Most of us who play blues guitar are familiar with the 12 bar blues. Almost every blues guitar player has played songs like “Sweet Home Chicago", “Pride and Joy", “Red House", and one of the thousands of other blues songs that use the 12 bar form. What many blues guitar players don’t know, is that there are two other great blues forms to choose from, the 8 bar blues, and the 16 bar blues.
All of the forms use only three chords, and roman numerals are used to describe them. The first chord, called the I chord, is usually a dominant seventh type of chord that is built from the first note in the major scale. If you are in the key of G, then G7 will be your I chord. The fourth note of a G major scale is a C, so the next chord used is called the IV chord and would be C7 in the key of G. The fifth note in the G major scale is D, so the V chord would be D7. So now you have your three primary chords, G7, C7, and D7. The 12 bar blues is 12 measures long. The term bar is just another word for measure. The first bar is always the I chord. The second bar is either the I chord again, or for a ‘quick change’ blues, it is the IV chord. Bars 3 and 4 are always the I chord again. Bars 5 and 6 will be the IV chord, and bars 7 and 8 will be the I chord. Bar 9 is the V chord, but bar 10 will either be IV or V. Bar 11 is the I chord, and Bar 12 is the V chord which sets up the listener for the start of the next chorus. The 8 bar blues, as in the song “Key To The Highway," also starts with a I chord. After that, Bar 2 is the V chord. Bars 3 and 4 belong to the IV chord. Bar 5 is back to the I chord. Bar 6 is the V. Bars 7 and 8 repeat that sentiment with the I chord on Bar 7 and the V chord on bar 8. Once again, the final bar has the V chord to setup for the next chorus. A 16 bar blues, such as the Herbie Hancock tune, “Watermelon Man," starts like a 12 bar blues. The first four bars are the I chord. Bars 5 and 6 the IV chord, and bars 7 and 8 return to the I chord. Even bars 9 and 10 share the V and IV chord usage like the 12 bar blues. The difference is in that bars 9 and 10 are repeated 2 more times for Bars 11 – 14. Finally, bar 15 returns to the I chord which also holds on for bar 16. As a blues guitar player, remember that it’s not that important how you play the chords in a blues tune. You can play the same tune with several different comping styles and get several great results for the same tune. Similarly, when you find a good comping pattern that you like, don’t be afraid to stick with it for a lot of the tunes that you play. If it works well in one tune, chances are it will work well in others.
Griff Hamlin is a professional musician, guitar teacher, and author. He runs several websites, including Playing Through The Blues, a method for learning blues guitar |
