Blues Guitar: 12 Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular and easiest to learn chord progressions for the guitar. It’s instantly recognizable and great for that all-important guitar solo. Excited yet? Here’s how it’s done:

1. Decide which key you’ll play in (for simplicity’s sake, we’ll start with A)

2. Figure out the I, IV, and V: These roman numerals (1, 4, 5) simply describe a note in relation to the key we’re playing in. So, A would be I. To find IV, we just count up from A: one, two, three, four; A, B, C, D. So D is our IV chord. That would mean that V is E. Note: You can do this in any key. If we play in E, the I, IV, V is E, A, and B, respectively.

3. Learn the progression: Now that we know the chord relationship, we can get to the meat-and-potatoes. Usually in 4/4 time, the progression goes like this (with each “/” mark denoting the end of one measure)

I/I/I/I/IV/IV/I/I/V/IV/I/I/

Get all that?

4. Play it in your key: In the key of A, this progression translates to:

4 measures of A

2 measures of D

2 measures of A

1 measure of E

1 measure of D

2 measures of A

And then start all over again! See how easy it is to play! Also, if you count how many measures we have total, you will find that it’s… 12. Make sense? That’s why they call it 12-bar blues.

Beginner: Notes On The Guitar

Notes on a guitar? Who ever heard of such a thing? The fact is, at some point or another, it is necessary to have at least a basic understanding of how to find notes on the guitar. So, let’s start with the basics.

Each string, when played without fretting anything, is a note. (Duh!) Starting from the lowest-sounding string to the highest, here is the order of the notes: EADGBE. Simple enough, right? In other words, if you play the lowest note on your guitar on the lowest string (in the default tuning,) that note will be an E. If you move to the next string, that note will be an A. Also note that two strings are E: a high E and a low E.

Now, in our musical scale, there are 12 notes. These notes are: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. Note: The “#” symbol is read as “sharp.” So, the 12 notes range from A to G, with “sharps” in between. Notice that there is no B# or E#.

The “sharps” of a note are also the “flats” (denoted by the symbol “b”) of the next highest note. In other words, A# could also be called Bb; they’re the same thing. Similarly, C# is the same as Db, D# the same as Eb, etc. When going through the notes, after going past G#/Ab, the scale returns to A again. So, if you start at A and play every note until you return all the way to A, you are now one octave higher than the first A you played.

To apply this to guitar, we can merely count up the strings, since each fret is one note. So if we play a note on the guitar, for example G, and then move it up one fret and play the string again, we will be playing G#/Ab. We’ll start with the low E string, with the numbers denoting the frets.

Open: E

1: F

2: F#/Gb

3: G

4: G#/Ab

5: A

6: A#/Bb

7: B

8: C

9: C#/Db

10: D

11: D#/Eb

12: E

Notice that on the twelfth fret, we return to the note E, only this E is one octave higher than playing the string without fretting anything. You will notice that this works for every string. Go on, try it!

Practice counting through every note in an octave on every string. This will help you tremendously in the future.

5 Tips For Beginning Guitarists

1. Practice, Practice, Practice: Yes, it’s cliche, but the simple fact is that the only way to truly get better at playing guitar (or anything in life) is to practice your pants off. It doesn’t matter how far along you are in your playing, this will always remain true. It’s especially important as a beginner, because this is when you are developing finger strength, dexterity, and those oh-so-beautiful fingertip calluses. In the beginning, guitar playing is not that fun. Let’s face it, you get tired of switching between G and D chords to no end. But trust me, the more you practice, the quicker you will improve, and the better you get, the more fun it is. So PRACTICE!!!

2. Find a Mentor: It is infinitely important that you seek out someone who is already a good guitarist to play with. It doesn’t matter what style they play or how long they’ve been playing, as long as they’re better than you. However, it is preferable that they’ve been playing seriously for at least a year. Why should you do this? First of all, the quickest way to get better at something is to play with someone who has been doing it for a while. They will have great advice for you, and seeing how good they are may provide some inspiration. If you have friends or relatives who play the guitar, call them up! Secondly, playing with someone better than you will give you confidence in yourself. You have nothing to fear. Realize that all great guitarists were beginners at some point, and chances are, they will remember the struggles they went through when they were just starting out.

Also: Even if you just started playing, it is still a good idea to find at least one mentor right from the start. Here’s how you play with an experienced guitarist: Using Tip #1 (Practice,) learn the most common major and minor open chords. These include G, D, Am, C, E, and Em. If you can master these basic chords, and can switch between them without having to stop strumming, you can play rhythm! With that, you can play a chord progression with another person, and they can maybe solo if they so choose. Now you’re jamming!

3. Learn As Much As Possible: This means picking up guitar books and publications (like Guitar Player.) Learning more about the guitar will give you new ideas and insights, as well as make you sound a lot smarter when talking with your mentor (see Tip #2.)

4. Get Inspired:It’s hard to practice every day without a goal in mind. Therefore, it’s imperative that you listen to great guitar players. If you have a specific genre that you really are interested in, then pick some heroes from that genre. Of course, it’s also a good idea to listen to other genres as well, as it will expand your horizons and enrich your playing style. But for now, if you’re interested in playing the blues, listen to guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy. If you want to play rock, listen to Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and John Frusciante (the Red Hot Chili Peppers.) If you like folk music, it doesn’t get much better than Doc Watson. These are just a few examples, and you can pick whomever you like from your favorite styles of music.

5. Have Fun!: This is the most important part of playing any instrument. You must enjoy it, or else you’ll quit. Remember all those piano lessons your parents forced you to take when you were a kid? The point is, the whole reason you started playing guitar is to have fun, express yourself, and get more out of life. Therefore, don’t ever forget this key point.