12 Bar Blues
Another common musical form is the 12 Bar Blues. This is a particular sequence of chords which repeat 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 Rock music and is the basis of Blues music. There have been many hit songs by artists such as Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, The Beach Boys, B.B King, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Gary Moore, Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton which are based on this progression. Here are some well known songs which are based on the 12 Bar Blues progression.
- Original Batman TV Theme
- Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
- Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley
- Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry
- Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
- Rock In Peace - ACDC
- Swamp Music - Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
- Surfin’ USA - The Beach Boys
- Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard
- Killing Floor - Jimi Hendrix
- Ice Cream Man - Van Halen
- Oh Pretty Woman - Gary Moore
- Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan
In Blues, the most common chords are I, IV and V. The basic progression is shown in the following example.
The progression is shown in the key of C with accompanying Roman numerals. The symbol which appears above some of the bars is a bar repeat sign. It indicates that bar is identical to the previous bar. The last two bars of the progression is called the turnaround. This is a type of ending which leads to the next verse.
