Free Guitar Lessons - Blues For Beginners

A Short Introduction Of The Blues

The 'Blues' is a type of music that was introduce by African immigrants who arrives in southern America in the 19th century. With the influence of western music It began to evolve into a more structured music. The most popular form of the blues are known as 'the 12 bar blues', it has a very distinctive structure of 'call and response' in which a melody will be followed by a counter melody.

_________________________________________________________________________

The 12 Bar Blues

A '12 bar blues' is basically a series of chord changes that repeats every 12 bars. A typical 12 bar blues will consist of only three chords also known as chord I, chord IV and chord V. This form of a blues can be found in countless recordings, you will hear it in the music of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, BB King and Elvis Presley to name a few. You should check out 'Before You Accuse Me' by Eric Clapton to understand how it works. Here's an example of a chord sequence in a 12 bar blues:

1          2         3         4
|G / / / |G / / / |G / / / |G / / / |
5          6         7         8
|C / / / |C / / / |G / / / |G / / / |
9          10       11        12
|D / / / |C / / / |G / / / |D / / / |

The example above is in the key of 'G', so G as the I ,C as the IV and D as the V chord. The D chord on the last bar are known as the 'turnaround', simply because it gives you the feeling of wanting to start over again. When you're ready to stop, just replace the D chord on the last bar with a G.

A common variation of the 12 bar blues is to perform a 'quick change' on the second bar before going back to the I chord. This is the form that were used in 'Before You Accuse Me'. You should also check out 'Red House' by Jimi Hendrix that uses the same format.

Here's an example in the key of 'E'.

1          2         3         4
|E / / / |A / / / |E / / / |E / / / |
5          6         7         8
|A / / / |A / / / |E / / / |E / / / |
9          10       11        12
|B / / / |A / / / |E / / / |B / / / |

*The 'B' chord needs you to barre(place your finger accross the strings)with your first finger*

The 'B' chord could be bit of a struggle to learn, luckily there is an easier/interesting way to play the 12 bar blues (see the next topic).

_________________________________________________________________________

Playing a 12 bar blues

The most favoured way to play the 12 bar blues is by playing a 'riff'. A riff is a set pattern that can be repeated and use for every chord in a 12 bar blues. Instead of playing a big full chord, a riff often consist of just a few strings or even one to make it work. It's a more melodic way to play a chord plus it's much more easier on the fingers. Below is an example of a 12 bar blues riff:

The blues riff in the tablature above is a classic 'must know' riff that every guitarist should learn. as you can see all the chords are now substituted with a riff that only uses two strings.

Play the audio example to hear what it sounds like.

_________________________________________________________________________

The Shuffle Feel

To get your 'Blues Riff' to sound just right, you need to have the right rhythm. The rhythm that you need to learn is called 'The Shuffle' rhythm. It's a bit hard to describe what it sounds like in writing (some people said it sounds like a heart beat), so I suggest that you listen carefully to the audio example above and try to put it in memory. Practice the 'Riffs', get your 'Rhythm' down and you're ready to play along with Eric Clapton..:)

Proceed to 'Blues Riff Variations'