blues Headlines with richard barrett
Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks
5 mins per example Tutor: richard Barrett | gear used: Knaggs ssc, Vox aC15 C1 I-IV-V Blues
The 12-Bar Blues has become such a staple that it’s easy to overlook what’s going on in terms of harmonic content, compared perhaps with a tricky jazz chord progression that keeps us on our toes. The standard 12-bar chord progression is less complicated harmonically, but it’s interesting to look at it afresh – as players must have done back in the early 20th century or even the generation of electric blues players that followed in the 1960s.
So let’s take a look at these chords: we are in the key of C major and this is our I or ‘home’ chord. The next is F major, our IV chord, F being the fourth note of the C major scale. Finally, we have the V chord, G. This is taken from the 5th note of the C major scale. Building chord progressions from the notes of the ‘parent’ scale like this is known as Diatonic Harmony. In the key of C major, the diatonic chords are: C major (I), D minor (ii; always lower case, not capitals for minor chords), E minor (iii), F major (IV),
Bm7b5 G major (V), A minor (vi) and (vii). No need to get
Bm7b5 into the for now, but this does crop up a lot in jazz standards like Blue Bossa and Autumn Leaves.
Pretty much all pop and rock music uses this diatonic format, with the occasional ‘outside’ chord thrown in to spice things up. This solo (and the examples taken from it) were inspired by the latter day recordings of Albert Collins and Albert King, who took a melodic and rhythmic approach to their improvisations. I’ve demonstrated two approaches: changing key to fit with each of the I, IV and V chords, or remaining in a static position using the C minor pentatonic. Hope you enjoy this and see you next time.