Blues twelve bars, three chords
The twelve-bar blues is the song form most rock, jazz and soul players learned on. Three chords, a swung feel, and the minor pentatonic over the top — it puts power-chord rhythm, the pentatonic box and bends into one place. Everything here is in A.
The form
Twelve bars of four beats. I is A7, IV is D7, V is E7 (the numbers are explained on Chords in a key):
| Bars 1–4 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bars 5–8 | D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| Bars 9–12 | E7 | D7 | A7 | E7 |
Bar 12 on the V is the turnaround: it pulls you back to bar 1. On the last time through, end on A7 instead.
The shuffle feel
Count each beat in three — 1-trip-let 2-trip-let — and play only the first and last of each three. Long, short, long, short. That uneven pair is the shuffle; written music shows plain eighths and a note saying swing.
e|------------------------- B|------------------------- G|------------------------- D|------------------------- A|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0-- E|-------------------------
The boogie riff
Root and fifth, then root and sixth: the ring finger reaches two frets for the sixth and comes back. Palm mute lightly; every pair is long-short. The same grip moves to each chord’s root.
A (strings 5 and 4):
e|------------------------- B|------------------------- G|------------------------- D|-2--2--4--4--2--2--4--4-- A|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0-- E|-------------------------
D (strings 4 and 3) and E (strings 6 and 5):
e|------------------------- B|------------------------- G|-2--2--4--4--2--2--4--4-- D|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0-- A|------------------------- E|-------------------------
e|------------------------- B|------------------------- G|------------------------- D|------------------------- A|-2--2--4--4--2--2--4--4-- E|-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--
The riff through all twelve bars
One bar of the riff per bar of the form. Follow the table above; the button walks it with you. Tempo comes from the practice bar — start at 70.
Soloing — the blues scale
A minor pentatonic at fret 5, plus one note: the ♭5 (E♭), at A string fret 6 and G string fret 8. It is a passing note — slide through it, do not park on it.
e|-------------------------------------5--8-- B|-------------------------------5--8-------- G|----------------------5--7--8-------------- D|----------------5--7----------------------- A|-------5--6--7----------------------------- E|-5--8--------------------------------------
Call and response
Blues phrases talk in pairs: a question, a gap, an answer. Play the call over bars 1–2, rest, then answer over bars 3–4. The bend comes straight from Bends · Lesson 2.
e|-5------------|------------ B|----8--5------|------------ G|----------7b9-|-7--5------- D|--------------|-------7~~-- A|--------------|------------ E|--------------|------------
Then make your own: keep the call, change the answer. Improv picks this up with target notes, and Backing band has blues loops.
Ready when
Move on when all of these are true on a normal day, not your best one:
- You can say where you are in the twelve bars without counting from bar 1.
- The boogie riff moves A → D → E on time with a real shuffle, not straight eighths.
- You can solo one chorus from the blues scale with at least one in-tune bend, and land on A at bar 11.