Twelve-bar blues

in red.]] The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) 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.

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).

Structure

: Popular music symbols 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 different with a few 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. The tonic (in Roman numerals is also 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 blue sound even without using the classical 12-bar form. Using the above notations, the basic 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.

Variations

Before the V-IV-I-I "shuffle blues" pattern became standard in the third set of four bars, the dominant chord continued through the tenth bar (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)."):

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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 chords 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:

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When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar may be called a turnaround, otherwise the last four measures is the blues turnaround.

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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.

V/ii cliche arpeggio, in second measure, upwards from third (C) to ninth (B): A⁷⁹(Spitzer 2001, 62) the dominant of Dm (ii in C major) .]] The Bebop blues(Spitzer 2001, 62): :: 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. "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)

There are also minor 12-bar blues, such as "Why Don't You Do Right?", made famous by Lil Green with Big Bill Broonzy and then Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. 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).

Lyrical patterns

: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. Handy's "St. Louis Blues"

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 Snow's "I'm Moving On"

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

: V - - V7 IV - - IV7 I - - - I - V V7 : My new man had left me, just a room and an empty bed.

:::From Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues".

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:

:

"Twelve-bar" examples

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.

In Jazz

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 substitutions - 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: B7 / E7 / B7 / B7 / E7 / Edim7 / B7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 / F7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 - F7

Transposed to the key of C: C7 / F7 / C7 / C7 / F7 / Gdim7 / 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 - E7 / D7 - D7

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 / B7 Bdim / F7 / Cm7 F7 / B7 / 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." Below is a common version of the Bird Blues chord sequence, shown here in F: Fmaj7 / Em75 A79 / Dm7 D7 / Cm7 F7 / B7 / Bm7 E7 / Am7 D7 / Am7 D7 / 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 / B/A /D/A / E/G / D/F Dm/F / E / D / A / A /

See also

References

External links

Category:Chord progressions Category:Song forms Category:Blues styles Category:Jazz genres Category:Blues music genres *