The Basics of Blues Guitar Music Theory

If you’re new to blues guitar, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Music theory can be a great way to get started understanding the basics of the genre. In this blog post, we’ll cover some of the basics of blues guitar music theory.

The 12-Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues is a incredibly important and commonly used chord progression in blues music. Though it can be (and is) played in other genres, the 12-bar blues is commonly thought of as a “blues” chord progression. In this lesson, we’ll be breaking down the 12-bar blues chord progression and discussing how it can be used in your own playing.

What is the 12-bar blues?

The 12-bar blues is a chord progression and musical form that is a fundamental building block of blues music. The 12-bar blues is commonly notated as a chord progression using Roman numerals to represent the chords. It is also sometimes referred to as “the blues form” or “the blues changes”.

The 12-bar blues chord progression has a distinctive form in the melody and bass line and is a foundational element in both jazz and blues. The bars can be divided into three distinct sections: the setup, the turnaround, and the ending. Each section has a specific purpose, and together they create the overall arc of the 12-bar blues.

The setup usually consists of the I, IV, and V chords, which are played for two bars each. This sets up the tension and release that is characteristic of the blues. The turnaround is the most important part of the 12-bar blues, as it resolves the tension built up in the setup and moves the progression forward. It typically consists of a V7 chord resolving to a I chord, followed by another V7 chord resolving to a IV chord. The ending can be either open or closed, meaning that it either resolves back to the tonic chord (I) or does not (VII).

The 12-bar blues is one of the most commonly used chord progressions in popular music and has been used in songs by artists such as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Chuck Berry, and Eric Clapton. It is also a staple of jazz music, appearing in tunes by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Wes Montgomery.

The history of the 12-bar blues

The 12-bar blues is a musical form that is commonly used in blues and rock music. It is a very simple musical form, consisting of just 12 bars (or measures) of music. The 12-bar blues is usually played in the key of E, which means that the chord progression will be based on the E minor pentatonic scale.

The history of the 12-bar blues is unclear, but it is believed to have originated in the Deep South of the United States during the late 19th century. It became popular in American popular music in the early 20th century, and has been a staple of American popular music ever since.

The structure of the 12-bar blues

The typical twelve-bar blues is a three-line stanza using the I, IV, and V chords of a given key. (Some blues songs use the ii, V, and I chords as well.) The first two lines are sung or played identically; the third line varies. The length of each line (in musical bars or measures) is also fixed in most blues:

Line 1: 4 bars
Line 2: 4 bars
Line 3: 2 or 4 bars
The chord progression for a basic twelve-bar blues in C major would be:

I IV I I IV IV I I V IV I V
C F C C F F C C G F C G
As you can see, this basic pattern uses only three different chords (I, IV, and V), which are played in chord progressions of four bars each. In most cases, the first two lines are sung or played identically; the third line is where the singer or songwriter gets to be creative.

The Blues Scale

The blues scale is a pentatonic minor scale with an added flat fifth, or blue note. This scale is commonly used in blues and rock music. The blues scale can be used to create interesting sounding solos and licks. Let’s take a look at how to play the blues scale on guitar.

What is the blues scale?

The blues scale is a minor pentatonic scale with an added flat 5th, or blue note. It’s called a “minor” scale because it uses a minor 3rd interval. The blues scale is commonly used in blues, rock, and jazz.

Guitarists use the blues scale to solo over blues progressions and jamming. The added flat 5th gives the scale a “bluesy” sound. When used in soloing, the blues scale creates a feeling of tension and release.

The bluesscale can be played in any key. In this lesson, we’ll learn the blues scale in the key of A. To play the blues scale in A, we use the notes A, C, D, Eb, E, and G.

The history of the blues scale

The blues scale is a musical scale typically used to solo over blues, funk, and rockabilly tunes. There are many different ways to construct the blues scale, but the most commonly used version consists of the following intervals: root, minor 3rd, 4th, flat 5th (or augmented 4th), 5th, and minor 7th. This gives us the notes C, Eb, F, Gb (or F#), G, and Bb when starting on C.

The origins of the blues scale can be traced back to African American spirituals and work songs from the 19th century. These songs often featured call and response vocals, with one singer leading and the rest of the group responding. The lead singer would often embellish the melody with grace notes and microtones (“blue notes”), which later became an integral part of the blues sound.

The first recorded use of the term “blues scale” was in Alfred Baumfeld’s 1942 book How to Play Jazz Guitar. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that guitarists began using this term regularly. In his 1957 book The Story of the Blues, Paul Oliver writes that Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was one of the first guitarists to use the blues scale extensively in his solos. Other early adopters include T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, and Albert Collins.

Today, the blues scale is used by guitarists in all genres of music, from jazz to metal

The structure of the blues scale

The blues scale is a six-note scale with a flattened third, fifth and seventh. It’s called the “blues scale” because it’s commonly used in blues music. The flattened third gives the scale a bluesy sound, and the other flattened notes help give it that minor feel.

In terms of intervals, the blues scale is made up of a whole step, a half step, a whole step, a whole step, a half step and a whole step. This can be written as follows:

1 – b3 – 4 – #4/b5 – 5 – b7

You can also think of it as starting on the root note, flatting the third, fourth and fifth notes and thenflatting the seventh note.

The Blues Chord Progression

In almost every blues song, you’ll find a I-IV-V chord progression. The I, IV, and V chords are usually major chords, while the ii, iii, and vi chords are minor chords. The I, IV, and V chords are also known as the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords.

What is the blues chord progression?

The blues chord progression is a key part of the 12-bar blues, a particularly popular form of music that originated in the United States in the early 20th century. The 12-bar blues is characterized by its distinctive chord progression, which features just three chords: the root, the fourth, and the fifth. This progression repeats itself throughout the course of a song, with each repetition called a “chorus.” The chord progression typically goes like this:

Root – Fourth – Fifth – Root – Root – Fourth – Fifth – Root -Fourth – Fifth – Root – Root

So, in a typical 12-bar blues song, you might have something like this:

I IV V I I IV V I IV V I I
C F G C C F G C F G C C

The history of the blues chord progression

The blues chord progression is one of the most commonly used chord progressions in all of music. It is believed to have originated in the early 1900s in the southern United States, and it quickly became a staple in African American music. The blues chord progression is a 12-bar sequence that usually features three different chords. The first two bars typically feature the tonic chord, followed by four bars of the subdominant chord, and then another two bars of the tonic chord. This sequence repeats itself for the remaining four bars. The blues chord progression has been used by some of the most famous musicians in history, including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and John Lee Hooker.

The structure of the blues chord progression

The blues chord progression is a key part of the music and learning how it works will help you to understand how to play blues guitar.

The chord progression is usually 12 bars long and consists of 3 chords. The 3 chords are typically referred to as the ‘I’, ‘IV’ and ‘V’ chords. In the key of C, these would be the C, F and G chords.

The chord progression starts on the ‘I’ chord and moves to the ‘IV’ chord in the 4th bar. It then moves to the ‘V’ chord in the 8th bar before resolving back to the ‘I’ chord in the 12th bar.

This basic structure can be varied in a number of ways, for example by adding extra chords or by changing the order of the chords. However, the basic structure remains the same and understanding it will help you to understand how to play blues guitar.