Whatever the style of music, the notes you don't play are as significant as the ones you do play. An important element in Blues is the use of space between the notes or chords. The use of rests is the most common way of creating space between notes or chords. To refresh your memory on the ways in which rests are written and their various values. go back and look ar the note values chart in Lesson 20. Although two beat and four beat rests are used. one beat and half beat rests are much more common. Here are some exercises using these rests. This first one uses the quarter ntoe or one beat rest.
Now try this 12 bar Blues using the rhythm of the previous example.