The BLUES!

It's a truly popular thing!

Thus, I thought it would be great if I could say something useful about it, something that would help keyboard and chord people play it.

First we will deal with the chords.

Blues is pretty simple. It's what's known in the music business as I, IV, and V.

It is a bit different in that most blues follows a 12 measure pattern (this is compared to the usual 8, 16, 32, measure patterns of western music.)

Blues works like this:

First you determine the key of the music. Now this might be given but if you can "sus out" the final chord you will have the "key" of the music. For instance if the final chord is E7 then the music is in E.

In the Key of E Major, the three chords are I = E or E7, IV = A or A7, and V = B or B7. (A word about that Seventh chord below.)

By the way, "Blues in E" is the most common way to play the blues using guitar (due to it's tuning)
that when folks can't find a common song to play, they will sometimes resort to playing it.

Secondly, you decide on a pattern. This can be anything but is usually what the person is familiar with.

You play that pattern with the I chord 4 times. In E, you play the E or E7 chord 4 times

Then you switch to the IV chord for the next 2 times. In E, that's the A or A7 chord.

Then you return to playing the I chord 2 more times (E or E7)

Then the V chord once (the B or B7 chord.)

The IV chord one time (A or A7)

The I chord once.

Finally, it gets somewhat complicated - not really complicated but somewhat more so. If you want to repeat the pattern of 12 measures again you play the V chord again. If you do NOT want to do a repeat of these measures, then the 12 measure should be a repeat of the I chord. A repeat of the 12 measures is sometimes called a "chorus."

Now many folks will be find the above adequate.

Some won't and for these people I offer the next post which will cover what to do with your RH and the blues scale.

I will whet you appetite for this by telling readers that there are many different blues scales, not just one.

If you have been trained by someone who claimed to teach you THE blues scale, you might be confused by the fact that your next trainer taught you something different but called it the same thing.

Is this article worthwhile for you? Does it help you with the blues? Leave me a message below.