Playing the 12 Bar Blues

8/13/2019 Playing the 12 Bar Blues

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Playing the 12-Bar Blues

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The 12-bar blues is one of the world's

most familiar musical forms, and one of

the simplest to study, play and enjoy.


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This form began in the early days of

jazz, a music that developed from the

melancholy songs, spirituals, and call-

and-response "hollers" that were acommon form of communication and

expression among African-American

slaves throughout the South.


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As popular music became a vehicle of

personal expression and improvisation

in New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago and

other big-city entertainment districts,composers developed forms and chord

progressions that would be familiar to

players as well as their listeners.


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In 1914, W.C. Handy wrote "St. Louis

Blues," beginning the modern era of the

12-bar blues, still a compositional staple

of rock, blues, jazz and many otherstyles.


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The chord progression I-IV-V-I is the

basis of the 12-bar blues, which is

nearly always written in 4/4 time (four

quarter notes to a bar).


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The Roman numerals indicate the

individual notes of the scale. In the key

of C, for example, a 12-bar blues uses

three basic chords: C (I), F (IV), and G(V).


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A very common structure for a 12-bar

blues is to write four bars in C, two bars

in F, two bars in C, one bar in G, one bar

in F, and two "turnaround" bars in C.


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The final bar often brings the tune back

to the "tonic" I chord with a V7 chord (in

the key of C, this chord would be spelled

G, B, D, and F).


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Using this simple structure, an infinite

number of elaborations and variations

are possible.


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The final four-bar cadence, for example,

can bring the music through a II-V-I

progression, giving the musician an

additional scale to use.


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Blues harmony welcomes extended

chords - the seventh note of the scale

can always be added when you're

moving through a progression.


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As in all blues music, the standard major

scale is often altered by flattening the

third and seventh notes of the scale; in

C major, for example, E-flat and B-flatstand in for E and B, lending the music

its familiar sound of anger and sadness.


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Skilled blues musicians won't hesitate to

add chromatic runs and minor-key

variations to the standard progression.


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In the lyrics to their songs, blues

composers follow an AAB pattern for the

12-bar blues.


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Each 12-bar section comprises a lyrical

stanza, which is divided into three lines;

the first line is repeated by the second

(the AA part), while the last line resolvesor answers the previous two (the B part).


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Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Chuck

Berry, B.B. King and other blues greats

favored this form for slow ballads,

moderato "walking" blues and lightning-fast jams.


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Over the years, the 12-bar blues was

picked up by myriad jazz composers

who extended the length of the basic

form and substituted new chords whilereminding listeners of the basic I-IV-V-I

architecture.


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John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie

Hancock and Chick Corea all have

written and performed 12-bar

compositions, which can provide aflexible form for extended

improvisations.


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Sources:

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the-12-bar-blues/

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Playing the 12 Bar Blues

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