Success Music Studio

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - Guitarist Playing Chords

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues)

Facebook
Twitter

Estimated reading time 4 minutes

Table of Contents

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) #1: Piano and Guitar Chord Progressions

What’s a chord progression? It’s when you have a sequence of successive harmonies. In this post, we’ll look at common chord progressions, including rock n roll, the 12 bar blues, and jazz chord progressions. These can work as either piano chord progressions or guitar chord progressions. Read Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) to learn the harmonic structure for these three styles of music.

This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.

Do You Want Cool Chords for Your Song - Sheet Music with Chords - after they can sight-read what’s left for musicians to learn - Can I Become a Music Teacher if I Have Special Needs - Need Advice for Teaching a First Year High School Jazz Pianist - Tonic vs. Root in Music Theory - What Exactly Does I7-vi7-V7, I-iii-IV-I, and IV-V-I-V Mean - Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - What Is the Precise Meaning of Scaffolding in Teaching - An Easy How to Guide to Understanding Triads - Why Is EADGBE the Unquestioned Standard Guitar Tuning?

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) #2: Rock n Roll Harmonies

Before you go further in Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) you need to know how Roman numeral analysis works. For a review of Roman numeral analysis:

Our first sequence of triads is a classic I vi IV V rock n roll song:  

  • The I vi IV V piano and guitar chord progression gets repeated in the verse of the song Earth Angel.
  • This song is in the key of Ab major. If you look at the chart below, you can see notes for each triad.
  • Notice how vi can substitute for I. This works because the harmonies both share two notes.

In the next section we’ll look at jazz chord progressions.

Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - Triads in Ab Major

Video: Earth Angel

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) #3: Jazz Chord Progressions

Our next chord sequence is a II-7 V7 pattern (we’ll do the 12 bar blues chord progression in the next section). You’ll find many different types of jazz chord progressions, but the II-7 V7 is one of the most common.

The II-7 V7 pattern can be found in the big band piece Take the “A” Train.

  • Jazz doesn’t have a verse-chorus structure, instead it has a “head” section that gets continually repeated. Thus, the harmonies from the head section will repeat for the instrumental solos too.
  • The song starts with a four-bar intro. The chords from the head-section are shown below.
  • Unlike the last song, this piece uses jazz style Roman numeral analysis.
  • If you look at the chart below, you can see which notes each chord contains.
  • The II-7 V7 pattern can be found in bars 5 – 6 and 16 – 17.
  • The C7 functions as a V7 of IV (secondary dominant), which helps lead into the next melody phrase.
  • The D7 (b5) in bar 3 and the D7 in bar 14 look like secondary dominants. However, they function more like modal interchange triads (i.e., harmonies borrowed from a parallel mode).
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 1
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 2
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 3
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 4
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 5
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 6
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 8
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 8
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - jazz chord progressions line 9
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - Seventh Chords in C Major - How to Learn Music Theory with a Learning Disability

Video: Take the “A” Train

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) #4: 12 Bar Blues Guitar Chord Progressions

Like the jazz chord progression, the 12 bar blues has a head-section that gets repeated.

  • You can see this in Sweet Home Chicago’s harmonic structure.
  • The song alternates sung verses with instrumental solos – all this happens over the same harmonies.
  • And each section is 12 bars long (thus the name).
  • Notice the IV7 in bar 2.
  • Called the “quick change,” this added harmony is a common variation in blues guitar chord progressions.
  • Overall, the Roman numerals reflect each harmony’s position in the scale.
  • However, in some ways it’s better to think of the blues as changing keys every time you switch harmonies.

If you look at the charts for the keys of A major, D major, and E major, you’ll see that each key has a V7 sonority that corresponds to one of the blues seventh chords.

  • If you begin and end on the fifth scale tone in each chart, this gives you the modes E, A, and B mixolydian.
  • You can use these modes for soloing: E mixolydian with E7, A mixolydian with A7, and B mixolydian with B7.
  • However, you can also use the minor pentatonic scales.
  • Use E minor pentatonic (E G A B D E) to solo over E7.
  • A minor pentatonic (A C D E G A) goes over A7.
  • Use B minor pentatonic (B D E F# A B) to solo over B7.
  • Or you can mix the minor pentatonic scales in with the mixolydian scales for a blues scale-like effect.

The chromatic mismatch between the pentatonic scales and the harmonic tones (e.g., G and G# in E blues) creates the “blue note” sound.

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 1
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 2
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 3
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 4
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 5
Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) - 12 bar blues chord progression line 6

Video: Sweet Home Chicago

Video: 12 Bar Blues Guitar Chord Progressions

Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues) #5: Final Thoughts

Here’s a summary of Chord Progression (Including the 12 Bar Blues):

  1. Early rock n roll styles use the I vi IV V progression.
  2. II-7 V7 is common in jazz chord progressions.
  3. While the 12 bar blues has many variants, the one shown above is one of the most common.

Each style of music has its own characteristic patterns.

Related Posts

© 2024 Geoffrey Keith

Newsletter Signup

Join me for in-person or online lessons today!

Back to the All-Purpose Music Tips and Topics category blogs page

Back to the Successful Music Student Blogs page

Glossary

How Can Legato Notes Be Played Staccato - Sheet Music - Why is it Important to Define the Dynamics to Sing a Piece of Music - Tips for Playing a Different Dynamic in Each Hand on Piano

How Can Legato Notes Be Played Staccato?

How can you make a note be long and short simultaneously? How can legato notes be played staccato? Mozart created a mixed staccato/legato notation to use in his piano pieces, and it still confuses musicians to this day. Click to answer the question, “How can legato notes be played staccato?” Estimated reading time 2 minutes.

Read More
What Are Some Elegant Examples of Polyphony - Score with Rose - The 5 Best Free Music Notation Apps

What Are Some Elegant Examples of Polyphony?

Are you confused about what polyphony is? Do you want to know how to write counterpoint? Elegant can mean tasteful, but it can also mean well-designed, which these example pieces are. Counterpoint and polyphony appear in arrangements in many different styles and will enhance your writing skills no matter what type of music you write. Keep reading “What Are Some Elegant Examples of Polyphony” to learn what it is and how it works. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.

Read More
How Do I Organize a Recital Concert - Woman at the Piano

How Do I Organize a Recital Concert?

Are you a music teacher? Are you organizing your first music recital? Whether you’re doing a classical recital, Christmas piano recital, a mini recital, or a chamber music recital, these musical recitals will all be organized basically the same way with just a few variations. Read more to answer the question, “How do I organize a recital concert?” Estimated reading time 4 minutes.

Read More
How to Color Code Music to Optimize the Steady Beat - Drummer Figurine

How to Color Code Music to Optimize the Steady Beat

Do you have a student who has a problem keeping the steady beat? Does your child struggle with rhythmic concepts? Color coding combined with physicalizing the beat makes for a powerful teaching aid. Keep reading “How to Color Code Music to Optimize the Steady Beat” to learn how it works. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.

Read More