Guitar lesson 5: Blues in open chords

Without blues the music we know today would not have developed into what it is now. It has played a very important part in music history, shaping modern chord structures and solos. It was invented by African slaves who had been captured by European tradesmen and shipped to America. They originally played it on an acoustic guitar, but many guitarists nowadays use an electric guitar and thus the solos (which were going to look at next lesson) have become more complex over the years. The blues scheme Most blues songs have 12 measures in the quadruple time signature, which are then repeated. Blues can be played in all keys, and usually the chords arent just major chords but they have an extra note added (so, for example, E7). Today, though, Im going to teach you a simple blues in A. During the first 4 measures you play an A major chord. In blues, the chords and melodies are usually played in a swing style. Watch the video for an example of this rhythm. During the next 2 measures you play a D major chord, followed by another 2 measures of the A major chord. During the next measure you play the E major chord, also called the turnaround, followed by one measure of the D major chord, one measure of the A major chord, and, if you want to repeat the scheme, another measure of the E major chord. If you want to end the scheme, you play 2 measures of the A major chord instead of one. So, in a handy table itd look like this: A major D major E major A major D major D major A major A major A major A major A major E major (back to measure 1)

If you want to end the song, you play the last 4 measures like this: E major D major A major A major

There are other structures for example, in some blues songs the second chord (D major in the example above) is played during the 2nd measure, or the D major chord that follows the E major in the last 4 measures is replaced by another E major chord, or all chords are replaced by the same chords but with 7s, etc.