Download Sample Twelve Bar Blues Guitar Chord Chart for Free

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12 Bar Blues Chords & Scales for Guitar

The 12 bar blues is a 12 bar long chord progression that solo blues musicians can easily improvise over the top of

because the chord progression is familiar to them. 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. 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.

The 12 bar blues progression is as follows:

It is very common in blues music to add 7ths to the major chords giving that classic blues sound. These are

constructed of a major triad (as in the table below) and then adding a minor 7th on the top (10 semitones above the

root forming dominant 7th chords). For example in C Major this would be:

I I I I

IV IV I I

V IV I V

Chord I C E G Bb

Chord IV F A C Eb

Chord V G B D F

Try playing the 12 bar blues progression in C with just the major triads:

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

Now try playing it in the same key, but with the 7th chords so that you can hear the difference:

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV V VVV VVVV VVVV

VVVV VVVV VVVV VVVV

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MUSIC

(chord I)

(chord IV)

(chord I)

(chord V)

(chord IV)

(chord I)

(chord V)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord I

)

(chord IV

)

(chord IV

)

(chord IV

)

(chord V

)

(chord V

)

Sample Twelve Bar Blues Guitar Chord Chart

source: resources.dsmusic.com

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Download Sample Twelve Bar Blues Guitar Chord Chart for Free

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