12 Bar Blues.... or not?

12 Bar Blues....

Or Not?

Ear Training

12 Bar Blues...Or Not?

Just to remind you, this is the 12 Bar Blues we discussed last lesson. It is made up of....

4 bars of chord I

2 bars of chord IV

2 bars of chord I

1 bar of chord V

1 bar of chord IV

and then either....

2 bars of chord I OR....

1 bar of chord I and a bar of chord V

Not all 12 Bar Blues IS Blues!

If you remember in one of our previous lessons we mentioned how Blues is the predecessor and forefather of many modern genres we love today. Not all the examples we will hear are actually Blues songs, even though they borrow very heavily from the genre and the direct influence is often really easy to spot.

One of your examples is by The Beatles. They're not known as a Blues band, but the song is very bluesy.

Another is Elvis Presley. He's known more as a Rock 'n' Roll artist, but that's a genre which was directly born from the roots of Blues.

James Brown is known as 'The Godfather of Funk' but the song we'll listen to definitely takes heavy influence from Blues.

Remember, you just have to decide whether the chord progression is

'12 Bar Blues... Or Not!'

Good luck!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• Definitely!

• No Way!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• So Blues!

• No Blues!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• Blues all the way!

• My answer is nay!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• There's Blues in the air!

• There's NO Blues there!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• Blues all over!

• Blues move over!

Multiple Choice

12 Bar Blues.... Or Not?

• Blues!

• Not Blues!

In Conclusion

So hopefully that task proves how wide ranging the influence of Blues can be and how commonly used the 12 Bar Blues chord structure is.

A few of these songs may have surprised you because you don't consider them to be a 'Blues' artist as such, but they have clearly taken influence from this culturally important style of music.