Rob Young Piano

The 12 bar blues is a chord progression and style of piece that originated in 1920s America. It is widely used in jazz music and musical forms stemming from this period onwards including boogie and gospel. It starts generally around the root or the tomic chord, which generally forms the first four bars of a 12 bar blues chord progression.

The fourth chord or chord IV generally dominates the fifth and sixth bars of a blues, and then the music generally resolves to chord I for the seventh and eigth bars.

Chords 9 and 10 generally move to the dominant chord commonly used in blues chord progressions, or chord V, and then the music finally moves back to chord I or the tonic chord in bar 11, usually followed by a dominant or dominant 7th chord in the final bar (12) if the music is to be repeated again, or if the blues is on its final rendition, bar 12 would feature another tonic chord, or maybe a blues 6th ending.

Blues music is generally in a steady 4/4 time. A shuffle or swing feel normally describes the rhythm of the blues, or a group of three triplet quavers for each of the four crotchet beats.

Blues is taught widely at Rob Young piano. If your girlfriend has left you “fur a trucker on the south side” or you’re “wailing for your mama to come home”, contact Rob Young piano on 07950 015 269 today.