How To Play Blues Guitar

How To Play Blues Guitar – Beginner Guitar Lesson. In this beginner guitar lesson, we show you how to play blues guitar. You will learn what a 12 Bar Blues Progression is, what chords are used and how to play a shuffle or swing feel. Being able to play Blues is an important skill to have as a guitar player (or musician). You may have already experienced this, but when you together with other musicians to jam, someone will inevitably say “let’s play some Blues”. Playing Blues is a standard format musicians use to quickly be able to play together and so it is essential for you to be able to “speak the language”.

The good news is that almost all Blues songs use the same chord progression; the same sequence of chords. The most common form is what is a called a 12 Bar Blues Progression. This is a sequence of chords that lasts for 12 bars and then is repeated over and over, for as long as you want to continue playing. Once you understand how this 12 bar pattern is played, you will be able to play 95% of all Blues songs.

The chords used in Blues music are typically the I chord, the IV chord and the V chord. In the video lesson, you will learn what those numbers mean and how to figure out what the I,IV and V are in any key.

A 12 Bar Blues Progression is broken down like this –

4 bars= I Chord
2 bars= IV Chord
2 bars= I Chord
1 bar= V Chord
1 bar= IV Chord
1 bar= I Chord
1 bar= V Chord

Watch the video below to see how to play the 12 bar blues progression. You will also learn how to play the chords with a shuffle feel to add to the blues feel.

Watch the video here-