The twelve bar bluesHave a look at this:
| 4 | |G | |G | |G | |G | | | | | |C | |C | |G | |G | | | | | |D | |C | |G | |G | || |
This is a chord progression we call the twelve bar blues because - well it's got twelve bars (count 'em if you like ;-) and is used by a lot of blues tunes (and quite a few rock and jazz tunes as well).
If you want to play the blues, you have to learn the twelve bar by heart, so we might as well start at once.Don't know how to read a chord progression? It's simple!
The number "4" at the beginning, means there are four beats in each bar. The | signs are barlines, separating the bars, and the letters tell you the chord you should play in that bar. Let's begin by just playing the chord at the beginning of each bar - something like:
G - (two - three - four) G - (two - three - four) and so on.
Remember, you draw for the G and blow for the C.
But what about the D? Sorry, we can't play that chord on a C harmonica, so we have to cheat a little: just play a C instead. No, there's nothing wrong about that! The blues harmonica has a rather limited number of notes, so sometimes we have to cheat a little. It's perfectly OK as long as it sounds good! Confused?
No worries! We've got a complete blues band here to help you. Just click here to hear how they play it! Then try to imitate what their harmonica player does.
You've probably noticed that the band plays a bit more than just twelve bars. The midi starts with the drummer counting to four to give everybody the tempo, then they play the twelve bars twice (I think they got a bit carried away ;-) When you feel confident, you can click here for the backing track without the harmonica part! That's all for now, folks! Time to start practising!
Impatient? ;-)We go for small steps here at Blues Harmonica. Get the basics down properly, and the difficult bits become so much easier
On the other hand, there's no reason why you can't use the backing track to practice some improvisation if you like (as long as you remember to practice the basics as well, of course!) It won't hurt anybody, and this is supposed to be fun, after all!Good luck!
[ Home | History | Instruments | Masters | Music | School | Mainteneance | Buyer's guide | Family | Forum | Links | Site map ]
| |
Site last updated .
This particular page was created 10/07/2004 and last updated 23/04/2005
Site updates |
|