| Twelve Bar Blues |
Article Index for Twelve |
Website Links For Twelve |
Information AboutTwelve Bar Blues |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT TWELVE BAR BLUES | |
| chord progressions | |
| musical forms | |
|
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular Chord Progressions in popular music. It has a distinctive form in both lyrics and chord structure which has been used in songs in many forms of Popular Music . Most commonly, lyrics are in three lines, with the first two lines almost the same with slight differences in phrasing and interjections: :I hate to see the evening sun go down, :Yes, I hate to see that evening sun go down :'Cause it makes me think I'm on my last go 'round :: W.C. Handy 's " St. Louis Blues " The chord progression is simple to identify after some study and attention as it rises and falls in a regular and very familiar pattern. The blues can be played in any key, but Guitar and Bass players prefer open chords, that is, chords with several open strings: E-A-B7 or A-D-E7. Keyboardists may prefer C-F-G7 or G-C-D7. (These are termed, respectively, the ''tonic'', ''subdominant'', and ''dominant'' in the discussion below.) The 12-bar blues chord progression is the basis of thousands of songs, not only formally identified Blues songs such as "St. Louis Blues", " Shake, Rattle And Roll " and " Hound Dog ", but also Gospel songs, such as " I'm So Glad (Jesus Lifted Me) ", jazz classics like " Flying Home " and " Night Train ", pop and rock songs, including Glenn Miller 's " In The Mood " and The Beatles ' " Why Don't We Do It In The Road? ", Top 40 hits like Fabian 's " Turn Me Loose ", " At The Hop " by Danny And The Juniors , and the " Theme From Batman ". The vast majority of Boogie Woogie compositions are 12-bar blues, as are many Instrumental s, such as " Rumble " and " Honky Tonk ". THE BLUES CHORD PROGRESSION Chords can be represented with a few notation systems. A basic example of the progression would look like this, using T to indicate the Tonic , '''S''' for the Subdominant , and '''D''' for the Dominant , and representing one Chord . The tonic is also called the 1-chord ("I" in Roman Numerals ), the sub-dominant, the 4-chord ("IV" in Roman numerals), and the dominant, the 5-chord ("V" in Roman numerals). These three chords are the basis of thousands more Pop Songs which thus often have a ''blue'' sound even without using the classical 12-bar form. Using the above notations, the basic chord progression can be represented as follows. The first line takes 16 quarter notes (4 bars X 4 beats), as do the remaining two lines (for a total of 48 beats and 12 bars). However, the vocal or lead Phrases , though they often come in threes, do not coincide with the above three lines or sections. This overlap between the grouping of the accompaniment and the vocal is part of what creates interest in the twelve bar blues. Many variations are possible. For instance, the tenth bar can stay in dominant, yielding this: Seventh Chord s are often used just before a change, and more changes can be added. A more complicated example might look like this, where "7" indicates a seventh chord: When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar can be called a '' Turnaround ''. There are also minor 12-bar blues, such as " Why Don't You Do Right? ", made famous by Lil Green with Big Bill Broonzy and then Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Finally, here is an example showing the pattern in the key of D, and how it fits with the lyrics of a given verse. One chord symbol is used per beat, with "-" representing the continuation of the previous chord: D - - - Woke up this morning with an G - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head G - - - Woke up this morning with an G7 - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head A - - A7 My new man had left me G - - G7 D - - - D - A A7 just a room and an empty bed. :::From Bessie Smith 's " Empty Bed Blues ". While the blues is most often considered to be in sectional Strophic Form with a Verse-chorus pattern, it may also be considered as an extension of the variational Chaconne procedure. Van der Merwe (1989) considers it developed in part specifically from the American Gregory Walker though the conventional account would consider hymns as the provider of the blues repeating chord progression or harmonic formulae (Middleton 1990, p.117-8). "TWELVE-BAR" ODDITIES
SEE ALSO
SOURCES
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|