Here’s Another Mini Guitar Lesson – Here’s The Most Popular Jammed To Chord Sequence Ever!!!

I’m now going to show you a chord progression that is probably the most ‘Jammed To’ chord sequence ever created. It’s called the 12 bar blues. This chord sequence is and absolute ‘must know’ for ALL guitarists. It is the mainstay for all blues music.

Let’s have a look at it in the key of A, in its basic form.

OK, let’s take a look

We start by counting 4 beats to a bar like this: 1,2,3,4/1,2,3,4/ etc etc… Now start off by playing 4 bars of the A chord, followed by 2 bars of D, then go back to A for 2 bars then play one bar of E, one bar of D, a bar of A and finally a bar of E to finish the progression off. This sequence is called the 12 bar blues with obviously 12 bars in total.

Here’s the great part. Have a jam with your friends by playing this sequence over and over in the key of A. You’ll sound great! Practice listening to the popular blues songs and see if you can pick out the 12 bar blues sequence.

I do hope you are enjoying these free mini guitar lessons and as I have said before dont worry if some of this stuff doesn’t make too much sense because in my full audio video program everything will become crystal clear very quickly indeed and will follow a secret structured method that will transform you into a killer guitar player.

Let’s now have a look at another variation of this classic sequence, so sticking with the same theme we’ll move on.

To start off we’ll use the key of A (major) as an example. It uses the 7th chords which sound really cool in this context.

This next sequence goes like this: I A I D I A I A7 I D I D I A I A I E7 I D7 I A7 I E7 I

I A I = 1 bar of A (major) – I D I = 1 bar of D (major) etc

To play the A7 chord – the 6th string is not used, the 5th string is played open, we play the 4th string on the 2nd fret and the 3rd string again played open. The 2nd string played on the 2nd fret and to finish the the 1st string is played open.

D7 is played – 6th & 5th string not used, 4th string open, 3rd string 2nd fret, 2nd string 1st fret, 1st string 2nd fret.

Here’s E7 – 6th string is open, play 5th string on the 2nd fret, 4th string open, play 3rd string 1st fret and 2nd and the 1st string are played open.

You can practise your soloing over this great little sequence and jam along to your hearts content.

Moving on from this is a nice little trick to make your 12 bar blues even more bluesy…

Taking the key of A again we will substitute the D chord shape and the E chord for a D9 (D9th) and E9 (E9th). The D9th chord we will be using is played like this:

6th string not used 5th string 5th fret (second finger) 4th string 4th fret (first finger) Strings 3, 2 and 1 are all played at the 5th fret using your 3rd finger.

To play an E9 chord slide the shape up two frets so the 12 bar blues sequence is now played like this:-

lAlAlAlAlD9lD9lAlAlE9lD9lAlE9l

Use this 9th chord to create a real bluesy chord sequence.

Give it a whirl.

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