Playing the blues is a great way to get into improvisation, phrasing, rhythm guitar, swing feel and shuffle grooves. Here’s a step-by-step how to.
1) Choose a Key
Any key will do but some guitar friendly blues keys are E, A and G. If you happen to be jamming with horns, try Bb.
2) Learn Which Chords to Play
If you don’t know them already, learn the 3 chords needed to play a basic 12 bar blues. These chords are sometimes denoted by their roman numeral equivalents based on the note from the home key which functions as their roots. For example, in the key of E, the E chord is the I chord. A is the IV (four) chord and B the V chord. In the key of A, we would have A (I), D (IV), and E (V).
3) Learn Dominant 7 Chord Voicings
In blues, we don’t simply play the basic versions of these chords. More commonly we make each a dominant 7 chord, i.e. E7, A7 and B7. Another popular voicing is the 9 chord, i.e. E9, A9 and B9. There are more, but start here.
4) Learn the 12 bar blues form
The 12 bar blues breaks down into 3 sections of four bars each, with one vocal line occurring during each four bars. The most basic form is 4 bars of the I chord; 2 bars of the IV chord, 2 bars of the I chord; and lastly 1 bar of the V chord, 1 bar of the IV chord 1 bar of the I chord 1 more bar of the V chord.
5) Find the “swing” feel
Start by counting eighth notes by saying out loud “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”. Swing is when we give more time to the numbers and less time to the syllable “and” at a ratio of about two thirds to one third. This is different from straight eighth notes which are all the same length, exactly half of a beat. Practice playing swing eighths on one note to start.
6) Play Rhythm Guitar.
Play through the form using the swing feel. Use the chart above as a guide, playing downstrokes on the beat and upstrokes off the beat, and muting the chords for a percussive stroke on beats 2 & 4 where the drummer will play the snare drum on the backbeat.
This brings all the previous steps together! In our next installment we’ll look at 6 more steps to take your blues playing further.
related post: How to Play 12 Blues: part 2
© 2014 Brenna Method