12 Bar Blues
12 Bar Blues is a pattern of chords which repeats every 12 bars. There are hundreds of wellknown
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.
Some well known songs which use this 12 bar chord pattern are:
- Batman TV Theme
- Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
- Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley
- Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry
- Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
- In the Mood - Glenn Miller
- Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard
- Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley
- Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
- Johnny B Good - Chuck Berry
- Dizzy Miss Lizzy - The Beatles
Play the following 12 bar blues which is in the key of C major, and uses the C, F and G7
chords. When a song is said to be in the key of C major, it means that the most important
chord (and usually the first chord) is the C chord.
This pattern of chords will probably sound familiar to you.
The Note A (above the treble staff)
In this lesson, play the A note with the fifth finger of your right hand.
12 bar blues can be played in many different keys. The chord pattern sounds the same,
even though the chords are different.
The Note Eb (in the fourth space of the treble staff)
The note Eb is the black key immediately to theleft of the E note as shown in the diagram.
