20. The 12-Bar Blues
The blues is one of the oldest of all musical styles, and many of today’s most popular musical genres take their origins from it. As bass players, it’s a style that we will be called upon to play often, so it’s important to have a solid grounding in the basics. To that end, in this video course we’ll be focussing primarily on the 12-bar blues progression, a chord sequence that has formed the basis of countless blues, rock and roll and pop songs. We’ll also be learning more about the shuffle feel and of course, we’ll be learning to play some popular blues basslines.
Don't forget to hit the Download Resources button above to receive the PDF worksheet and backing tracks that accompany these lessons! This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
1. The 12-Bar Blues Chord Sequence
In this video I’ll be explaining the 12-bar blues chord sequence and talking about the shuffle feel.
2. Exercise 117
This simple blues bassline makes use of the second box shape that we looked at in an earlier course.
3. Exercise 118
This exercise makes use of a classic blues walking line.
4. Exercise 119
This is a rock and roll blues in the key of A.
5. Exercise 120
This is a blues in the key of E, played with the shuffle feel.
6. Exercise 121
This is a much slower example of a blues.
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