The 12 Bar Method of Blues Guitar
The 12 Bar Method of Blues Guitar
Lots of people who are absolutely in love with the blues guitar are frequent listeners of some of the world’s most popular 12 bar blues like “Red House”, “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Pride and Joy”, and countless other blues songs that thrive on using the striking appeal of the 12 bar form. What most wanna-be blue players aren’t aware of is the fact that two other great blues forms are also great for you to choose for blues guitars music.
These are the 8 bar blues and the 16 bar blues.
All of the forms use just three chords, and roman numerals are used to describe them. The first chord, called the I chord, is usually a dominant seventh type of chord that is built from the first note in the major scale. The three primary chords that you need to familiarize yourself with are G7, C7, and D7.
The 12 bar blues, as you already know, comprises 12 measures with the expression ‘bar’ referring to a measure. In this context, the first bar always refers to the I chord. The second bar is either the I chord again, or it can be ‘quick change’ blues, which would be the IV chord. Bars 3 and 4 comprise I chord again. Bars 5 and 6 will be IV chord, and so it goes.
To prevent your mind from getting muddled with these chords pertaining to 12 bar blues, just say the name of the chord while you are playing it so that your mind memorizes and files away this chord detail. You can then practice switching from one chord to another and then figure out the chord details to file away carefully in your mind’s memory disk.
The main reason why most beginners like you experience difficulty in switching chords quickly can be attributed to the movements that are wasted in the hand movements. So from now on, make it a point to study your fingers when you are moving it from chord to chord.
Chances are that when you are conscious of your finger movements, you would be able to plan or decide how each finger should move to play a chord. You would gradually begin to visualize in your mind how the chord shapes up and how you intend to switch chords next while your fingers move.
You should pay attention to any small movements of your fingers and this conscious effort would definitely bring in a marked improvement in the way you play.
Remember, the famous song “Key to the Highway” is 8 bar blues, that begins with I chord and the V chord is Bar 2 while IV chords relate to the Bars 3 and 4 respectively.
How you play the chords for a blues tune isn’t as important as getting in the groove and feeling comfortable to experiment with new rhythms that can be composed for the same tune. Once you pierce the veil of fear, you will enjoy the freedom to improvise on what you’ve heard before and with these wings, your tunes would soar across greater heights than ever before.