How To Play 12 Bar Blues

    So now you know the chords and how to play a rhythm with bassline, now you need to know what sequence to play them in. Let me introduce to you the most used chord sequence in history, twelve bar blues.

Play the chords below in this sequence using the chord for one bar (4 beats) you will note that there are 12 bars, hence the name.

A A D D A A E D E D A A

There is a variation called 10 bar blues it goes like this:

A A D D A A E D A A

John Lee Hooker uses this a lot.

    All blues based music uses either of these two sequences. Rock developed from the blues, so most rock music uses it too. The only other common sequence is the box of four, Play: C Am F G or G Em C D round and round. Lots of songs use this, especially 60s music. Diana, Donna, All I have to do is dream, teenager in love, unchained melody, This boy by the Beatles, telephone line by ELO, even every breath you take by the police. Play these four chords with different time signatures and different rhythms and see what you recognise from it. There are millions of songs in those four chords.

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