The Blues

This week, we’re going to dive into the blues! Below, you’ll find some basic chords for 12-bar Blues in E7 and some recommended listening.

When you are playing the rhythm of the blues, try to imagine you are on a train. This train is chugging along at a steady pace, not too fast, not too slow. Now as we move along, you have to FEEL the Ca-Chunk, ca-Chunk, ca-Chunk of the engine rolling along.

Songs to listen to before playing the blues:

  • Red House by Jimi Hendrix
  • Green Onions by Booker T. & the M.G.’s
  • I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters (or literally anything by him he is spectacular)
  • Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters
  • Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King
  • Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker
  • Down to the crossroads

12-bar E7 Blues

Now, for E7 blues, we need only three chords to start grooving. We start with Four bars of E7, followed by 2 bars of a new chord called A7. It is the same as an A chord, except you drop the middle finger. We go back to an E7 chord for two bars, then one bar of the B7 chord, which is a new one for us (example below). The B7 is followed by a bar of A7, then the song finishes with two bars of E7 coming to a total of… 12 bars. Below is a video of me playing the 12 bar blues.

E7 x4, A7 x2, E7 x2, B7 x1, A7 x1, E7 x2

Here is a video of me playing the 12 bar blues in D.

Here a some pumpkins I carved last weekend with my girlfriend.