One of the most wonderful things about playing the guitar is being able to take a single shape for a chord or scale and move that shape to a different location create a new chord or scale. A single shape can instantaneously turn into 12 different chords or scales!
A feeling of excitement is almost unanimously felt when students learn how to start playing moveable closed power chords. Power chords are neither major nor minor as they contain only the Root and 5th of the chord (omitting the 3rd) and are generally referred to as “5” chord because of it. The root (or main note) of the chord is generally played with the 1st finger. As a normal course of study I introduce students to the two finger form of the power chord which is played on the 6th string.
Next month I’ll get into how to properly finger these chords so students can adapt their “super power’!
Since I began this series of posts on the 12 bar blues the musical examples I've have used applied it’s most basic form. This month I’ll close out the topic by covering two other of its forms: the turnaround and quick change.
A 12 bar blues which uses a “turnaround” is one where the last bar or twelfth bar of the progression is a “V” instead of “I” chord. It is so named a “turnaround” because it turns around to the beginning of the progression. Using a “V” chord at the end of the progression will either lead the song back to the start (so it can be repeated) or act as a cadence - the “I” chord will be played after the “V” to complete the progression. Here is and turnaround example to practice with.
A “quick change” is a commonly used variation of the 12 bar blues and it is one in which the second bar “I” chord is replaced by “IV”. It is aptly named as it quickly changes from a “I” to “IV” chord instead of staying on the one for four bars. This quick change example also has a turnaround at the end.
Try having students use basic blues progressions in as many different keys as possible to gain familiarity with not only the progression, but chords and keys as well!
In last months post I covered playing a 12 bar blues in different keys, but this we'll turn all three chords in the key to dominant 7th chords. Usually you will only find a dominant 7th chord in a major chord and that is on the V chord.
A dominant 7th chord is one that is made using a 1 3 5 b7. For example, in the key of C the V chord is a G and making it a dominant 7th would yield the following notes: G B D F. When we see it written as a chord symbol it would be G7; hence, if we say play "G seven" we really mean G dominant 7th.
Of course a 12 bar blues does not always contain all dominant 7th chords, but applying them in this manner helps give our blues a bit more flavor and it will also help our students to expand their chord vocabulary.
I have attached a sample 12 bar blues in the of A - the choice of this key is purposeful as it will help students utilize open position dominant 7th chords which only use two and three finger chords. Try having your students try other keys that use all open position dominant 7th chords such as G, D and E.
