12 Bar Blues

[rcblu2]

I stumbled across a couple YT videos on 12 bar blues (links added below). I tried it out and find it to be a fun thing to work on while watching tv. I was wondering if anyone has compiled a document of the various 12 bar blues charts (example chart link also posted). I did some googling and am surprised to not find anything.

Chart:

https://ukulele.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/12-bar-blues-300x138.jpg

Stu Fuchs video:


AllForUke video:

 

[Renaissance-Man]

The chart you posted are the I, IV, V7 chords in C. You can transpose that into any key youself. You can use the minor pentatonic scale (in the Key of C for your chart) as the basic framework for your blues solo. More elaborative posters will soon follow, so have faith (and fun, of course).

"I was wondering if anyone has compiled a document of the various 12 bar blues charts"

 

[EDW]

You may like this

 

[kkimura]

12 bars in A

 

[man0a]

12 bar blues only has 3 chords, so once you learn the pattern, you don't really need a chart.

 

[dgame]

These are my charts for the 12 Bar Blues in all off the major keys and the major sevenths.




The finger placements are how I usually play those particular chords and many are not 'standard' although the notes are still the same.

 

[rcblu2]

Oh, Man!!! This site is the best. Can’t wait to sit down and digest what’s been posted already. Thanks so much! Super excited!

 

[Knows Picker]

The first thing I did when teaching myself to play was learn to play 12 bar all the way around the circle of fifths.

 

[rumdood]

Learning the 12 bar blues, I-IV-V progression and circle of fifths is one of the things that I think made me lean into uke a lot more - and triggered my need to start learning music theory.

But the 12 Bar Blues gives you such a great foundation to build on to practice all kinds of additional techniques.

I transposed Sweet Home Chicago to A and have just been steadily adding more to how I play it for over a year now - adding in more accents, some walk downs and other riffs. It's been a real joy.

 

[LorenFL]

I approve of this thread.

It's taken me way too long to get here, but like a couple folks above, I'm just starting to work through some of the rest of the keys that I've ignored. I've learned my way around the most common ones of A, C, D, F and G. More recently, I've learned B and Bb, and I'm getting comfortable with E. Now, I'm trying to expand into some of the other flat keys. It's forcing me to learn some chords that I've been ignoring, like Ab. (and I'm choosing to use Ab9 because it's easier for me to remember and play) And, a lot of those "relative minor" chords that I've not paid much attention to.

Simple blues songs/progressions are fun to play, and you can jazz them up in lots of ways. It's what I spend most of my uke time doing!

 

[CeeJay]

Its the sevenths that give the "bluesy" sound so try to alternate between Major and dominant 7ths, Especially on the turnaround, the little end pieces before the call and response. Blues isn,t "academic" music, its feel and heart and soul. So sometimes the rules go out the window of the woodshed.