blues guitarist
Today, I want to show you how to play a simple 12-bar-blues on your acoustic guitar(s). You can play it with only one guitar and sing your own lyrics, or you can play and jam it together on two guitars. With the easy-to-learn scale given in this post, you can even start to improvise and play your own blues tune / solo. The given blues guitar chords and tablatures are both suitable for beginners although the characteristic scale and rythms sound a bit unfamiliar at first.
Our Simplification
Playing blues can be a complex topic when you want to dig into all the music theories behind it. It can be hard to play, when we try to combine the bass and the tune on a single guitar (I will show according tablatures in one of the future sessions). But we want to keep it as simple as possible at first. For that reason, we will start with a common twelve-bar blues and subdivide it into a bass/rhythm guitar and the solo/tune guitar. Both guitar parts are easy to learn and fun to play. As usual, I added the guitar tablatures and audio files for both parts in this post. You can listen to one of them while playing the other part respectively.
The 12-bar Blues
To make our blues sound like a blues, we use a simple but characteristic chord progression (bass line). Although there don’t exist special blues chords, the order of the chords makes it sound “bluesy”.
The so-called “12-bar-blues” is by far the most popular form for the blues. It consists of 12 measures (“bars”) with a specific chord progression. This form is repeated the whole song and is already everything we need for our first guitar.
|---I----|---I----|---I----|---I----| |---IV---|---IV---|---I----|---I----| |---V----|---IV---|---I----|---V----|
This pseudo-Tablature illustrates the mentioned chord progression. The Roman numerals I, IV and V stand for the interval between the chords. This pattern is always the same and can be used for every Key. In our tablature, we will use E as our Key. Therefore we can play the E chord everywhere the “I” occurs in the pseudo-tablature.
Counting up from one to four/five along the diatonic scale starting with E, we get A and B as the other two missing chords. (E-F-G-A–B-C-D-E).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 E F G A B C D
With this method, you can determine the three chords for the blues pattern in any key. We take the E as key for the following tablatures and chords.
The first guitar (rhythm/bass)
For our bass guitar, we already found the three chords we need and we already know the pattern. Finally, we just pick those three chords and change them to the seventh chords. Without talking about the theory behind, we can say this sounds more “bluesy”.
Finally, our three chords are E7, A7 and B7 for the whole song. I added a short intro which also includes our E and Am chords. You find all chords in the tablature at the end of this post. Following audio file contains the first guitar and can be used to practise the tune part with the scale given below.
The second guitar (solo/tune)
The second guitar for our blues is based on a pentatonic scale with our E as key. The scale is expanded by two so-called “blue notes” which make the characteristic blues sound. Here is the complete the scale we use:
|-----------------------------------------0--3------| |-----------------------------------0--3------------| |--------------------------0--2--3------------------| |--------------------0--2---------------------------| |-----------0--1--2---------------------------------| |-----0--3------------------------------------------|
You can play it up and down however you like. It will nearly fit to the bass line in any order. When you get a feeling for it, you can easily find out your own patterns for your very own blues. Some other scales can be found on acousticguitarists.net Following audio file contains the tune I wrote down in the tablatures below.
Tablatures
Finally, we come to the tablatures. As mentioned, they include an intro but also a short outro with counter movements between our two parts. I also tried to use some call and response patterns within the tablature which are characteristic for blues too. The recording and the tablatures are not perfect at all (I started working on blues three days before and never played it before) but we will improve them over time.
# get bluesy # simple 12-bar-blues # for two acoustic guitars # by Dorian Glagla # published by duochords.com # notation: # * = harmonic # h = hammer on # p = pull off # / = slide up # \ = slide down # () = optional # v = vibrato # : = break / hold # The tablature consists of # - intro (in two parts) # - tune part # - bass pattern # - outro (in two parts) # This is the order when playing it with two guitars: # guitar 1: intro 1 - 2 x pattern 1 - outro 1 # guitar 2: intro 2 - tune 1 - tune 2 - outro 2 # the tune can be easily replaced by any improvisation # within the according scale. It is more an example # than an exact tablature. # the tune is divided into two parts to emphasize # the 12 measures/bars of a 12-bar-blues. ####################### INTRO 1 ##################### 1 E E7 2 A Am #-----0---:------0---:----|----0--:------0--0--0----| #-----0---:------0---:----|----2--:------1--1--1----| #-----1---:------1---:----|----2--:------2--2--2----| #-----2---:------0---:----|----2--:------2--2--2----| #-----2---:------2---:----|----0--:------0--0--0----| #-----0---:------0---:----|-------------------------| 3 C7 C7 4 |-------2-----2-----------|-------------------0-----# |-------4-----4-----------|-------------------0-----# |-------2-----2-----------|-------------------1-----# |-------4-----4-----------|-------------------2-----# |---2---2-----2-------0---|---2--p0-----------2-----# |------------------4------|-----------4--0----0-----# ##################### PATTERN 1 #################### 1 E7 2 A7 #-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| #-------0-------0----0----|-------2-------2----2----| #-------1-------1----1----|-------0-------0----0----| #-------0-------0----0----|-------2-------2----2----| #-------2-------2----2----|---0---0-------0----0----| #---0---------------------|-------------------------| 3 E7 4 E7 |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------1-------1----1----|-------1-------1----1----| |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------2-------2----2----|-------2-------2----2----| |---0---------------------|---0---------------------| 5 A7 6 A7 |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------2-------2----2----|-------2-------2----2----| |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------2-------2----2----|-------2-------2----2----| |---0---0-------0----0----|---0---0-------0----0----| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 7 E7 8 E7 |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------1-------1----1----|-------1-------1----1----| |-------0-------0----0----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------2-------2----2----|-------2-------2----2----| |---0---------------------|---0---------------------| 9 B7 10 A7 |-------2-------2----2----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------4-------4----4----|-------2-------2----2----| |-------2-------2----2----|-------0-------0----0----| |-------4-------4----4----|-------2-------2----2----| |---2---2-------2----2----|---0---0-------0----0----| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 11 E7 12 B7 |-------0-------0----0----|--------2---2---2---2----# |-------0-------0----0----|--------4---4---4---4----# |-------1-------1----1----|--------2---2---2---2----# |-------0-------0----0----|--------4---4---4---4----# |-------2-------2----2----|----2---2---2---2---2----# |---0---------------------|-------------------------# ####################### TUNE 1 ###################### 1 2 #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|--------------------0----| #-------------------0-----|--2---2---0---2----------| #----------------2--------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| 3 4 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |--0----------------------|----------------------0--| |------2------------------|-----------------2-------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 5 6 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |---------------------0---|---3---0-----------------| |---2---2---0----2--------|-----------2---0---2-----| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 7 8 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|----------------0--3--0--| |--0----------------------|-------------------------| |-----2-------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 9 10 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |--3---3---0---3----0-----|-------------------------| |-------------------------|---3---2---0-------------| |-------------------------|------------------2---0--| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 11 12 |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-------------------------|-------------------------# |---2---2---0----2---0----|-------------------------# |-------------------------|---2----1---0------------# |-------------------------|----------------3---0----# ####################### TUNE 2 ###################### 1 2 #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #------------0----1---2---|---2----1-----0----------| #---0----3----------------|-------------------3-----| 3 4 |---------------3----0----|-------------------------| |-------------------------|----3----0---------------| |-------------------------|----------------3-----2--| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |--0----------------------|-------------------------| 5 6 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |---0----0------2---------|---0---2---0-------------| |-------------------------|---------------2---0-----| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 7 8 |----------------3----0---|-------------------------| |-------------------------|---3---0-----------------| |-------------------------|-----------1---0---------| |-------------------------|-------------------2-----| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |--3---0------------------|-------------------------| 9 10 |-------------------------|-------------------------| |--3----0-----------------|------------------3---0--| |-------------3-----2-----|---0---2---0-------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| |-------------------------|-------------------------| 11 12 |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-----3----2----0---------|-------------------------# |----------------------2--|------2-----0---2---0----# |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-------------------------|-------------------------# ##################### OUTRO 1 ###################### 1 2 #-------0-----------0-----|-------0----------0------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #------------12-----------|--11---------10----------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #--0----------------------|-------------------------| 3 4 |-------------------------|---------------------0---# |-----------------4-------|---------------------0---# |-----------------2-------|---------------------1---# |--------4----------------|---------------------2---# |---2---------------------|-----0--2--0---------2---# |-------------------------|--4-----------4--0-------# ##################### OUTRO 2 ###################### 1 2 #---3-----0---------------|-------------------------| #---------------3-----0---|-------------------------| #-------------------------|---3---2--------0--------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| #-------------------------|-------------------------| 3 4 |-------------------------|-------------------------# |-------------------------|-------------------------# |---0---------------------|-------------------------# |---------2-----0---------|-------------------------# |------------------2--1---|---0---------------------# |-------------------------|----------3------0-------#tablature by Dorian Glagla licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://duochords.com.
I hope you liked this short introduction to 12-bar-blues. You are welcome to leave a comment with feedback, changes or suggestions.