The 12-Bar Blues on Guitar: Chords, Shuffle and Songs
If you learn one form on the guitar, make it the 12-bar blues. It’s three chords in a fixed order, and it runs under blues, early rock and roll, jazz jams and a lot of rock. Learn it once and you can sit in with almost anyone who says “blues in A.”
Here it is in A, bar by bar, with the chords, the shuffle riff and how to take it to any key.
What the 12-bar blues is
The 12-bar blues is a form: a map that tells you which chord to play in each bar. It’s 12 bars long. When you reach bar 12, you go back to bar 1 and play it again.
Each round of 12 bars is called a chorus. A singer sings a verse over one chorus, a guitarist takes a solo over the next, and the chords underneath stay the same.
That’s what makes it great for practice. The map never changes, so you can stop thinking about the chords and start listening.
The I, IV and V chords in A
The blues uses three chords, named after their place in the scale. In the key of A:
- I (one): A, the first note of the scale.
- IV (four): D, the fourth note.
- V (five): E, the fifth note.
In blues, these are usually played as 7th chords: A7, D7 and E7. The 7th adds the tension that makes it sound like blues instead of a folk song.
If 7th chords are new to you, plain A, D and E work too. You’ll still be playing the 12-bar blues.
The 12 bars, one by one
Count four beats in each bar. Here’s the map:
| Bar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
| Bar | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| Bar | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | E7 | D7 | A7 | E7 |
Read it as three lines of four bars:
- Bars 1 to 4: you’re home, on A7.
- Bars 5 to 8: you go to D7 for two bars, then come back home.
- Bars 9 to 12: the tension line. E7, D7, back to A7, and E7 in the last bar pulls you back to the top.
That last E7 is the signal that a new chorus is coming. When you hear it in a song, you know where you are.
The shuffle riff in tab
Strumming the chords works. The shuffle riff is what makes it sound like blues.
The riff uses two notes on two strings: the open root and a note above it that moves between the 2nd and 4th frets. Play it with a shuffle feel: each beat split into a long note and a short note, “loooong-short, loooong-short.” Say “hump-ty, hump-ty” and you’ve got it.
On A (I): open 5th string with the 4th string.
D|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
A|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|On D (IV): the same pattern, one string thinner. Open 4th string with the 3rd string.
G|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
D|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|On E (V): one string thicker. Open 6th string with the 5th string.
A|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|Each bar has 8 notes, two per beat, played long-short. Pick only the two strings of the riff. Use your index finger on the 2nd fret and stretch your ring finger or pinky to the 4th. Keep the index down the whole time.
Bar 1 (A) Bar 2 (A) Bar 3 (A) Bar 4 (A)
G|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
A|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
Bar 5 (D) Bar 6 (D) Bar 7 (A) Bar 8 (A)
G|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
A|-----------------|-----------------|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
Bar 9 (E) Bar 10 (D) Bar 11 (A) Bar 12 (E)
G|-----------------|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-----------------|
A|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-----------------|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-----------------|-----------------|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
Back to bar 1 and play the form again.Play one bar of each until it feels easy, then follow the map: four bars on A, two on D, and so on.
Play your first 12-bar blues with Musizz
Quick change and turnaround
Two small changes you’ll hear in a lot of blues.
The quick change. Play D7 in bar 2, then go back to A7 for bars 3 and 4. It breaks up the long stretch on the I chord at the start.
| Bar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | A7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
The turnaround. The last two bars, 11 and 12, are where the form turns back to the start. Many players use a short lick there, usually ending on E7, to say “here we go again.” At the end of the song, they land on A instead.
Here’s a classic turnaround in A. In bar 11, finger 1 holds the A on the 1st string, 5th fret. Under it, the 2nd string walks down one fret at a time: G, F♯, F, E. Play each pair twice, long-short, like the shuffle. In bar 12, strum E7 once and let it ring until you’re back at bar 1.
Bar 11 (A7) Bar 12 (E7)
e|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-0-------|
B|-8-8-7-7-6-6-5-5-|-0-------|
G|-----------------|-1-------|
D|-----------------|-0-------|
A|-----------------|-2-------|
E|-----------------|-0-------|On the 2nd string, use your pinky, ring finger, middle finger and index, one per fret. On the 5th fret, lay your index flat across both strings.
To end the song, play the same lick in bar 11. In bar 12, play E7 on beat 1 and A7 on beat 3, and let the A7 ring.
Play it in any key
The form doesn’t change. Only the three chords do. With power chords or barre chords, there’s a simple pattern:
- I: root on the 6th string, at any fret.
- IV: root on the 5th string, same fret.
- V: root on the 5th string, two frets up.
In G: G on the 6th string, 3rd fret. C on the 5th string, 3rd fret. D on the 5th string, 5th fret.
In C: C on the 6th string, 8th fret. F on the 5th string, 8th fret. G on the 5th string, 10th fret.
Your hand barely moves, and you can follow a singer in any key. If you haven’t played power chords yet, start with power chords for beginners.
Songs built on the 12-bar blues
These songs use the 12-bar form, or a close version of it. Put one on, find the first chord and count the bars. You’ll hear the map.
- “Johnny B. Goode,” Chuck Berry
- “Hound Dog,” Big Mama Thornton
- “Pride and Joy,” Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s in E, but his guitar is tuned a half step down, so the record sounds in E♭.
- “Rock and Roll,” Led Zeppelin, in A.
Some songs change the last line a little, for example two bars of V and then two of I. The first 8 bars are the same, so the map still works.
Most of them are in keys other than A. Use the “any key” pattern above to follow along.
Practice it with Musizz
The 12-bar blues gets good when you play it with a band, and most of us practice alone. In Musizz, start with the course lesson on the blues scale and the 12 bars: A7, D7, E7 and the shuffle, so you learn the form and the solo notes in the same place.
Then play the changes in the Progression drill, which has the 12-bar blues with drums. Each bar of the form lasts 8 beats instead of 4, so you have time to change, and the microphone checks your chord on every beat. When that feels easy, put on the 12-bar blues in Backtracks: a band with drums, bass and keys plays the real form, with the quick change, in any key you pick.
Play your first 12-bar blues with Musizz
Want to solo over it next? The blues scale grows out of the pentatonic scale on guitar.
Questions and answers
What is a 12-bar blues?
It's a chord form that is 12 bars long and repeats. It uses three chords, built on the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the key, in a fixed order. Once you know the order, you can play along with many blues and rock and roll songs.
Why is it called the 12-bar blues?
Because one full round of the form takes 12 bars, or measures. The song repeats those 12 bars over and over, with the melody or a solo on top, and each round is called a chorus.
Is the 12-bar blues a 1-4-5 progression?
Yes. It uses the I, IV and V chords of the key. In A, those are A, D and E. What makes it the 12-bar blues is the order and the length: four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V, IV, I and V.
What is the most common key for the 12-bar blues?
On guitar, E and A are the usual starting keys, because their chords use a lot of open strings. In A, the chords are A, D and E, and all three roots are open strings. In E, the chords are E, A and B, and two of the three roots are open. Bands with horns often play in keys like B♭ or F.
Is the 12-bar blues major or minor?
Both exist. The classic version uses dominant 7th chords, like A7, D7 and E7, and sounds major with a bluesy edge. A minor blues keeps the same 12-bar form but uses minor chords, like Am7, Dm7 and Em7 or E7.