Learn Guitar Online - Unique Blues Chord Progressions
I'm sure you have played the blues at some point of your guitar playing journey or at least I'm certain you would have heard the blues, you may not have been aware of it at the time however the blues is at the very heart of jazz, rock and other popular music; in fact it could be said that there is essentially two distinct styles of music (a) classical based music and (b) blues based music.
Of course I'm generalizing and it's difficult to divide all music into to giant categories but eventually it does come down to the 'feel'; classical music has a certain 'feel' while 'jazz' (based on the blues) has a distinctly different 'feel'. Neither one type of music is better than the other, they are just different and thank goodness they are because music would be very boring without that 'difference'.
The BIG problem for guitarists playing the blues is how to inject fresh, interesting and creative ideas into a well-worn song form; one of the best ways to do this is to use chord substitution and be aware of the standard blues variations used by great musicians.
Here are a few ideas to help stimulate your creative juices.
A very simple variation of the 12 bar blues is to alter the chord texture from major to minor.
Progression #1: typical 12 bar blues chord progression
C /// | C /// | C /// | C /// |
F /// | F /// | C /// | C /// |
G7 ///| G7/// | C /// | G7/// || C (last time)
progression #2: minor version of the same progression
Cm /// | Cm /// | Cm /// | Cm /// |
Fm /// | Fm /// | Cm /// | Cm /// |
G7 /// | G7 /// | Cm /// | G7/// || Cm (last time)
See how easy it is to change the mood of the blues and because musicians are very sensitive to their environment e.g., lighting, temperature and sound by changing the texture of the harmony you are in effect changing the mood or atmosphere of that piece. Try progression #2 next time someone wants to play the blues and notice how this minor version of the blues brings forth exciting new solo ideas.
Now we will develop that concept a little more by adding a dominant seventh chord in bar four to introduce the 'Fm' chord (bar 5).
progression #3: minor version with dominant seventh in bar four
Cm /// | Cm /// | Cm /// | C7 /// |
Fm /// | Fm /// | Cm /// | Cm /// |
G7 /// | G7 /// | Cm /// | G7/// || Cm (last time)
Listen to the effect the 'C7' has on the 'Fm'; remember everything effects everything else. Our ear has a 'memory' but no eyes... the listener remembers the sound of the music it has just heard but cannot tell where the music is going, that's how we can make the music interesting by adding little harmonic surprises.
Important: a surprise is "something unexpected at an unexpected moment" and so it is with our musical surprises!
And now I'd like to invite you to get free access to my "How To Remember 1,000 Songs" eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com
From Mike Hayes - The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar System
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