Twelve Bar Blues

This lesson on playing a twelve bar blues jam using open chords in the key of ‘A’ is taken from my new book First Chord Progressions For Gui-tar.

The Twelve Bar Blues

When I get a group of students together for a jam session, there are always nerves present. The first thing I get people to do is to jam a twelve-bar blues sequence.

Example 3a demonstrates a twelve-bar blues in the key of A using the chords of A7, D7, and E7. Memorising the sequence of chords is the most important thing, and don’t worry that it is only one strum per bar for now. Jam along with the audio example until you can play this progression by heart.

Example 1

Next, add this common jazz-blues rhythm to the twelve-bar chord sequence.

Example 2

Triplets are essential in blues music. Example 3 is an arpeggio pattern based around con-tinuous triplets. I recommend starting this one very slowly, at around 50 bpm, before speeding it up to the required speed.

Example 3

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