Welcome to the Blues Chords Workshop Lesson 1, where we aim to teach guitar players the 12-Bar Blues using proper 7th chords. In order to do this, we will stick to Blues in D for the entire course. Also, we will be exploring the different chord voicings on different sets of four strings. For this purpose, we will be focusing on purely dropped 2 voicings for this course. We feel this will provide learners with a solid foundation from which to progress further in the later levels.
Furthermore, the lessons were designed to incorporate proper voice leading in the changes. Therefore, all you need to do is learn the progressions through either the TABS or the chord diagrams and you will be on your way in no time. Should you wish to dive deeper into the theory, this will be addressed in the patron only content on my Patreon page.
Click on the video below to watch the lesson.
There are only 2 chord shapes presented in each lesson. The IV and V chords are exactly the same except they are 2 frets apart. All you have to do is slide the chord shape up or down the 2 frets when going from V to IV. We will use this approach to make learning all 12 voicing groups easier.
Learning Aids
Lesson 1 introduces these chord voicings for Blues in D centred between the 4th and 8th frets. We will begin on the middle group of 4 strings. As such, let us call this Group A voicings (middle)
The chord shapes and TABs are as follows.
Primary Takeaways
The main takeaways of lesson 1 are as follows:
1. There are only 2 chord shapes.
There are only 2 chord shapes presented in each lesson. The IV and V chords are exactly the same except they are 2 frets apart. All you have to do is slide the chord shape between the 2 frets when going from the V chord to the IV chord.
2. The I to IV change and vice versa
The changing from the I chord to the IV chord occurs between bars 1 and 2. This then changes back from IV to I in bar 3. Every lesson in this course will use this same form of Blues because this optimises our learning in chord changes.
3. I to V chord change
The 12-Bar blues only has the I to V chord change and not vice versa. This occurs between bars 8 and 9 and between bars 11 and 12. We need not concern ourselves with the V to I change unless and until we are ready to explore some jazz blues but that will come later.
Since every group voicings will be different, it is wise to take note of how the chord shapes change as stated above i.e.
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- I to IV
- I to V
- V to VI
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