12 Bar Blues Progression

 

Lesson Goals:

♦ Review the E7, A7 and B7 chords
♦ Learn what a 12 bar blues progression is
♦ Play "Before You Accuse Me"

In this lesson you will learn what is known as a standard "12 bar blues" chord progression.

In order to demonstrate a real life example we will use the song "Before You Accuse Me" as done by Eric Clapton.

The most common chord progression in blues music is the "12 bar blues" progression. The "bar" refers to the number of measures in the progression (not a Delta honky tonk!). Look at the chart below.

You can count out  a total of 12 measures in this progression.

Another thing that defines a "12 bar blues" song is that the chords themselves are in what's known as a:

I, IV, V (1, 4, 5) chord progression

You have heard the term I, IV, V chord progression a number of times throughout this course and in the next lesson we will dig a little deeper into how to define and identify one.

For now, let's work on playing this song and getting used to it. This progression probably sounds pretty familiar to you. Give it a try and we can nail it down in the video.