12 Bar Blues
12 Bar Blues is a pattern of chords which repeat every 12 bars. There are hundreds of 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.
Some well-known songs which use this 12 bar chord pattern are:
- Original Batman TV Theme
- Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley
- Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry
- Blue Suede Shoes – Elvis Presley
- In the Mood – Glenn Miller
- Surfin’ USA – The Beach Boys
- In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry
- Long Tall Glasses – Leo Sayer
- Killing Floor – Jimi Hendrix
- Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealer’s Wheel
- Give Me One Reason – Tracy Chapman
- Why Didn’t You Call Me? – Macy Gray
The following 12 Bar Blues is in the key of C major. 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. Instead of writing a chord symbol above each bar of music, it is common to only write a chord symbol when the chord changes. For example, the first four bars of this Blues are all C chords, played according to the rhythm pattern. To help keep time, accent (play louder) the first strum of every bar. End this 12 Bar Blues by strumming a C chord.
Rhythm Pattern
