EASY 12 Bar Blues Guitar Lesson

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Today I want to share with you a 12 bar blues guitar lesson. You’ll discover how to build it from the ground up.

And if you are a guitarist or musician who would like to…

• Learn to play your favorite songs faster
• Jam with other musicians
• Start soloing and have a TON of fun

Then you have just stumbled upon one of the most important pages you will ever read.

Taking the time to really internalize and master this progression is not only a life-long journey, but it is also a mark of a seasoned musician.

So tune up, and let’s dive into this 12 bar blues guitar lesson!

What are the 3 chords used in the 12 bar blues?

For this lesson, we will be looking at a 12 bar blues in the key of A major.

Now typically a blues in the key of A is going to use 3 primary chords: A, D, and E. 

These chords are often referred to using Roman numerals in the context of music theory, with A as the I chord, D as the IV chord, and E as the V chord. 

From there we will turn each of these chords into dominant seventh chords.

So this means we’ll simply add the number 7 after the letter name. 

So A becomes A7. 

This chord is often just referred to as A7. But the full name for it is “A dominant seven”.

In music theory terms A7 is a four-note chord. It’s built of a root note, a major third, a perfect fifth, and a minor seventh. 

So here are the 3 blues chords I would play in a 12 bar blues in the key of A major. 

A7 is played from the 5th string down like this:

D7 is played from the 4th string down like this:

And finally, E7 is played using all 6 strings like this:

Is 12-bar blues hard to play?

Ok, here’s where a lot of students who have been playing for a few years will say “Yeah yeah I got this…

Blues guitar, yeah that’s easy…”

Being able to look at a chart, put your fingers on a simple shuffle pattern, and play along with a backing track one time through is not going to be too difficult.

But to play it over and over and not mess up the form, not get lost, not jump ahead or stay too long on one chord. Is going to take a while.

So below I have organized this into 2 easy steps. Step 1 gets you started. And step 2 spices it up.

So despite popular opinion, I am going to say yes the 12 bar blues is actually incredibly hard to play. And most that think it’s not probably can’t play it…

It will take years to fully understand. But with this lesson, you will have a start.

In fact, it will be one of the most fun and useful progressions for you to learn.

I believe, mastering this progression is one of the single most important things you can do as a guitarist. And almost every PRO seasoned guitarist is going to agree with me… 

12 Bar Blues Guitar Lesson Step 1

Let’s start with a basic 12 bar blues guitar lesson, and to do this we will use simple 2-note chords. These chords are called “power chords” and then are written by including the number 5 after the letter name. So the 3 chords used in a 12 bar blues in the key of A are A5, D5, and E5.

We’ll play all these chords with just our index finger in the fretting hand.

A5 is played using the open 5th string and the 2nd fret on the 4th string like this:

D5 will just shift down one string like this:

And finally, E5 shifts up one string (from the A5) like this: 

Now that you have the chord shapes. Let’s talk about the progression. The chord progression for a starter 12 bar blues in the key of A is going to go like this:

A5 (4 bars)

D5 (2 bars) A5 (2 bars)

E5 (1 bar) D5 (1 bar) A5 (1 bar) E5 (1 bar)

I like to break it up into 4 bar chunks.

This gives you 3 systems of music. 

| A5 | A5 | A5 | A5 |

| D5 | D5 | A5 | A5 |

| E5 | D5 | A5 | E5 |

Next, let’s add the strumming pattern:

For this lesson, we’ll use an eighth-note rhythm. We’ll play with a swing feel and use all downstrums in the strum hand.

Strumming eighth notes with a swing feel is a key aspect to playing the blues and many other styles of music as well. 

A swing feel gives the music a groove and a unique rhythmic character. To strum with a swing feel, follow these steps:

Understand the Swing Feel: The swing feel is characterized by a triplet-based rhythm. Instead of playing eighth notes evenly, you'll create a "swung" or "shuffle" feel by stretching the first eighth note of each pair and shortening the second eighth note. 

The timing is closer to "long-short, long-short" instead of "even-even."

Count Aloud: It can be super helpful to count out loud with a triplet feel as you practice. So starting with counting, "1-and-a, 2-and-a, 3-and-a, 4-and-a," playing on the downbeats and the "a" beats to create the swing. 

1-and-a, 2-and-a, 3-and-a, 4-and-a

Start Slowly: Begin practicing with a slow tempo. The swing feel can be challenging to master at first. 

Listen and Imitate: Listen to blues songs with a swing feel to get a sense of how it sounds. Try to mimic the rhythm by strumming along with the music. 

Lastly, as an exercise to start developing the feel you can accent the “a” in each triplet. This can be achieved by strumming with a little more force on the "short" part of the swing.

"long-short, long-short" 

Play through the progression using all eighth notes with a shuffle feel. 

Above all, GROOVE, AND KEEP THE FORM.

| A5 | A5 | A5 | A5 |

| D5 | D5 | A5 | A5 |

| E5 | D5 | A5 | E5 |

Repeat many times…

12 Bar Blues Guitar Lesson Step 2

Now that you know the chords, and are starting to jam the blues.

Let’s spice it up next, and create a blues rhythm pattern. 

We are going to expand on the “power chord” example above and alternate between a root-fifth chord (A5) to a root-sixth chord (A6) 

A6 is played using the open 5th string and the 4th fret on the 4th string like this:

D6 will just shift down one string like this:

And finally, E6 shifts up one string (from the A6) like this: 

Now alternate between 2 strums on the root-fifth chord, and then 2 strums on the root-sixth chord. We’ll apply this to all 3 of the chords in the 12 bar blues. And play the same exact form and groove with a shuffle feel.

That’s going to go like this:

Conclusion

Great job working on your blues playing! As mentioned above this is going to be one of the most useful progressions and patterns you can learn as a guitarist. You want to internalize it and know it like the back of your hand.

The players that do…know. The players that don’t miss out.

I hope this lesson helps you in ways you never thought possible. 

For another great blues rhythm guitar lesson check out this post on “10 Amazing Blues Rhythms Every Guitarist Should Know next!