Blues Chords
Learning to play blues chords is one of
the easiest exercises for any musician that knows how to play at a basic
level. Once you learn the basics of playing the blues, you can sit in
with the members of just about any blues band and jam right along with
them.
First, if you aren’t familiar with the term “chord
progression,” it refers to a pattern of chords, one that repeats
throughout a song even if that pattern is sometimes broken up by another
group of chords. Second, chords in a progression have names such as
tonic, subdominant and dominant. A tonic chord matches the key
you are playing in. If you are playing in the key of C, for instance,
the tonic chord is C. The dominant chord corresponds to the fifth note
of the scale of the key you are playing in. In the key of C, that would
be the G chord. And as the name would suggest, the subdominant is below
the dominant; in music, the subdominant refers to the fourth note of the
scale, so in this case, we are referring to an F chord.
The
most common blues chord progression is the 12-bar blues progression. A
bar is a measure, something you may have seen in sheet music. Therefore,
this blues phrase consists of 12 measures.
The basic
elements of the 12-bar blues progression are: - It is 12 measures
long.
- The fifth bar usually contains the subdominant chord.
-
3. The ninth bar usually contains the dominant chord, and is often
followed by the subdominant chord, and finally the tonic chord in
bars eleven and twelve.
Blues musicians are fond of playing
their chords as sevenths. A
seventh chord is made of the
three note triad (in the C chord, the triad notes are C, E and G) plus
the “minor seventh” note, which is a half step below the seventh note in
the scale. A C7 chord is made up of the notes C, E, G and B flat.
Here is how a typical 12-bar blues tune in the key of C would read. Each
chord represents a full bar.C | C | C | C7 | F7 | F7 | C | C | G7 |
F7 | C | CIf you ever find yourself sitting in with a guitarist or
two, you might find they like to play in the key of E. In that case, the
1-4-5 pattern will consist of E, A and B.
Experiment by playing
the 3rd note of the scale as a flat and as a major simultaneously. For
instance, the C chord would be played C-E flat-E-G. If you can handle
it, add the seventh to that chord for a truly cool blues sound.
There you have it! The secret of playing blues chords is that it’s
really no secret at all. Learn more about playing the blues from some of
the great sites I’ve listed on my links page.
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