The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music. It has a distinctive form in both lyrics and chord structure which has been used in songs in many forms of popular music. Most commonly, lyrics are in three lines, with the first two lines almost the same with slight differences in phrasing and interjections: I hate to see the evening sun go down, The chord progression is simple to identify after some study and attention as it rises and falls in a regular and very familiar pattern. The 12-bar blues chord progression is the basis of thousands of songs, not only formally identified blues songs such as "St. Louis Blues", "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and "Hound Dog", but also gospel songs, such as "I'm So Glad (Jesus Lifted Me)", jazz classics like "One O'Clock Jump" and "Night Train", pop and rock songs, including Glenn Miller's "In the Mood", The Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?", and The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go", Top 40 hits like Fabian's "Turn Me Loose", "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors, and the "Theme from Batman". The vast majority of boogie woogie compositions are 12-bar blues, as are many instrumentals, such as "Rumble" and "Honky Tonk". |
12 bar Minor Blues A 12 bar blues Blues solo (Bb concert, G alto sax) - It contains more chords than the typical 12 bar blues, which follows a 1|4|1|1|4|4|1|1|5|4|1|1|| pattern. Instead, this is 1|4|1|5- 1| 4|4|1|3dim 6+9|2-|5|3- 6|2- 5|. The addition of the 3-6 2 and the 3-6 2-5 1 turnaround at the end break it away from a typical blues feel. Also, the second half of the song is in a bossa nova style with many added chords. Nick Biello solo "St. Louis Blues" w/ WCSU Jazz Orchestra Bill Haley and his Comets performing Shake Rattle and Roll in Vienna in December 1976 - George Baker playing sax Bob Mintzer & Tbilisi concert Orchestra "One o'clock jump" - Sax solo by Kakha Jagashvili Night Train (COTTON CANDIES) - Renaud Perrais (Sax) |
Prev Top Next |
