Twelve bar blues
Encyclopedia
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music
, including the blues
. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics
and phrase
and chord
structure and duration. It is, at its most basic, based on the I
-IV
-V
chords of a key.
A 24-bar blues follows the same changes but each chord lasts for twice as many measures.
The blues can be played in any key
. Mastery of the blues and rhythm changes
are "critical elements for building a jazz
repertoire" (Thomas 2002, p. 85).
C C C C or C7 C7 C7 C7
F F C C or F7 F7 C7 C7
G G C C or G7 G7 C7 C7
Chords may be also represented with a few different notation systems. A basic example of the progression would look like this, using T to indicate the tonic
, S for the subdominant
, and D for the dominant
, and representing one chord
. In Roman numerals
the tonic is called the I, the sub-dominant the IV, and the dominant the V. (These three chords are the basis of thousands more pop songs which thus often have a blues sound even without using the classical 12-bar form.)
Using the above notations, the chord progression can be represented as follows. (Kernfeld 2007)
The first line takes four bars
, as do the remaining two lines, for a total of twelve bars. However, the vocal or lead phrases
, though they often come in threes, do not coincide with the above three lines or sections. This overlap between the grouping of the accompaniment and the vocal is part of what creates interest in the twelve bar blues.
In the original form the dominant chord continued through the tenth bar; later on the V-IV-I-I "shuffle blues" pattern became standard in the third set of four bars (Tanner and Gerow 1984, 37 cited in Baker 2004: "This alteration [V-IV-I rather than V-V-I] is now considered standard. (Tanner 37)."):
|-
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV ||IV ||I ||I
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||I
|-
|}
The common quick to four or quick-change (quick four(Alfred 2003, p. 4)) variation uses the subdominant chord in the second bar:
|-
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV ||IV ||I ||I
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||I
|-
|}
These variations are not mutually exclusive; the rules for generating them may be combined with one another (and/or with others not listed) to generate more complex variations.
Seventh chord
s are often used just before a change, and more changes can be added. A more complicated example might look like this, where "7" indicates a seventh chord:
|+Using a seventh chord
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I7
|-
| IV ||IV7 ||I ||I7
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||V7
|-
|}
When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar may be called a turnaround
, otherwise the last four measures is the blues turnaround.
|+Basic jazz blues progression
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|IV7 IVdim
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|Vm7 I7
|-
| IV7 || IVdim || I7 || III7 VI7
|-
| IIm7 || V7 || III7 VI7 || II7 V7
|-
|}
In jazz, 12 bar blues progressions are expanded with moving substitutions and chordal variations. The cadence (or last four measures) uniquely leads to the root by perfect intervals of fourths.
The Bebop blues(Spitzer 2001, 62):
|-
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|IV7
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|v7 I7
|-
| IV7 ||IV7 ||I7 ||V/ii9
|-
| ii7 ||V7 ||I7 V/ii9 ||ii7 V7
|-
|}
This progression is similar to Charlie Parker
's "Now's the Time", "Billie's Bounce
", Sonny Rollins
's "Tenor Madness
", and many other bop
tunes.(Spitzer 2001, p. 62) "It is a bop soloist's
cliche to arpeggiate
this chord [A79 (V/ii
= VI79)] from the 3
up to the 9
."(Spitzer 2001, p. 62)
|+Minor blues(Spitzer 2001, p. 63)
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|-
| iv7 ||iv7 ||i7 ||i7
|-
| VI7 ||V7 ||i7 ||i7
|-
|}
There are also minor 12-bar blues, such as John Coltrane
's "Equinox
" and "Mr. P.C.
",(Spitzer 2001, p. 63) and "Why Don't You Do Right?
", made famous by Lil Green
with Big Bill Broonzy
and then Peggy Lee
with the Benny Goodman
Orchestra. The chord on the fifth scale degree
may be major, V7, or minor, v7, in which case it fits a dorian scale
along with the minor i7 and iv7 chords, creating a modal
feeling.(Spitzer 2001, p. 63) Major and minor can also be mixed together, a signature characteristic of the music of Charles Brown
.
While the blues is most often considered to be in sectional strophic form
with a verse-chorus
pattern, it may also be considered as an extension of the variational chaconne
procedure. Van der Merwe (1989) considers it developed in part specifically from the American Gregory Walker though the conventional account would consider hymns as the provider of the blues repeating chord progression or harmonic formulae (Middleton 1990, p. 117-8).
However, many songs exist that are written in the blues chord progression do not use the three-line form of lyrics. For instance, "I'm Moving On" has a verse in the first four bars and a chorus in the final eight bars:
Here is an example showing the 12 bar blues pattern and how it fits with the lyrics of a given verse. One chord symbol is used per beat, with "-" representing the continuation of the previous chord:
A final example, "Johnny B. Goode
" (written and first recorded by Chuck Berry
), applies a "shuffle" or "light 'swing' " rhythm to one of the more common twelve-bar progressions:
songs. The vast majority of boogie-woogie
compositions are 12-bar blues, as are many instrumental
s.
Ray Charles
' "What'd I Say
" (1959) opens with the twelve bar blues. Other examples of twelve bar blues include Muddy Waters
' "Train Fare Blues" (1948), Howlin' Wolf
's "Evil
" (1954), and Big Joe Turner
's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll
" (1954). (Covach 2005, p. 67) Duffy
also uses the twelve bar blues progression in her song "Mercy
".
Examples of altered or extended progressions include Herbie Hancock
's "Watermelon Man".(Spitzer 2001,64)
s, blues-like phrasing of melodies, and blues riff
s. Tunes that utilize the jazz-blues harmony are fairly common in the jazz repertoire, especially from the bebop
era.
A twelve-bar jazz blues will usually feature a more sophisticated — or at any rate a different — treatment of the harmony
than a traditional blues would, but the underlying features of the standard 12-bar blues progression remain discernible. One of the main ways the jazz musician accomplishes this is through the use of chord substitution
s - a chord in the original progression is replaced by one or more chords which have the same general "sense" or function; in this case occurring especially in the turnaround
(i.e. the last four bars). One well-known artist that sang this form of jazz was Billie Holiday
, and almost all well known instrumental jazz musicians will have recorded at least one variation on this theme.
The 12-bar blues form, in the commonly played key of B, often becomes:
Bb7 / Eb7 / Bb7 / Bb7 /
Eb7 / Edim7 / Bb7 / Dm7 - G7 /
Cm7 / F7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 - F7 //
Transposed
to the key of C:
C7 / F7 / C7 / C7 /
F7 / Gbdim7 / C7 / Em7 - A7 /
Dm7 / G7 / Em7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7 //
where each slash represents a new measure
, in the jazz-blues. The significant changes include the Edim7, which creates movement, and the III-VI-II-V or I-VI-II-V turnaround
, a jazz staple.
There is however no standard form of jazz blues, and several common variations. For example, the diminished chord in bar 6 is often omitted, and many turnarounds
are possible. An example turnaround using chromatic chord movement could be:
Dm7 / G7 / C7 - Eb7 / D7 - Db7
Another variation has the cycle concluding on the dominant
chord as in a standard blues. This feature introduces a tension that propels the listener's expectation toward the next chord change cycle. Here is an example:
C7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7
Count Basie
's version of the blues progression, which came into wide use, demonstrates several of these variations (shown here in the key of F):
F7 / Bb7 Bdim / F7 / Cm7 F7 /
Bb7 / Bdim / F7 / D7 /
Gm7 / C7 / F7 / Gm7 C7 /
Alto sax great Charlie Parker
introduced a fluid chord sequence for jazz blues, using tritone
substitution and chromatic chord changes typical of the be-bop era. It has come to be known as Bird Blues
, after his nickname, "Yardbird," or more simply, "Bird."
|+Bird blues progression(Spitzer 2001,64)
|width=25%|IM7
|width=25%|VIIm75 III79
|width=25%|VIm7 II7
|width=25%|Vm7 I7
|-
| IV7 || IVm7 VII7 || IIIm7 VI7 || III7 VI7
|-
| IIm7 || V7 || I7 VI79 || IIm7 V7
|-
|}
For example, similar progressions may be found in, Parker's "Blues for Alice
", Wes Montgomery
's "West Coast Blues
", and the non-jazz Toots Thielemans
' "Bluesette", Parker's "Confirmation
", and Harry Warren
's "There Will Never Be Another You
".(Spitzer 2001,64) Below is a common version of the Bird Blues chord sequence, shown here in F:
Fmaj7 / Em7b5 A7b9 / Dm7 Db7 / Cm7 F7 /
Bb7 / Bbm7 Eb7 / Am7 D7 / Abm7 Db7 /
Gm7 / C7 / F D7 / Gm7 C7 //
A more modern example is the A-section
of Pat Metheny
's "Missouri Uncompromised". The first 4 bars and the last 4 bars are taken from the classic blues (albeit without the dominant quality), while the middle 4 bars are completely altered:
A / A / A / A /
Bb/A / Db/Ab / Eb/G / D/F# Dm/F /
E / D / A / A //
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, including the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and phrase
Phrase (music)
In music and music theory, phrase and phrasing are concepts and practices related to grouping consecutive melodic notes, both in their composition and performance...
and chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
structure and duration. It is, at its most basic, based on the I
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...
-IV
Subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
-V
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...
chords of a key.
A 24-bar blues follows the same changes but each chord lasts for twice as many measures.
The blues can be played in any key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
. Mastery of the blues and rhythm changes
Rhythm changes
In jazz and jazz harmony, "rhythm changes" refers to the chord progression occurring in George Gershwin's song "I Got Rhythm". This pattern, which forms the basis of countless jazz compositions, was popular with swing-era musicians: It is found in "Shoeshine Boy" and "Cotton Tail" written by...
are "critical elements for building a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
repertoire" (Thomas 2002, p. 85).
Structure
In the key of C, one basic blues progression, E. from above, is as follows (Benward & Saker 2003, 186):- Popular music symbolsLead sheetA lead sheet is a form of music notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is specified with chord symbols above the...
C C C C or C7 C7 C7 C7
F F C C or F7 F7 C7 C7
G G C C or G7 G7 C7 C7
| Chord | Function Diatonic function In tonal music theory, a diatonic function is the specific, recognized role of each of the 7 notes and their chords in relation to the diatonic key... | Numerical | Roman Numeral Root (chord) In music theory, the root of a chord is the note or pitch upon which a triadic chord is built. For example, the root of the major triad C-E-G is C.... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tonic | T | 1 | I |
| Sub-dominant | S | 4 | IV |
| Dominant | D | 5 | V |
Chords may be also represented with a few different notation systems. A basic example of the progression would look like this, using T to indicate the tonic
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...
, S for the subdominant
Subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
, and D for the dominant
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...
, and representing one chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
. In Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
the tonic is called the I, the sub-dominant the IV, and the dominant the V. (These three chords are the basis of thousands more pop songs which thus often have a blues sound even without using the classical 12-bar form.)
Using the above notations, the chord progression can be represented as follows. (Kernfeld 2007)
| T | T | T | T |
| S | S | T | T |
| D | D | T | T |
| I | I | I | I |
| IV | IV | I | I |
| V | V | I | I |
The first line takes four bars
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
, as do the remaining two lines, for a total of twelve bars. However, the vocal or lead phrases
Phrase (music)
In music and music theory, phrase and phrasing are concepts and practices related to grouping consecutive melodic notes, both in their composition and performance...
, though they often come in threes, do not coincide with the above three lines or sections. This overlap between the grouping of the accompaniment and the vocal is part of what creates interest in the twelve bar blues.
Variations
"W.C. Handy, 'the Father of the Blues,' codified this blues form to help musicians communicate chord changes."(Alfred Publishing, 18) However, many variations are possible. The length of sections may be varied creating Eight-bar blues or Sixteen-bar blues.In the original form the dominant chord continued through the tenth bar; later on the V-IV-I-I "shuffle blues" pattern became standard in the third set of four bars (Tanner and Gerow 1984, 37 cited in Baker 2004: "This alteration [V-IV-I rather than V-V-I] is now considered standard. (Tanner 37)."):
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:110px;"
|-
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV ||IV ||I ||I
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||I
|-
|}
The common quick to four or quick-change (quick four(Alfred 2003, p. 4)) variation uses the subdominant chord in the second bar:
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:110px;"
|-
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV ||IV ||I ||I
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||I
|-
|}
These variations are not mutually exclusive; the rules for generating them may be combined with one another (and/or with others not listed) to generate more complex variations.
Seventh chord
Seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a major triad with an added minor seventh...
s are often used just before a change, and more changes can be added. A more complicated example might look like this, where "7" indicates a seventh chord:
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:110px;"
|+Using a seventh chord
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I7
|-
| IV ||IV7 ||I ||I7
|-
| V ||IV ||I ||V7
|-
|}
When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar may be called a turnaround
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song...
, otherwise the last four measures is the blues turnaround.
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:250px;"
|+Basic jazz blues progression
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|IV7 IVdim
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|Vm7 I7
|-
| IV7 || IVdim || I7 || III7 VI7
|-
| IIm7 || V7 || III7 VI7 || II7 V7
|-
|}
In jazz, 12 bar blues progressions are expanded with moving substitutions and chordal variations. The cadence (or last four measures) uniquely leads to the root by perfect intervals of fourths.
The Bebop blues(Spitzer 2001, 62):
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:110px;"
|-
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|IV7
|width=25%|I7
|width=25%|v7 I7
|-
| IV7 ||IV7 ||I7 ||V/ii9
|-
| ii7 ||V7 ||I7 V/ii9 ||ii7 V7
|-
|}
This progression is similar to Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
's "Now's the Time", "Billie's Bounce
Billie's Bounce
"Billie's Bounce" also known as "Bill's Bounce", is a jazz composition written in 1945 by Charlie Parker in the form of an 12 bar F blues. It was dedicated to Billy Shaw by the Yardbird. The original recording by Charlie Parker and His Re-Boppers was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.....
", Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
's "Tenor Madness
Tenor Madness
Tenor Madness is a jazz album by Sonny Rollins. It is most notable for its title track, the only known recording featuring both Rollins and John Coltrane.-History:...
", and many other bop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
tunes.(Spitzer 2001, p. 62) "It is a bop soloist's
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
cliche to arpeggiate
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
this chord [A79 (V/ii
Secondary dominant
Secondary dominant is an analytical label for a specific harmonic device, prevalent in the tonal idiom of Western music beginning in the common practice period...
= VI79)] from the 3
Third (chord)
In music, the third factor of a chord is the note or pitch two scale degrees above the root or tonal center. When the third is the bass note, or lowest note, of the expressed triad, the chord is in first inversion ....
up to the 9
Ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is a larger than a second, its sonority level is considered less dense.-Major ninth:A major ninth is a...
."(Spitzer 2001, p. 62)
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:110px;"
|+Minor blues(Spitzer 2001, p. 63)
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|width=25%|i7
|-
| iv7 ||iv7 ||i7 ||i7
|-
| VI7 ||V7 ||i7 ||i7
|-
|}
There are also minor 12-bar blues, such as John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's "Equinox
Equinox (standard)
"Equinox" is a jazz standard by John Coltrane.It was originally released on Coltrane's Sound.It has been covered by Jessica Williams, Dave Valentin, Rhoda Scott, Hubert Laws, the last three feature the flute....
" and "Mr. P.C.
Giant Steps
-Personnel:* John Coltrane — tenor saxophone* Tommy Flanagan — piano* Wynton Kelly — piano on "Naima"* Paul Chambers — bass* Art Taylor — drums* Jimmy Cobb — drums on "Naima"* Cedar Walton — piano on "Giant Steps' and Naima" alternate versions...
",(Spitzer 2001, p. 63) and "Why Don't You Do Right?
Why Don't You Do Right?
"Why Don't You Do Right?" is an American blues- and jazz-influenced pop song – now a standard – written in 1936 by Kansas Joe McCoy. It is a twelve-bar minor key blues form with a few chord substitutes, it is considered a classic "woman's blues" song....
", made famous by Lil Green
Lil Green
Lil Green was an American blues singer and songwriter.-Life and career:Originally named Lillian Green, she was born in Mississippi; after the early deaths of her parents, she went to Chicago, Illinois, where she began performing in her teens and where she would make all of her recordings.Green was...
with Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
and then Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
with the Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
Orchestra. The chord on the fifth scale degree
Degree (music)
In music theory, a scale degree or scale step is the name of a particular note of a scale in relation to the tonic...
may be major, V7, or minor, v7, in which case it fits a dorian scale
Dorian mode
Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different musical modes or diatonic scales, the Greek, the medieval, and the modern.- Greek Dorian mode :...
along with the minor i7 and iv7 chords, creating a modal
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
feeling.(Spitzer 2001, p. 63) Major and minor can also be mixed together, a signature characteristic of the music of Charles Brown
Charles Brown (musician)
Charles Brown , born in Texas City, Texas was an American blues singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced blues-club style influenced the development of blues performance during the 1940s and 1950s...
.
While the blues is most often considered to be in sectional strophic form
Strophic form
Strophic form is the simplest and most durable of musical forms, elaborating a piece of music by repetition of a single formal section. This may be analyzed as "A A A..."...
with a verse-chorus
Verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted...
pattern, it may also be considered as an extension of the variational chaconne
Chaconne
A chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
procedure. Van der Merwe (1989) considers it developed in part specifically from the American Gregory Walker though the conventional account would consider hymns as the provider of the blues repeating chord progression or harmonic formulae (Middleton 1990, p. 117-8).
Lyrical patterns
Most commonly, lyrics are in three lines, with the first two lines almost the same with slight differences in phrasing and interjections.- I hate to see the evening sun go down,
- Yes, I hate to see that evening sun go down
- 'Cause it makes me think I'm on my last go 'round
- W. C. HandyW. C. HandyWilliam Christopher Handy was a blues composer and musician. He was widely known as the "Father of the Blues"....
's "St. Louis Blues"
- W. C. Handy
However, many songs exist that are written in the blues chord progression do not use the three-line form of lyrics. For instance, "I'm Moving On" has a verse in the first four bars and a chorus in the final eight bars:
- That big eight-wheeler rollin' down the track
- Means your true lovin' daddy ain't comin' back.
- I'm movin' on, I'll soon be gone
- You were flyin' too high for my little old sky
- So I'm movin' on.
- Hank SnowHank SnowClarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
's "I'm Moving On"
- Hank Snow
Here is an example showing the 12 bar blues pattern and how it fits with the lyrics of a given verse. One chord symbol is used per beat, with "-" representing the continuation of the previous chord:
- I - - - IV - - - I - - - I7 - - -
- Woke up this morning with an awful aching head
- IV - - - IV7 - - - I - - - I7 - - -
- Woke up this morning with an awful aching head
- V - - V7 IV - - IV7 I - - - I - V V7
- My new man had left me, just a room and an empty bed.
-
-
- From Bessie SmithBessie SmithBessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
's "Empty Bed Blues".
- From Bessie Smith
-
A final example, "Johnny B. Goode
Johnny B. Goode
"Johnny B. Goode" is a 1958 rock and roll song written and originally performed by American musician Chuck Berry. The song was a major hit among both black and white audiences peaking at #2 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.The song is one of Chuck Berry's...
" (written and first recorded by Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
), applies a "shuffle" or "light 'swing' " rhythm to one of the more common twelve-bar progressions:
| Line | [Pickup Anacrusis In poetry, an anacrusis is the lead-in syllables, collectively, that precede the first full measure.In music, it is the note or sequence of notes which precedes the first downbeat in a bar. In the latter sense an anacrusis is often called a pickup, pickup note, or pickup measure, referring to the... ] |
Measure 1 of 4 | Measure 2 of 4 | Measure 3 of 4 | Measure 4 of 4 | ||||
| 1 of 3 | Deep | A (I) | down in Lou'siana, close to | A (I) | New Orleans, way | A (I) | back up in the woods among the | A (I) | evergreens, |
| 2 of 3 | There | D (IV) | stood a log cabin, made from | D (IV) | earth and wood, where | A (I) | lived a country boy named | A (I) | Johnny B. Goode. |
| 3 of 3 | He | E (V) | never really learned to read or | E7 (V7) | write too well, but he could | A (I) | play a guitar just like a- | A (I) | -ringin' a bell. |
"Twelve-bar" examples
The 12-bar blues chord progression is the basis of thousands of songs, not only formally identified bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
songs. The vast majority of boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
compositions are 12-bar blues, as are many instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s.
Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
' "What'd I Say
What'd I Say
According to Charles' autobiography, "What'd I Say" was accidental when he improvised it to fill time at the end of a concert in December 1958. He asserts that he never tested songs on audiences before recording them, but "What'd I Say" is an exception...
" (1959) opens with the twelve bar blues. Other examples of twelve bar blues include Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
' "Train Fare Blues" (1948), Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
's "Evil
Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)
"Evil", sometimes listed as "Evil ", is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon. Howlin' Wolf, also known as Chester Burnett, recorded the song for Chess Records in 1954. It was included on the 1959 compilation album Moanin' in the Moonlight...
" (1954), and Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Shake, Rattle and Roll
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a prototypical twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed songwriting name Charles E. Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets...
" (1954). (Covach 2005, p. 67) Duffy
Duffy (singer)
Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...
also uses the twelve bar blues progression in her song "Mercy
Mercy (song)
"Mercy" is a soul song performed by Welsh blue-eyed soul singer Duffy, released as the second single from her debut album, Rockferry . Co-written by Duffy and Steve Booker and produced by Booker, it was released over 2008 worldwide to critical acclaim and unprecedented chart success...
".
Examples of altered or extended progressions include Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
's "Watermelon Man".(Spitzer 2001,64)
In Jazz
Jazz is considered to have some of its roots in the blues (Shipton 2007, 4-5), and the blues progression is one of several blues elements found in jazz such as blue noteBlue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
s, blues-like phrasing of melodies, and blues riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s. Tunes that utilize the jazz-blues harmony are fairly common in the jazz repertoire, especially from the bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
era.
A twelve-bar jazz blues will usually feature a more sophisticated — or at any rate a different — treatment of the harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
than a traditional blues would, but the underlying features of the standard 12-bar blues progression remain discernible. One of the main ways the jazz musician accomplishes this is through the use of chord substitution
Chord substitution
In music theory, chord substitution is the use of a chord in the place of another related chord in a chord progression. Jazz musicians often substitute chords in the original progression to create variety and add interest to a piece. The substitute chord must have some harmonic quality and degree...
s - a chord in the original progression is replaced by one or more chords which have the same general "sense" or function; in this case occurring especially in the turnaround
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song...
(i.e. the last four bars). One well-known artist that sang this form of jazz was Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, and almost all well known instrumental jazz musicians will have recorded at least one variation on this theme.
The 12-bar blues form, in the commonly played key of B, often becomes:
Bb7 / Eb7 / Bb7 / Bb7 /
Eb7 / Edim7 / Bb7 / Dm7 - G7 /
Cm7 / F7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 - F7 //
Transposed
Transposition (music)
In music transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval.For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key...
to the key of C:
C7 / F7 / C7 / C7 /
F7 / Gbdim7 / C7 / Em7 - A7 /
Dm7 / G7 / Em7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7 //
where each slash represents a new measure
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
, in the jazz-blues. The significant changes include the Edim7, which creates movement, and the III-VI-II-V or I-VI-II-V turnaround
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song...
, a jazz staple.
There is however no standard form of jazz blues, and several common variations. For example, the diminished chord in bar 6 is often omitted, and many turnarounds
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song...
are possible. An example turnaround using chromatic chord movement could be:
Dm7 / G7 / C7 - Eb7 / D7 - Db7
Another variation has the cycle concluding on the dominant
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...
chord as in a standard blues. This feature introduces a tension that propels the listener's expectation toward the next chord change cycle. Here is an example:
C7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7
Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
's version of the blues progression, which came into wide use, demonstrates several of these variations (shown here in the key of F):
F7 / Bb7 Bdim / F7 / Cm7 F7 /
Bb7 / Bdim / F7 / D7 /
Gm7 / C7 / F7 / Gm7 C7 /
Alto sax great Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
introduced a fluid chord sequence for jazz blues, using tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
substitution and chromatic chord changes typical of the be-bop era. It has come to be known as Bird Blues
Bird changes
The Blues for Alice changes, Bird changes, Bird Blues, or New York Blues changes, is a chord progression, often named after Charlie Parker , which is a variation of the twelve-bar blues....
, after his nickname, "Yardbird," or more simply, "Bird."
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:250px;"
|+Bird blues progression(Spitzer 2001,64)
|width=25%|IM7
|width=25%|VIIm75 III79
|width=25%|VIm7 II7
|width=25%|Vm7 I7
|-
| IV7 || IVm7 VII7 || IIIm7 VI7 || III7 VI7
|-
| IIm7 || V7 || I7 VI79 || IIm7 V7
|-
|}
For example, similar progressions may be found in, Parker's "Blues for Alice
Blues for Alice
"Blues for Alice" is a 1956 jazz standard, composed by Charlie Parker. The standard is noted for its rapid bebop blues-style chord voicings and complex harmonic scheme which is a fine example of what is known as "Bird Blues"...
", Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
's "West Coast Blues
West Coast blues
The West Coast blues is a type of blues music characterized by jazz and jump blues influences, strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos, which originated from Texas blues players relocated to California in the 1940s...
", and the non-jazz Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
' "Bluesette", Parker's "Confirmation
Confirmation (composition)
"Confirmation" is a bebop standard composed by saxophonist Charlie Parker in 1946. It is known as a challenging number due to its long, complex head and rapid chord changes, which feature an extended cycle of fifths ....
", and Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
's "There Will Never Be Another You
There Will Never Be Another You
"There Will Never Be Another You" is a popular song with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mack Gordon for the Twentieth Century Fox musical Iceland starring Sonja Henie...
".(Spitzer 2001,64) Below is a common version of the Bird Blues chord sequence, shown here in F:
Fmaj7 / Em7b5 A7b9 / Dm7 Db7 / Cm7 F7 /
Bb7 / Bbm7 Eb7 / Am7 D7 / Abm7 Db7 /
Gm7 / C7 / F D7 / Gm7 C7 //
A more modern example is the A-section
Musical form
The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
of Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
's "Missouri Uncompromised". The first 4 bars and the last 4 bars are taken from the classic blues (albeit without the dominant quality), while the middle 4 bars are completely altered:
A / A / A / A /
Bb/A / Db/Ab / Eb/G / D/F# Dm/F /
E / D / A / A //
See also
- Bird changesBird changesThe Blues for Alice changes, Bird changes, Bird Blues, or New York Blues changes, is a chord progression, often named after Charlie Parker , which is a variation of the twelve-bar blues....
- Blues balladBlues balladThe term blues ballad is used to refer to a specific form of popular music which fused Anglo-American and Afro-American styles from the late 19th century onwards...
- Talking bluesTalking bluesTalking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
- Thirty-two-bar formThirty-two-bar formThe thirty-two-bar form, often called AABA from the musical form or order in which its melodies occur, is common in Tin Pan Alley songs and later popular music including rock, pop and jazz...
- 50s progression50s progressionThe 50s progression is a chord progression and turnaround used in Western popular music. As the name implies, it was common in the 1950s and early 1960s and is particularly associated with doo-wop...
, another popular chord progression in Western popular music.