The blues is one of the primary foundations of Rock, Jazz, R&B, Funk, etc. The most commonly used rhythms in a blues feel are quarter notes, swing eighth notes and triplet eighth notes. Blues often has a laid back tempo and melody and improvisation is common using notes like the flat 7th, flat 3rd and flat 5th/blues notes with the blues scale.

The basic blues is based on a 12 bar progression, predominantly using the I, IV & V chords. Known as the “12 Bar Blues” this progression has been embellished and added to over the years but all have roots in this basic form. The following chart shows the chord scale degree numbers and how this could be interpreted in C major, with 7th chords. The last two bars are normally executed with the I chord played for two bars, but are commonly used to interject a turnaround leading back to the beginning. One round of the progression constitutes what some musicians refer to as a chorus.

Example B1

Example B1 shows how you might comp with a vocalist or soloist through the 12 bar blues. The bass supports with a standard bass line while the right hand connects and interjects the bass line with chords implying swing eighths and other simple rhythms. The chords may not always be simple 7ths as some have added extensions. There were a few examples of using grace notes to slide into chords. Apply voice-leading techniques to the chords to give them a smooth transition through the progression. Some connecting passages use the mixolydian mode like in the technique section on chords.

Example B2a (Piano)

This example demonstrates how you might play in a small combo. The piano part shows the left hand executing another standard blues bass line that works well with the bass guitar. The right hand is primarily involved with chords that support interacting with the other instruments. Watch the 8vb indications telling your right hand to play the written notes an octave down. Also notice around bars 7 and 8 the right hand switching to playing with a small C blues scale improv. including a tremolo chord, then going back to chord support.

Example B2b (Organ)

The organ part starts with the left hand comping along with just the 3rd and 7th of each chord under the right hand improvising with the C blues scale, then moving into longer sustained chords interacting with the other instruments. Occasionally use glissando to glide to or fall away from chords. Notice the use of the F mixolydian mode to help with chord filling in bars 5 and 6. The harmonica part is an idea of how you may approach simulating a harmonica on keyboards. By using the pitch bender set to “2 semitones up & down” playing single note improvised line using the notes from the C blues scale. Practise these slowly at first to get the feel of how to bend notes up and down successfully.

Example B2c (Harmonica)

Example B2c gives us a look at an improvised solo over the 12 bar blues progression based on C blues scale. The left hand is comping with a combination of sustained and shorter chords that play with the right hand lines sometimes helping accent a melody or playing in the gaps. This example contains many short blues licks which are small melodic ideas that should be learnt and transposed to other keys so you have a bag of tricks full of blues licks. You can swap, repeat and use these in different songs and in other parts of the blues. Many of these licks combine a blues line with a repetitive harmony note played above and along with the line, using the 5th or 4th finger to hit the repeated note while the other fingers execute the line underneath.

This solo has rhythmically repetitive ideas and also explores faster rhythms like sixteenth and triplet sixteenth notes. There are also some multiple grace notes to “f-r-rum” up to the main notes. It may take a while to get used to these blues licks but once memorised, they will help you discover other licks of your own. Working out blues solos or licks from other instruments will further expand your musical vocabulary.

Example B2d (Piano solo)

Many jazz musicians have used the blues to learn how to play and many jazz standards used the 12 bar blues or incorporate elements of the blues in them. Jazz musicians in the 1950’s extensively added to, and reharmonised the basic 12 bars chord structure. By using extension chords like 9ths, 11ths & 13ths instead of simple 7ths the musicians added new interest to their sound and widened the options available to them.

II–V-I’s were inserted to steer the listener off to the “goal” chord. In bar 5 of the following chord chart we see that the F7 is the goal chord and the bar preceding it contains a Gm7 and C9. Thinking, if the F7 is like the I in F major, the II chord would be a Gm7 and the V could be a C9. This idea can be used to approach most chords even if there is no direct link to the overall key signature of the tune. In bars 8 to 9 an inserted II-V-I in D (actually D minor) has had the V chord replaced with a tri-tone substitution to help create a smooth transition from the Em7 through the E flat7 to the Dm7. The last two bars again are used for a I-VI-II-V turnaround. Memorise the chord progression and transpose it into other keys to really get a grip on it.

Example B3

Example B3 is similar to Example B1 in that it is another example of comping for a soloist, but this example uses the enhanced chord progression with standard ways to voice the chords with the jazz feel in mind. A walking bass line is used, supporting the groove with quarter notes and the odd implied swing eighths to give it a bit of bounce.

Example B4a (Piano)

Example B4a demonstrates some possiblilties when improvising or playing a right-hand melody with a small combo. The right hand plays mostly with swing 8th & triplet 8th note rhythms throwing in a flutter of sixteenths in the last bar, and uses a combination of chord notes, C & A blues scales and notes from the key signature as a pool of notes to choose from. The left hand is primarily involved in chord support for the right hand. The chord voicings the left hand uses in this example are standard II-V-I type voicing or three-note versions of the II-V-I ideas.

Example B4b (Vibes)