12 Bar Blues Mysteries Explained
If you ever find yourself in a play-along situation with other guitarists there's one chord progression that everyone will assume you know - the 12 bar blues. If you don't know this progression then you stand a good chance of being left out in the cold.
So now that you've learned the 3 blues chords you need to know, let's look at how to organise them into a proper chord progression.
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The 12 Bar Structure You Need To Know
A chord progression is the scaffolding of a song and is closely linked to the form of the song. The chord progression details the harmonic structure while the form describes the overall structure of the song.
So the form, 12 bar blues, is a well known song form made up of 12 bars. If someone says to you "it's a blues" then they generally mean it's a 12 bar blues chord progression.
A chord progression is the important foundation of a song with the other elements of melody and lyrics "siting" on top.
The 12 bar blues is the most common blues form and one you'll use thoughout your guitar playing career. It's made up of 12 bars. So here's one in the key of E.
|| E / / / | A7 / / / | E / / / | E7 / / / |
| A7 / / / | A7 / / / | E / / / | E / / / |
| B7 / / / | A7 / / / | E / / / | E / / / ||
And here it is in roman numeral notation. Because the progression is the same in every key, the roman numeral notation can help us translate the progression into any key. In A for example, the I chord is A, the IV chord is D7 and the V chord is E7.
|| I / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / / |
| IV / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / / |
| V / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / / ||
Memorise this 12 bar structure and you can play it in any key.
So how does this notation relate to actual songs?
You'll notice that the progression can be neatly broken down into 3 lines of 4 bars. These 3 lines correspond exactly to 3 vocal phrases. For example, consider Robert Johnson's Sweet Home Chicago.
Here are the 3 phrases - try and relate them to the chords progression above.
||Home, baby don't you want to go |
|Home, baby don't you want to go |
|Back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago ||
Notice that the second line is a repetition of the first line. This is common in 12 bar blues. Lyrically, the form can be described as A-A-B with each letter representing a self contained sentence or concept.
Because the chords underneath the lyric are changing, the repetition of the lines is not uninteresting and is in fact, an essence of the blues.
Well I hope that clears up some of the mysteries of the 12 bar blues for you. Go forth and practice! (and listen to Robert Johnson too 
)
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