12 bar blues scale pdf in acrobat

The most common musical form of blues is the 12bar blues. Turnarounds occur at the end of chord progressions that are repetitive, such as the 12 bar blues. This image demonstrates how you would find the i, iv, and v chords in the key of a using the a major scale. In todays lesson, we are going to take an indepth look at how the form, or structure, of a blues chord progression is made. Often new players are drawn to the instrument because of a desire to play the blues. Lessons scales walking blues 12 bar blues scale bass. This image shows the standard 12 bar blues progression using roman numerals. Most jazz standards are 32 bars long and so the blues form is less that a third of the length of a typical jazz standard. Blues scales blues is an irresistible tonality for a guitar player.

Two of the most common 12 bar patterns or arrangements are. Starting on beat two of this licks opening bar which, of course, is measure 11 in the 12 bar cycle, this chromatic descent drops you from the 7 to the 5 d to b, here in the key of e, leading you straight to the v. The blue note can sound awesome, but you need to make sure you put it in the right spot. The 12 bar is an extremely common structure when playing blues. No blues form would be complete without a turnaround. You can substitute major chords instead of dominant 7 chords for a slightly different sound that still works well in the blues progression. Scale choices for 12bar blues effective music practice. A 12 bar blues is performed, as the name implies, by playing twelve bars in a given arrangement that are repeated through a song. A bar is a musical phrase, a way of measuring the music against its rhythm, and blues songs are structured in a 12bar format. There is however, another scale that is very similar, but much more bluesy.

Lets learn the blues scales on piano and keyboard in every key. A blues scale practice this over an a minor and a c major chord. The ray charles 12bar blues piano lick piano lesson. Ray charles ray charles style 12 bar blues improv sheet. You can now play in safe mode with these notes, each note will sound more or less good, there are no wrong notes. G g g g c c g g d c g most of that should make sense to you. Improvise your own solo using the notes provided during the middle section. The 12bar blues chord progression is in the treble clef on the score. So the scale would be gbbceb, or with more notes as they are able.

You can either play one scale over all bars or change scale as the chord change. All the scales featured on this page work over the standard 1 4 5 blues progressions, but ive made it clear when a scale can be used in a minor key, major key, or both. Play the blues turnarounds regularly so they will be stored in your. Should you need to know how to read tabs click here read me all tabs are standard tuning. This 12 bar blues uses the repeatedchord technique which was a hallmark of the ray charles style. Heres a free printable piano chords chart pdf for beginners. Materials for the 12bar blues shuffle jam along cds. In addition, it is a common method to put extra empathize on the tones of the involved chords when the actual chord is being played. The twelvebar blues is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. Blues music paved the way for many other genres of music we know and love. Here are the blues scales in all 12 keys listed in circle of fifths order. The twelve bar blues or blues changes is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. Learn the chord in this really basic, first timers tutorial. The progression we play over is a 12 bar blues e7 for four bars, followed by two bars of a7 then two bars of e7 again.

Alright, this is just a warmup, good to stretch your fingers out with, its simple, and works quite well as. Most often in blues you will count 4 beats to each bar 44 time. 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. For more information and licks using the blues scales check out my two books on mastering the blues scales.

As you might guess, it is based on the major scale c major, to be specific. The blues scale is used to improvize over the 12 bar blues, which leads to that very familiar blues guitar sound. The reason i pointed this out is because for every chord in our blues in g example, we will have a second scale option, the g minor pentatonic or blues scale. The samples are in pdf format and require adobe acrobat reader to be. The 12 bar blues is by far the most popular form for the blues. Though the term is generally reserved for the last four bars of a blues, it may also be applied to a two bar intro or ending figure. You can get more charts in with custom tunings using my interactive scale generator here. The basic structure of the 12 bar blues is 3 lines of 4 bars each.

Once you learn to play the 12 bar blues on the guitar, you can play such classic blues pieces as hound dog, stormy monday, kansas city, st. The minor pentatonic scale can be used over a 12bar blues. If you take a look at the sheet you might notice that the scales are the same as the scales on my free 12 blues scales sheet but that they start on a different note. When playing a blues in a, like in the above examples, we can use an a minor pentatonic scale to improvise and construct solos. The most common form of the blues is a 12bar pattern of chord changes. So lets look at the form of a simple blues in g look at the pic below. In todays lesson, we are going to take an in depth look at how the form, or structure, of a blues chord progression is made. Many highly advanced blues guitarists make use of not one single scale, but combine many different scales to make their sound stand out more. Looking at the progression, youll see that you play the g chord for four bars, the c chord for the next two, back to the g chord for two, then one bar each of the d, c and g. If youve ever spent any time around a serious blues musician or music aficionado, youve probably heard the phrase 12 bar blues tossed about. I talked about a 12 bar blues progression in the key of a where a is the i chord, d is the iv, and e is the v, and also the keys of g g, c, d and d d, g, a. As i mentioned above, you can use the 12 bar blues progression to play blues in any key. Its called the 12 bar blues because its only 12 bars long.

There is slight variations in how you use this scale depending on the harmony behind it. In fact there are so many other scales that we can use to solo over a blues progression, that it would be a pitty to only use one scale all of the time. I have also included the 5 box patterns you need to learn in order to memorize the blues scales in all keys. Mastery of the blues and rhythm changes are critical elements for building a jazz repertoire. In the basic f blues, the 12 bars are only made up of 3 different chords. If youve studied chords any, you might know a little about keys. For example, the f major blues scale is the same as the d blues scale some people call this the minor blues scale but the d blues scale starts on d and its home base root note. A blues scale consists of 6 different notes, namely the root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 5th and flat 7th of the major scale. You should remember a bar is the same as a measure. To play the blues is a fascinating undertaking because it can be both simplistic and yet intangibly tricky to master. Since the main difference between the pentatonic major and minor is that the minor has the b3 and b7 which both provide the tonality of the scale. Eb, gb and bb are the so called blue notes of the scale. The main progression in blues music is known as a 12 bar blues.

A 12bar blues verse should always end on chord v, because it sets up the first bar of the. I was tought that minor pentatonic was the answer to everything but just a couple weeks ago, realized that minor pentatonic sounds awful over a major chord, so i have since switched to. This pdf contains the scale charts for the blues scale in all keys for guitar in standard tuning. Figure 11 illustrates a classic singlenote turnaround in the guitars lower range. So our three scales we will be working with will be. Im working out of three positions on the neck and i. The blues scale is very similar to the minor pentatonic scale, but with an additional lowered 5th note lowered by half a stepsemitone, or blues note. Blues piano tutorial chord progression 12 bar blues youtube. To see the blues chord progressions with their relevant blues scales in every key please see the the chart on the next page. It is based on the traditional 12 bar blues progression. While this does the job as far as creating that bluesy sound, there is a far more effective and expressive way of playing through blues. The first 4 bars are g7, so according to what we have learned, the appropriate scale is g major pentatonic. Lets say we have a standard 12 bar blues in e with the chords e 7a7b7. Play the 12 bar blues sequence a couple of times and incorporate a different blues turnaround at the end of each section.

In the blues in the melody of a blues piece uses a special scale the blues scale is built using the flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th notes. However, for todays lesson were going to be focusing on a 12 bar blues in the key of e. Try playing the 12 bar blues progression using both open chords and barre chords. The most common musical form of blues is the 12 bar blues. The chord on the fifth scale degree may be major v7 or minor v7, in which case it fits a dorian scale along.

It is possible to play a 12 bar blues in other keys. The term 12 bar refers to the number of measures, or musical bars, used to express the theme of a typical blues song. The simplicity of blues is what draws people to it. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on the i, iv, and v chords of a key. Most effective way of soloing over blues progressions. I found this video of a master class by the guitar player oz noy where he demonstrates. That way if you do want to change things up, its easy because you all have that progression down. Blues turnarounds, by pete farrugia ba hons, dip mus. Blues is undoubtedly one of the most popular forms of music to come out of america.

The most common type of blues turnaround riff is one that employs the simple descending line in figure 1. Given that the c blues scale is spelled c, eb, f, gb, g, bb, c, this works out. Here are some of my favourite online music resources. The chords are written as triads using minims on the 1st and 3rd beats of each bar. A standard 12 bar blues progression for jamming to. Four dominant blues chords that you can use in the 12 bar blues.

The twelvebar blues or blues changes is one of the most prominent chord progressions in. The traditional 12 bar blues has a total of 12 bars or measures of the iivv chords that keep repeating in 12 bar blocks over and over. If you all know the standard 12bar blues progression, then everyone knows the starting point. When playing over a progression like the bb jazz blues you need to be aware of. You can use the last two bars of a 12 bar form as an intro. Without these 7th chords a blues scale would sound a little out of place because it contains those 7ths.

A simple trick that lets you play 12 bar blues in any key. Blues guitar for beginners essential chord progressions. Free 12 major blues scale sheet steve neff music blog. I like having the kids begin their rh with 3rd finger on c instead of thumb. Apr 09, 20 i use the 12 bar blues pattern a lot for students doing the guild musicianship phase. If you are wishing to order the pdf mp3 files please go to the correct page as this product is for the pdf file only. Many, many thanks for taking time out of your day to.

Tom horton takes you step by step though the popular 12 bar blues style. Ive been taking blues guitar lessons for about 2 years, and as a practice, we do a little improv over a 12 bar blues progression in a, all chords being 7ths. For a more complex sound a lot of people opt for 9 chords instead of the dominant 7ths. There are only so many combinations with this format, so the feeling of familiarity is just not one you can escape as a musician or a listener. Name each of the notes of the triads using the lyric key using semibreves, create the 12bar blues chords in the bass clef insert a bass instrument and c. The focus of this lesson is to learn 24 blues licks, but with a twist. It is assumed that you are familiar with the 12 bar blues progression. Other common blues progressions include the 8 bar, 16 bar, and 24 bar blues. Use the e scale below and locate the red root notes e. Understanding the 12 bar blues form rock class 101. Although blues music has evolved over time, a fundamental chord progression called the 12 bar blues still lives on.

Guitar coach jamming in the em pentatonic overview easy soloing. Here is the guitar tab for the first position e blues scale and a second position that extends the range of the scale a little bit. This lesson covers the traditional, quick change, and shuffle blues. Gordon is he feels, one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration.

Walking blues 12 bar blues scale bass tab by lessons scales. The 12 bar blues progression with slight variations basslines improvisation scales how to practice improvising improvising techniques. It is very common in blues music to add 7ths to the major chords giving that classic blues sound. Use 3 simple chords and 3 cool blues scales to practice playing 8 and 12bar blues. To get the minor pentatonic scale, add the black notes egabd. For pdf version, or to help support future free transcriptions, check out my patreon page. The image above represents the harmonization of the a major scale. The 12 bar blues and the minor blues scale online guitar. Soloing over blues progressions a more effective approach most guitarists are taught to play minor pentatonic or the flat 5 blues scale when soloing over a 1 4 5 blues progression. The 12 bar blues has long been a favourite amongst music educators for teaching form, triads, the blues scale, cyclical chord progressions and music history.

The following blues scale will work well throughout. The 12bar blues progression is important because its a starting point when musicians get together. Licks 1 4 in the pdf are for bars 1 2 licks 5 8 in the pdf are for bars 3 4 licks 9 12 in the pdf are for bars 5 6 licks 16 in the pdf are for bars 7 8 licks 17 20 in the pdf are for bars 9 10 licks 21 24 in the pdf are for bars 11 12. With only 3 chords in a 12 bar blues, it has the power to move you.