8-, 12-, & 16-bar Blues


Music fits a pattern; it's how we're able to recognize songs and, more importantly, how we're able to share songs.

Forms, however, can be modified to suit a particular song or a player's desire. In the same way that the ocean is home to a mammal known as a whale, there are gray whales, right whales, sperm whales, blues whales; they're all whales, but with a little modification.

So it is with blues music, which often follows patterns we recognize as 8-bar blues, 12-bar blues, or 16-bar blues.
The most standard of these patterns are:

8-Bar Blues

I
V7
IV
IV
I
V7
I
V7

... in the key of E major the chord progressions would go:

E
B7
A
A
E
B7
A
B7

A modification of the 8-bar blues might be:

I
I7
IV7
IV7
I
V7
I
I

 

12-Bar Blues

I
I
I
I
IV
IV
I
I
V
IV
I
I

... in the key of E major the chord progressions would go:

E
E
E
E
A
A
E
E
B
A
E
E

A modification of the 12-bar blues might be:

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
V
IV
I
I

 

16-Bar Blues

The combinations of 16-bar blues is nearly endless. You can create a 16-bar pattern by repeating the second line (the IV-IV-I-I) of a 12-bar blues, or you can double-up and 8-bar blues:

with repeated 2nd:

I
I
I
I
IV
IV
I
I
IV
IV
I
I
V
IV
I
I

... in the key of E major the chord progressions would go:

E
E
E
E
A
A
E
E
A
A
E
E
B
A
E
E

Doubling the 8-bar blues:

I
I7
IV7
IV7
I
I
V7
V7
I
I7
IV7
IV7
I
I
V7
I

... in the key of E major the chord progressions would go:

E
E7
A7
A7
E
E
B7
B7
E
E7
A7
A7
E
E
B7
E

(Deep River Blues)