The 12-Bar Blues
The 12-Bar Blues is a pattern of chords which repeats every 12 bars. It is the most common progression in Blues music, and is used extensively in both Rock and Jazz. There are usually three different chords used. Each of these relates to one basic Key. In Blues, the most common chords are those built on notes 1, 4 and 5 of the major scale. So in the key of C, these chords would be C, F and G. In the Key of A they would be A, D and E. The following example demonstrates the 12-Bar Blues progression played with a movable shuffle pattern in the key of A. The first and third fingers remain on the strings, while the fourth finger stretches up two frets on the same string as the third finger. Play the next exercise without right hand damping and use alternating pick strokes. Listen to the different sound this produces.
This shuffle pattern can be played in any key simply by moving its root note to the appropriate fret. The following example is in the key of G in the 3rd position (3rd fret).
The following example shows the 12-bar Blues progression using Roman numerals I, IV and V instead of 1, 4 and 5. The Csymbol is a bar repeat sign. It indicates that bar is identical to the previous bar. To learn more about chords within keys, see Progressive Blues Rhythm Guitar Method or Progressive Guitar Method: Theory.
