These three chords are the 1 chord, the 4 chord, and the 5 chord. Bird Changes is a much more interesting variation on the 12 Bar Blues, again, stuffed with descending II-V's. The chords in bars 1, 5, 10 & 11 (coloured red) line up with the basic 12 bar blues chord changes. Measure 1: C7 rooted on the 6th string, 8th fret. The standard 12-bar blues progression contains three chords. Blues music generally leans heavily on the 12-bar structure in 12/8 time, the I, IV, and V chords, and a dominant seventh sound. Have a look at this diagram of the progression: You can see clearly that it has 12 bars (hence the name!!) You can simply put this into the following pattern: The I is the A, the IV is the D and the V is the E. This is the same principle in any key, you just take the 1, 4, and 5 notes from that scale and that becomes your 12 bar. Then the first verse of the song is sang over the repeated 12 . To help my students learn how to improvise the 12-bar blues, I created this printable: On page 1, the notes of the C blues scale are shown both on the keyboard and on the staff. We start by playing through with simple triad voicings, and then we extend the chords to include the 7th. 12 Bar Blues progressions are usually played with dominant chords. In it's most basic form, it contains just the I, the IV and the V chords of the given key. General elements of the 12-bar blues progression 1. 12 Bar Blues In All 12 Keys. Below are some common dominant chords that will be used in this lesson. Blues Piano Chord Progressions The classic 12 bar Blues progression is one of the most popular progressions of the 20th century and it spanned beyond Blues into Jazz and even influenced traditional Gospel music. This lesson will use dominant 7th, dominant 9th, and dominant 13th chords. Here are the 3 variations in 12 Bar Blues Progression that you'll explore. Basic Blues Chords. What is the 12-Bar Blues? In this video above, I show you an additional chord progression you can use for the first 4 bars of the blues. In general, 12-bar blues follow a simple I-IV-V chord progression, or a group of chords that is repeated. The chart below shows both the chords to play . We will be playing it in the key of G, so our chords are G, C and D. The basic structure of the 12 bar blues is 3 lines of 4 bars each. A7 D7 E7 G7 C7 B7 The B7 is the most difficult chord out of all of them, but it is actually pretty easy once you practice it for a while. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. Chart excerpted from Basic Musicianship. Create and get +5 IQ. We'll learn the 12 bar blues in several keys, and the chords you'll need to learn are the following. The system always works in this same way. You could also try to play E7 instead of Em in the last bar. 12 bar blues songs are comprised of 3 chords: the I, the IV, and the V and are played using a pattern that ultimately ends up being 12 bars long. There is no strumming pattern for this song yet. You need to know the order of chords. Bar 3: Walks up the C7 arpeggio and comes back down the scale to F. Bar 5 - 6: Descends F7 and walks up to C chromatically. In the 12-bar blues, each bar would have four beats or counts, and each chord would last one bar. You can also play scales over these chords. When played over 12 bars, this progression becomes a "12-bar blues." Note: A bar of music is a way of notating a set amount of time, or a certain number of beats, in the music. This means that if you want to know what the 3 chords are of a 12 bar blues chord progression, you only need to locate the 4th and 5th notes of the key. The basic blues progression uses 3 chords - the tonic (I) or the chord that the song is centered on, the dominant (V) or the chord based on the fifth step of the Tonic scale, and the subdominant (IV) or the chord based on the fourth step of the Tonic scale. The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The following song, "Birthday" by The Beatles, employs the chord progression used in Example 1. So to use this chart say you wanted to play the blues in the key of D major you would . In addition to the 12 bar Blues progression, we'll also learn the 1-4 chord progression that's simple enough for you to get started with. In total, we change chords four times throughout the 12 bars. If you have eighth notes in 4/4 time, they're usually straight and evenly spaced, like I demonstrate in the video. 12 Bar Blues Piano Chord Progression. Standard 12-bar blues The chord progression back-cycles through non-resolving II-Vs from the FMaj7 to the B7, and again to the C7 which leads back to the . We will be working in 4/4 time which means that each "bar" or "measure" will have 4 beats. Chord variations may also be added for harmonic diversity. For example, in the key of C, I-IV-V would be C, F, and G. Since we're using all dominant 7th chords for 12 bar blues piano, we'll have C7 - F7 - G7 as our chord progression: Once you learn this chord progression, you're just a step further away to build the foundation of a 12 bar blues tune. It is built of only 3 chords making it really easy to play and a perfect skill to learn as a beginner piano player. Let's take a look at the chord progression for the 12 bar blues chord progression in the key of C. 1st four measures, or bars: C, C, C, C. 2nd four measures, or bars: F, F, C, C. Last four measures, or bars: G, F, C, C. Below is an animation of the chords used in the 12 bar blues chord progression in the key of C. No barre chords needed. All images can be saved free and printed by right clicking on any image then selecting save picture as. There are plenty of arrangements, based on chord progressions, to use. In all of these sequences chord I is a triad (except on bar 4). Standard 12 Bar Blues in Am The same as above, but in another key. Now let's talk about blues rhythm. This makes 12 bars in total - one for each chord. But if you were to play a "minor" blues, it would look something like this. Quick Analysis. The jam tracks you'll be playing along to in this series are in 4/4 time. The chord progression uses only the I, IV, and V chords of a key, also called the tonic, subdominant, and dominant, respectively. The 12 bar blues progression is as follows: It is very common in blues . The first 4 bars run as follows: I, I, I, I. The progression is 12 measures long 2. The standard 12-bar blues progression is a set progression of chords throughout 12 measures of music. The Standard 12 Bar Blues The Quick Change 12 Bar Blues The Slow Change 12 Bar Blues Each of them uses those I, IV, and V chords. The 12 bar blues is the most common blues chord progression. The 12 bar blues is one of the most iconic song forms ever! The Chord Progression. Another possibility is to play Em7 and Am7 instead of Em and Am. It is usually in 4/4 (4 crotchet beats per bar) and uses 1 chord per bar with 12 bars in total - thus the 12 bar blues. This page contains a chart to show the 12 bar blues chord progression in all 12 Keys (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb, B). The Roman numerals correspond to the scale degrees each chord is built upon . King is often emulated, rarely matched, but his impact on the genre is beyond undeniable. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on the I, IV, and V chords of a key. For example, if you want to know what the chords are for playing in G, you take the 4th and 5th notes which are C and D. Blues music paved the way for many other genres of music we know and love. Once you're familiar with the riff, let's move on to the chord progression! Based on the I, IV and V chords of any key, the 12 bar blues is one of the most prominent chord progressions in modern music. and uses the primary chords (I, IV, V). Blues music usually has a shuffle feel to it, and you'll have to get this down to get the feel of blues music right. This gives the 12 bar blues progression a total of 48 beats (12 X 4 = 48). In the final - and most interesting section of the progression - there is the . After a short drum fill, the entire band plays through the above illustrated 12 bar progression as an intro to the song. Briefly, so as not to get confusing, a beat for our purposes is one tap of the foot. In the above example, the last 2 measures use a cadence referred to as a turnaround. This 1-4-5 progression is what gives the 12 bar blues its unique, bluesy feel. A bar later where A7 had already been substitute with C7 in the plain blues another II-V-I chord progression has been added. B. 12-bar blues chords: A13 (v3) x 3 - A7 x 1 - D7 (v4) x 2 - A13 (v3) x 2 - E13 (v3) x 1 - D13 (v3) x 1 - A13 (v3) x 1 E13 (v3) x 1 With the chords in the blues chord chart above, you can pretty much interchange any chord and apply it to a particular 12-bar blues pattern. A 12-bar blues is commonly written out by the chords that are used. Bar 1: Starts on the root of C and walks down the C Mixolydian scale to F. Bar 2: Approaches the C in bar 3 chromatically from A. In this lesson we will be exploring blues piano or more specifically the 12 bar blues progression for piano. The chord in the 12th bar is chord I if the piece is finishing. The chords we'll be playing are: D, G, D, A, D. (There's a little jump between the D and A major chords, so remember to look ahead and get ready for the next . And that chord progression in terms of music theory is I6, ii7, I diminished, I7, ivm6, bV7, and then it resolves to the IV chord in bar 5. In the key of G it looks like this: G G G G C C G G D C G - Most of that should make sense to you. Blues legend B. This chord progression is based around the most important chords in a key I, IV & V (1, 4 & 5) and is repeated over and over for the duration of the piece. In the second 4 bars, there is the introduction of the IV chord, and the 4 bars run like this: IV, IV, I, I. I put the student sitting on the treble side of the keyboard in charge of playing a melody using these notes. Return from Blues Chord Progressions to Piano Chords The 12 bar blues progression uses chords I IV V - the primary chords and is typically in a 4/4 time signature. It's important to understand that the 12 bar blues is a cycle and it is repeated many times during a performance. Bar 7 - 8: Walks through the notes of C7 with chromatic tones filling . ex 12d: A typical minor blues N.B. The progression, and form, therefore looks like . The blues chord progression lasts 12 bars (thus the phrase "12-bar blues") that move in a familiar pattern using those three chords. 12-Bar Chords. The blues is most commonly played in the keys of F, Bb & Eb. In jazz blues sequences the tonic chord can be a major 7, however this is rare in real blues where chord I is either a triad, a dominant 7th chord or a 6th chord (the added note is used for colour rather than harmonic function as mentioned above), except on bar 4 where it is nearly always a . The 12-Bar Blues is a chord progression that follows this sequence: C7 for 1 bar, F7 for 1 bar, C7 for 2 bars, F7 for 2 bars, C7 for 2 bars, G7 for 1 bar, F7 for 1 bar, C7 for 1 bar, G7 for one bar. Although blues music has evolved over time, a fundamental chord progression called the 12 bar blues still lives on. To put it more simply, in the key of C the 7 chords I use are. If you are not doing a duet, this is simply the RH part. The 12 bar blues is easiest to understand if you break it down into 3 sections - each one 4 bars long. Essentially, the blues is a specific progression that uses the C7, F7, and G7 chords. So instead of Playing A7 going to Dm7 they played Em7 in the first two counts going to A7 in the last two parts of the eights bar leading to Dm7 in the ninth bar. This lesson will teach how to play easy 12 bar blues progressions with open chords. The minor blues progression follows the standard 12 bar form but with minor 7th or minor 6th chords instead of the dominant 7th chords that you would associate with the traditional 12 bar blues. Since you'll be playing them in different keys, you'll use different chords each time. The 12-Bar Blues form is called that because it has a chord progression that takes place over 12 bars, or measures. The 12 bars are broken up into three groups of four. The 1, 4 and 5 intervals give you the A, D and E chords. The chord progression is easy for beginners because it only uses three chords, the root, the fourth, and the fifth. 12 bar blues progressions in minor Standard 12 Bar Blues in Em This is one of the most standard progressions of blues in minor. A 12-bar blues is performed, as the name implies, by playing twelve bars in a given arrangement that are repeated through a song. (For the sake of brevity, I'll only look at playing blues in the key of C). Since we're in the key of E blues, the 1 chord is E, the 4 chord is A, and the 5 chord is a B. 12 bar blues schemes as taken from wikipedia: Twelve-bar blues Normal chords: [Standard] C C C C F F C C G G C C [Shuffle] C C C C F F C C G F C C [Quick to four] C F C C F F C C G F C C With seventh chords: [Standard] C7 C7 C7 C7 F7 F7 C7 C7 G7 G7 C7 C7 [Shuffle] C7 C7 C7 . All are common voicings that you should learn. This called the 12-Bar Blues Form, or the 12-Bar Blues Chord Progression. The next step is to experiment with . Over these lessons I will be covering: - The 12 bar blues progression with slight variations - Basslines - Improvisation scales - How to practice improvising - Improvising Techniques - How.