12 Bar Blues
12 Bar Blues is a pattern of chords which repeats every 12 bars. There are hundreds of well known songs based on this chord progression, i.e., they contain basically the same chords in the same order. 12 Bar Blues is commonly used in Blues, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Rock, Country and Folk music. Most 12 Bar Blues contain lots of seventh chords.
The following 12 Bar Blues is in the key of G. When a song is said to be in the key of G, the most important chord (and usually the first chord) is some kind of G chord (usually G or G7). This pattern of chords will probably sound familiar to you. Notice that a staccato strum is used on the fourth beat of the strumming pattern. End this 12 Bar Blues by playing a G7 chord. Use alternate picking when playing the melody.
12 Bar Blues can be played in any key (i.e., starting with any note or chord). In Blues, the name of the first chord is also usually the name of the key. The following example is a Blues in the key of D, which uses a less regular rhythm than the previous one. This makes counting essential so you don’t lose your place in the music.
B7
The next example is a 12 Bar Blues in the key of E. It contains the chord B7, as shown in the diagram. Practice changing between B7 and all the other chords you know, until it becomes easy.
