my guitarist wants to jam the 12-bar blues.

[visa]

I don't know what to do. Help.

[DirtDog]

Listen to anything with Willie Dixon on it.

Learn how to walk and shuffle.

Oh, and I-IV-V...

DD

[lyle]

12 bar blues is a chord progression that usualy goes like such

Root
4th
Root
5th
4th
Root.

and this is the usual pattern for 12 bar blues. what ever key your in it follows this pattern. If the 4ths and 5ths are a tad confusing hes an example. if were playing in "A", 5th fret "E" string, then we start there (thats the root) after several bars of that we then go to the 4th, which is "D", 5th fret "a" string. Then back to the root. The fifth is the 7th fret, "E" on the A string then to the forth "d" and back to the root "a"

best i can explain it. after playing it a bit youll get when to change.

[DirtDog]

OK, that was better than my smug answer.

Now, you need to go check out this page:

http://www.activebass.com/cgi-bin/pa...=17501&p=1&a=0

Navigate yourself to "Lessons" and then click on "Blues" and look for anything that refers to 12-bar.

Best I can do.

DD

[Sagaris]

Our guitarist likes to jam in the 12 bar blues.



All...the...time. *sigh*

[str8_bourbon]

There are essentially three chords used in a 12 bar blues, which are the I, IV, V chords of a given key. For example, if you were to play in the key of C, the chords would be, respectively, C, F, and G.
Usually the chord progression goes like this, I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I, each roman numeric, or chord, is played for one bar, notice that the progression accounts for 12 bars in total, hence "12 bar blues".
If you don't know what to play at first, just stick to the roots of each chord, and play them as eighth notes. However, it's important that you play your notes with a "shuffle" feel.
Should you get bored of playing roots, try pitching in some other chord notes, specifically speaking the Major 3rd, 5th, dominant 7th, and 8th(octave).

[thumbzilla]

I thought "shuffle" was the 1st and 3rd notes of triplets.

[str8_bourbon]

It's a little hard for me to explain in words what a shuffle is, I think it's better understood when heard , but I'll do my best, here goes-
In order to play a shuffle rhythm, you need to play eighth notes with a triplet subdivsion. Specifically speacking, there are three notes in a triplet which account for one beat, you achieve a shuffle note by tying the first two notes in a triplet, therefore you are left with two notes(the first two that are tied, and the last remaining note of the triplet). A shuffle rhythm is produced by playing playing repeated notes in this way. You can vocalize it by saying "dump, da dump, da dump, da". I'd like to add, that in most written music, a shuffle rhythm is simply written as eighth notes for conveniece, instead of triplets.

[cowsgomoo]

some smart*ss (i.e. me) is going to come along and confuse things further by saying that shuffles and swung rhythms are not always strictly triplet divisions of beats.. although that's the most convenient way to think about them...

the faster you play a swing rhythm, the more it has a natural tendency to 'straighten out' into straight 8ths... a 180bpm bebop tune would sound very stiff with a strictly 'tripletized' subdivision of the beat

there's a whole grey area in between the two that can be played in, and it's generally more art than science

[dubblebubble]

Tell him to jam his 12 bar blues and play some music

[visa]

but I wanna learn the 12 bar blues! ._.

thanks for the replies so far =)

[fr0me0]

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

There are essentially three chords used in a 12 bar blues, which are the I, IV, V chords of a given key. For example, if you were to play in the key of C, the chords would be, respectively, C, F, and G.
Usually the chord progression goes like this, I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I, each roman numeric, or chord, is played for one bar, notice that the progression accounts for 12 bars in total, hence "12 bar blues".
If you don't know what to play at first, just stick to the roots of each chord, and play them as eighth notes. However, it's important that you play your notes with a "shuffle" feel.
Should you get bored of playing roots, try pitching in some other chord notes, specifically speaking the Major 3rd, 5th, dominant 7th, and 8th(octave).

thats weird I play it differently and I always thought it sounded right.

I would always go


CCCC FFFF CCCC CCCC FFFF FFFF CCCC CCCC GGGG FFFF CCCC GGGG

not actualy play 4 c's in a row I'd play a dom 7 or whatever but thats the pattern I played. and instead of playing the final G chord I'd usually do a chromatic walk up from the end of the final C chord

[dougjwray]

There are variations.
Sometimes you go to the IV in the 2nd bar (blues cats call this the "quick IV"), sometimes you go there in the 5th bar.
Not all blues are shuffles.
Just listen to lots of blues and play along. It's one of those "an hour to learn, a lifetime to master" deals.

[gruffpuppy]

Every Bass Player should know how to play this, everyone!

[Bryan R. Tyler]

The I IV V chords are also all usually played as 7 (dominant) chords as well. While disjarring to some, this is to aid in blues guitarists being able to play the same licks over and over again without having to learn to play in different modes.

[Fong249]

So many things you can do with a twelve bar. One pretty standard setup utilizes the II-V-I progression to turn the song around. Its really pleasing to the ear to be honest. Anyway, Lets say that you've got a Bb blues. Pretty standard stuff, everyone love a Bb blues. You can structure it like this |-I-|-IV-|-I-|-I-|-IV-|-IV-|-I-|-I-|-II-|-V-|-I-|-I-|

Talk it over with your guitarist. Bunch of ways that one can go abot using and shifting twelve bar, like using a I V IV V (1 5 4 5)

[cowsgomoo]

while we're on chord progressions, typically a jazz blues chord progression might go:


I / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | I / / /
IV / / / | IV / / / | I / / / | vi / / /
ii / / / | V / / / | I / vi / | ii / V /


try this using all the 'major' chords (I,IV,V) as dominants and the minor ones (ii,vi) and minor 7's... add extensions (9ths etc) if you feel like it

you can pretty much add a ii-V-I to any chord change and it'll frequently work... you don't have to solely use ii-V-I diatonically.. you can throw it on (say) on the change up to the IV in bar 5

i.e. if the above example was in C, the 4th bar would typically be a chord of C7... well you could also play Gm7 / C7 / (half a bar of each) on bar 4 and it'd lead you into the F7 nicely... those two chords aren't the diatonic ii-V but they're the ii-V relative to the chord you're changing to...

in fact you can pretty much forget about traditional western diatonicism (!) for the blues... because it's based on dominant 7 chords, it's always hunting for resolution... which never comes because there's always another dominant 7 chord round the corner which is why blues tunes can last for several weeks and you always have to force an ending

[PaulMacCnj]

Playing the 12 bar Blues progression can be as fun & interesting or as boring as you make it. Go for "fun & interesting" by learning scales to play in the progression, especially the Pentatonic.

With respect to an A major scale, try these pattern:notes in 4/4 time:

1 - 3 - 5 - 3 : A - C# - D - C#

1 - 3 - 5 - 6 - 8 - 6 - 5 - 3 : A - C# - D - F# - A - F# - D - C#

The first is the chord triad, the second is the Pentatonic scale.

Another cool thing to do is walking between the I & IV chords, i.e. the A & D. Try this walk-up during the bar BEFORE the change from the A chord to the D.

A - B - C# - D

Then the walk-down is:

D - C# - B - A

These walking patterns add a sense of movement, almost tension, to be resolved since it makes the listener think, "Where's this going". It grasps interest.

The key is to learn several patterns, including hanging on the root, and keep them ready to use in a way that supports the song. Remember that it's about the music and not the technique.

Paul Mac

[ras1983]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

The I IV V chords are also all usually played as 7 (dominant) chords as well. While disjarring to some, this is to aid in blues guitarists being able to play the same licks over and over again without having to learn to play in different modes.

Mr Tyler, you have hit the nail squarely on the head.

All of you should check out some lead sheets featuring a x-bar blues, you will see that all the chords are dominant 7ths.

soloing on the blues minor pentatonic of the given chord is the oldest trick in the guitar book (everyone from bb king to jimmy page does this).

[john turner]

Originally Posted by visa

I don't know what to do. Help.

get him a jar of vaseline, and then find a new band.

j/k