TWELVE BAR BLUES
Twelve bar blues is a 12 bar (or meaure) sequence of chords in a pattern that is used in popular music over and over again so if you are thinking of improvising it is a very good starting point.
In its simplest form the twelve bars go
root, root, root, root, fourth, fourth, root, root,fifth, fifth, root, root.
So if you are in the key of C the root note is C, the fourth note of the major scale is F and the fifth is G and that gives you a twelve bar sequence.
Note: don't forget you are not playing a bar of just that note, you are playing anything in that chord. So in the key of C you are playing mainly notes from C chord, which is C E and G in the first four bars, two bars of mainly F chord F A and C, two more bars of C chord, 2 bars of mainly G chord G B and D and 2 final bars of C chord. I say mainly because you can play notes from outside those chords, sometimes referred to as passing notes but if you play a long note or try to start or finish on a note outside the chord then it will usually sound wrong. But if for example in bar four you start in C and play a chromatic run that ends on G then although you will have played for example c# that isn't in the chord that will sound fine.
KEY OF C: C C C C F F C C G G C C
and here is the same sequence in all the other keys:
KEY OF C# (Db): C# C# C# C # F# F# C# C# G# G# C# C#
KEY OF D: D D D D G G D D A A D D
KEY OF D# (Eb): D# D# D# D# G# G# D# D# A# A# D# D#
KEY OF E: E E E E A A E E B B E E
KEY OF F: F F F F Bb Bb F F C C F F
KEY OF F# (Gb): F# F# F# F# B B F# F# C# C# F# F#
KEY OF G: G G G G C C G G D D G G
KEY OF G# (Ab): G# G# G# G# C# C# G# G# D# D# G# G#
KEY OF A: A A A A D D A A E E A A
KEY OF Bb (A#): Bb Bb Bb Bb Eb Eb Bb Bb F F Bb Bb
KEY OF B: B B B B E E B B F# F# B B
In its simplest form the twelve bars go
root, root, root, root, fourth, fourth, root, root,fifth, fifth, root, root.
So if you are in the key of C the root note is C, the fourth note of the major scale is F and the fifth is G and that gives you a twelve bar sequence.
Note: don't forget you are not playing a bar of just that note, you are playing anything in that chord. So in the key of C you are playing mainly notes from C chord, which is C E and G in the first four bars, two bars of mainly F chord F A and C, two more bars of C chord, 2 bars of mainly G chord G B and D and 2 final bars of C chord. I say mainly because you can play notes from outside those chords, sometimes referred to as passing notes but if you play a long note or try to start or finish on a note outside the chord then it will usually sound wrong. But if for example in bar four you start in C and play a chromatic run that ends on G then although you will have played for example c# that isn't in the chord that will sound fine.
KEY OF C: C C C C F F C C G G C C
and here is the same sequence in all the other keys:
KEY OF C# (Db): C# C# C# C # F# F# C# C# G# G# C# C#
KEY OF D: D D D D G G D D A A D D
KEY OF D# (Eb): D# D# D# D# G# G# D# D# A# A# D# D#
KEY OF E: E E E E A A E E B B E E
KEY OF F: F F F F Bb Bb F F C C F F
KEY OF F# (Gb): F# F# F# F# B B F# F# C# C# F# F#
KEY OF G: G G G G C C G G D D G G
KEY OF G# (Ab): G# G# G# G# C# C# G# G# D# D# G# G#
KEY OF A: A A A A D D A A E E A A
KEY OF Bb (A#): Bb Bb Bb Bb Eb Eb Bb Bb F F Bb Bb
KEY OF B: B B B B E E B B F# F# B B
You also get a number of common variations on those sequences, for example where bar four, nine and ten have the added seventh note to the chord and bars one, two, three, five, six, eleven and twelve have the added sixth note to the chord. Examples of these in each key are as follows:
KEY OF C: C6 C6 C6 C7 F6 F6 C C G7 G7 C6 C6
so in the key of C you main notes for each bar are
1 - C E G A
2 - C E G A
3 - C E G A
4 - C E G Bb
5 - F A C D
6 - F A C D
7 - C E G
8 - C E G
9 - G B D F
10 - GBD F
11 - C E G A
12 - C E G A
note: don't forget C7 is the dominant seventh chord which means the seventh is flattened. So as B is the seventh note of the C scale the note you add for a C7 chord is the flattened (semitone lower) note of B flat.
KEY OF C: C6 C6 C6 C7 F6 F6 C C G7 G7 C6 C6
so in the key of C you main notes for each bar are
1 - C E G A
2 - C E G A
3 - C E G A
4 - C E G Bb
5 - F A C D
6 - F A C D
7 - C E G
8 - C E G
9 - G B D F
10 - GBD F
11 - C E G A
12 - C E G A
note: don't forget C7 is the dominant seventh chord which means the seventh is flattened. So as B is the seventh note of the C scale the note you add for a C7 chord is the flattened (semitone lower) note of B flat.
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