Did You Know? This form of the 12 Bar Blues was codified and standardised by W.C. Handy in his songs 'Yellow Dog Blues,' 'Beale Street Blues' & 'St. Louis Blues'
Songs Using The 12 Bar Sequence: Before You Accuse Me, Sweet Home Chicago, Heart Break Hotel
More...
Difficulty Level: Yellow Belt
Most Advanced Chord Change: Yellow Belt (when played with open chords throughout)
Quick Navigation
Yellow Pick Level
12 Bar Blues In A
Chords:
Open E Chord
Open D Chord
Open A Chord
Open A7: x02020
Open E7: 020100
Open D7: xx0212
To Simplify play A instead of A7. D instead of D7 & E instead of E7
Strumming:
Straight 8s:
|D U D U D U D U|
Played with a shuffle:
|D U D U D U D U |
Version 1 -
||A - - - |A - - - |A - - - |A - - - |
|D - - - |D - - - |A - - - |A - - - |
|E - - - |E - - - |A - - - |A - - - ||
Version 2 - (Using 7th)
||A - - - |A7 - - - |A - - - |A7 - - - |
|D - - - |D - - - |A - - - |A7 - - - |
|E - - - |E7 - - - |A - - - |A7 - - - ||
Version 3 - (Quick Change Blues)
||A - - - |D - - - |A - - - |A - - - |
|D - - - |D - - - |A - - - |A - - - |
|E - - - |D - - - |A - - - |E - - - ||
Version 4 - (Quick Change Blues 7ths)
||A - - - |D7 - - - |A - - - |A7 - - - |
|D - - - |D7 - - - |A - - - |A7 - - - |
|E7 - - - |D7 - - - |A7 - - - |E7 - - - ||
Final Chord Strum: A
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12 Bar Blues Song Videos
This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of this song. It's intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.
"Fair Use" means my use of this song is...
1) Non commercial, I'm not selling this chord chart. It's free and intended for education
2) Transformative, which means I'm not simply copying the original but that I've 'transformed' it into my own work and interpretation.
3) It's not a viable substitute for the original, which means that the existence of this would not discourage a user from purchasing the original.