blues – First Frets Homeschool Guitar and Ukulele Lessons

Let’s discuss the main 12-bar blues form. This pattern is the same for countless blues songs. Once you play through it a few times, you’ll start to feel when to change chords, rather than having to constantly count through each measure.

Many blues songs use only 3 chords! This is great news for those of us who are tackling the blues for the first time. These chords are usually what we call 7th-chords (called dominant-7th chords, or sometimes simply called dominant chords).

What makes blues the blues? Partly, it’s the unique feel that the music conveys. However, there are other common elements seen in most blues songs, including a distinctive rhythm and even distinctive chord types.