By Dan Denton
Many people set out to learn Blues guitar once they realize that much of Rock music has its roots in the Blues. As Jack White -- best known for his work with the White Stripes -- put it in the recent guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud:"
If you dig deep enough into rock 'n roll, you're on a freight train headed straight for the Blues.
The Blues is a musical style established by African-Americans in the early 20th century. By the mid to late sixties, when modern Rock guitar was undergoing its crucial formative years, many guitarists of the day were drawing heavy inspiration from the Blues. Such guitarists included: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and many more.
Though the Blues is a complex subject, both in terms of its history and its musical subtlety, there are a couple characteristics of Blues guitar that are fundamental. If you can develop a solid understanding of these aspects of the music, you will be in a much better position to learn Blues guitar.
The first important aspect of the Blues is its associated musical scale. The Blues Scale is a six-note scale. The intervals are: root, minor third, fourth, flatted fifth, fifth, and minor seventh. More typically, this would be written as: 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7. If you are familiar with the Pentatonic Minor Scale, you may well recognize the Blues Scale as the Pentatonic Minor Scale with the addition of the b5 interval. The inclusion of this interval results in three chromatic notes: 4, b5, 5. For example, the E Blues Scale consists of the notes: E, G, A, Bb, B, D. In comparison, the E Pentatonic Minor Scale includes: E, G, A, B, D -- i.e. everything except the Bb. Because of the unique and defining musical characteristics of the flatted-fifth note (the Bb in the above E Blues Scale), this note is often referred to as the "blue note."
Characteristic chord progressions are the next fundamental component of the Blues. There are number of basic Blues chord progressions. However, the one that anyone familiar with the Blues should know is called the "12-Bar Blues". Though these chord progressions embody a wide number of variations, they all share some basic points of commonality.
First, as the name implies, all versions of the 12-Bar Blues involve a pattern that repeats every 12 bars. Because of the nature of this pattern, musicians often think of the pattern being grouped into three, four-bar sections. Second, the chords in the progression are derived from the I, IV, and V chord of the Key (using standard Roman Numeral notation for the chords). Third, each bar is restricted to a single chord. And finally, the chord to be used in each bar is predetermined -- albeit some bars have a couple choices.
Often, but not always, these progressions use 7th chords - dominant 7th to be precise. The following is a typical 12-Bar Blues chord progression with 7th chords:
I7 I7 I7 I7
IV7 IV7 I7 I7
V7 IV7 I7 V7
In the Key of E (a common Blues Key) this progression would look like:
| E7 / / / | E7 / / / | E7 / / / | E7 / / / |
| A7 / / / | A7 / / / | E7 / / / | E7 / / / |
| B7 / / / | A7 / / / | E7 / / / | B7 / / / |
This article reviewed two of the most fundamental components of Blues music: the Blues scale and the 12-Bar Blues chord progression. If you can become proficient in these two areas, you will be in a great position to play a lot of great Blues music.
The Blues is a complex subject. This article really just scratches the surface. For more information on the Blues, please visit our Learn Blues Guitar page and read our Blues Guitar Review.
Dan Denton is a guitar enthusiast with over twenty years experience. He especially likes Rock and Blues-based music.
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