The 12 Bar Blues Scheme

There is a universial Blues Scheme made up of 12 bars. You should have this on your spinal chord when you play the blues.

There are of course variation, but the 12 bar blues is the basic one. Most musicians whether they are Rock, Jazz or blues masicians knows this schemes, making it easy to "sit in" in any band almost anywhere in the world. The 12 bar blues is always the first suggestion on the question: "What should we jam on" So it is really good to know. Even if you play alone with nowbody playing the chords, you should have the 12 bare blues scheme in the back of your head. This makes your msuic recognizable, and it also assures your own playing, making it more worth listening to.

Practicing stuff

T= Tonic (The root chord

S= Subdominant (Chord made of the 4th note in the scale)

D= Dominant ( Chord made of the 5th note in the scale) -

T         T         T         T

S         S         T         T

D         S         T         T/D

or in A- major:

A         A         A         A7

D         D         A         A

E7        D         A         A/E7