It sounds familiar. The most fundamental way to play chords in the style in blues is to adopt a 12 bar structure. Learning the 12 bar blues progressions (or blues march as it is sometimes called) should be one of the first things you learn as an aspiring blues musician. We will be playing it in the key of G, so our chords are G, C and D. The basic structure of the 12 bar blues is 3 lines of 4 bars each. The power of the 12 Bar Blues however, is in the potential to use it as a starting point. 12 Bar Blues. 12 Bar Blues progressions are usually played with dominant chords. The previous lesson had some variations on C, but for a 12 bar blues there is another which works well, similar to the way we changed the A chord. The 12 bar blues is a chord progression used in blues and rock music that lasts for 12 bars. Below are some common dominant chords that will be used in this lesson. Basic Blues Chords. It sounded good, but perhaps a little bland. The 12 Bar Blues is a pretty simple chord progression. In the G major scale, the notes are: G (the 1, or root), A (the 2nd), B (the 3rd), C (the 4th), D (the 5th), E (the 6th), and F# (the 7th), and then you are back to G again. All are common voicings that you should learn. Measure 1: C7 rooted on the 6th string, 8th fret. A 12 bar blues structure often consist of only three chords (I, IV and V). The chord progression is easy for beginners because it only uses three chords, the root, the fourth, and the fifth. We’re used to it and it always works well. Measure 2: C13 rooted on the 6th string, 8th fret. In example 1 below, a 12 bar blues progression is shown in the key of G, using open position dominant 7th chords, the type of chord typically associated with a bluesy sound. 12 Bar blues chords. Gee, I wonder where it got its name? 12 Bar Blues in C. Now let’s try something similar in a different key – let’s look at a 12 bar blues in C. That’s the same chord sequence as above, but with C,F,G instead of A,D,E. The 12 bar blues progression is the framework that so much of the blues is built upon. It becomes part of the foundation of everything else that follows. Examples of chords to use and other instructions are presented below. In the above examples, each chord was played with a very simple strumming pattern, without altering the chords or the rhythm. 12 Bar blues in E. The first package with typical blues … This lesson will use dominant 7th, dominant 9th, and dominant 13th chords.