Blues Guitar Chords – 12 Bar Blues

Blues guitar has contributed its values to the modern music. We can hear the influence of blues almost everywhere from modern music. When we talk about blues we have to go back to the root of blues. It’s 12 bar blues. To play 12 bar blues you need to know the basic blues guitar chords.

Blues guitar chords are a little bit different from the chords we use for other music. For a lot of pop songs, folk songs we use a lot of major and minor chords. For major chords we use Major triads (R 3 5) and for Minor chords we use Minor triads (R b3 5). However, blues guitar chords have a distinct sound, which make it stand out from other music. That sound is from the Dominant 7 chords. Simple major triads and minor triads chords are rarely used as blues guitar chords. Dominant 7 chords are usually used for blues.

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What is Dominant 7 chord? A Dominant 7 chord is formed by R 3 5 b7, which is a Major Triads with a flat 7. In 12 bar blues, there are simply only three chords used. They are first chord, fourth chord and fifth chord (I IV V)

In the key of A, the 12 bar blues will use A7, D7, E7.

Now we know what chords to use and how to play them in key of A. We can play A 12 Bar Blues progression. The term “12 Bar” means the number of measures in a song or chord progression. In music theory, a bar or measure means is the space between two vertical lines on a staff or tab. And in each bar the notes create a specific rhythm usually indicated by a Time Signature like 4/4 or 3/4, etc.

Here is the basic 12 bar blues progression

I7 | I7 | I7 | I7 |

IV7| IV7| IV7| IV7|

V7 | I7 | I7 | V7, I7 |

Let’s say this is in 4/4 beat. The first 4 bars are played with I7, each bar is played with 4 beats. From the 5th bar to 8th bar, IV7 is played. The 9th bar is in V7 and then change back to I7 for 10th and 11th. The last bar is very important, it’s usually called “Turnaround”. There are two chords in this bar V7 and I7. Each chord will be played for 2 beats. From V7 to I7 it creates the feeling that the song is go back to the beginning I7, so you can then play it again. Blues musicians usually jam on 12 bar blues. They can go over and over as many times as they want and every time they play different stuff. That is the magic of blues music.

If you want to play blues guitar like Buddy Guy, BB King, Eric Clapton, etc. You need to have a solid foundation of blues guitar chords. Chords are the basics of all music, blues guitar chords are the root of blues guitar.

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