Noisemaking 101 - Intro to the Blues
The 12-bar blues is a familiar pattern to most music lovers. Now you will learn what it is.
The blues is really a repeating pattern of 12 chords. There are many variations of the blues, but we are going to cover the most basic. We are going to use roman numerals to show what note of a scale each chord is based on. So, if you can't read roman numerals just Google it.
The basic blues progression is I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, IV, I, I. Here the roman numerals represent what scale degree the root note of the chord starts on. Now, if we take the key of C major the progression of root notes will be as follows C x 4, F x 2, C x 2, G, F, C x 2.
The nifty thing about the blues is that most musicians know the pattern and can pick up and play with each other with very little practice. The other neat thing is that the blues sound is so versatile it can be played on piano, guitar, sax, trumpet and many other instruments.
So, next time you hear the blues listen to the repeating harmonies and try to recognize how the harmonies move. And remember is you would like to go deeper into this subject ask your music teacher.
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