D7 instead of just the D7...)
A Eb D Ab | G A Bb B | C D Eb E | F Eb D Db | C Bb A Gb | F...
(These last two bars are known as the turnaround - - they're very important as it tells the listeners that the tune is going back to the top !)
*If some of the stuff in this article sound a bit too technical, its very important that you stop and learn about II V progressions and how to handle them in all keys. They're the meat and potatoes of Jazz, or atleast the cement which connects all the building blocks together !