How to Play Electric Guitar

First and foremost, this chord progression has been used as the foundation of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of songs. It comes in both major and minor favors with a variety of rhythms, and can be played effectively (evoking different moods) at any tempo.

And since, the form is consistent and predictable it's easy for those just leaning how to play electric guitar to solo over.

Plus students can use this form to practice various techniques such as soloing anticipation and chord substitutions.

Plus, the progression is universal. Musicians from around the world, regardless of what genre music they play, all know the 12 bar blues progression. Which means, if you were to sit in with a band in Turkey, even with no other songs in common, you could still play the blues together for hours.

Those just beginning blues guitar lessons know that this progression can be played with only three chords. In serious music terminology, the chords are the tonic, subdominant, and the dominant.

But in less-formal circles, these chords are usually referred to as the "one, four, five", for the scale step each of those chords are built off of from the scale of the root key of the song.

When in Rome...

We'll use Roman numerals (I, IV, V) which are commonly used in many chord charts in place of chord names (G, C, D, or A, D, E) as the relationship of the chords remain the same regardless of what key the song is in.

The standard 12 bar blues progression in 4/4 with each numeral representing one bar:


I I I I

IV IV I I

V IV I V

It is best when you learn how to play electric guitar using this progression to play it with a shuffle rhythm. A shuffle gives the progression more of a "swing" feel.

This rhythm is usually notated as dotted eighth with a sixteenth note per beat, but many guitarist find that playing the downbeat and the AH of an eighth note triplet for each beat (with the triplets being 1 EE AH, 2 EE AH, 3 EE AH, 4 EE AH) a more practical way to approach the shuffle feel.

Shake it up...

The most common variation of this progression is the "quick four", meaning the second measure of the progression goes to the IV, as follow:

I IV I I

IV IV I I

V IV I V

And perhaps the second most favored variation is the "long five", with the V chord being held for measures 9 and 10:

I I I I

IV IV I I

V V I V

Dominant seven chords are commonly used to replace standard triads. The dominate seven of the chord is the typical "seven" chord that you were shown when you first learn to play guitar rather than the "major seven" which falls within the scale tones of the root key.

Here it is effectively used with judicial placement in our first example of the 12 bar progression:

I I I I7

IV IV I I7

V IV I V7

A minor devation

The first of the minor variation in these blues guitar lessons is based off of the natural minor scale, which determines that I, IV and V are each minor chords. So, our root example becomes:

Im Im Im Im

IVm IVm Im Im

Vm IVm Im Im

And without being to technical, if we base the chords off of harmonic minor scale, the I and IV will be minor chords, but the V will be a major chord:

Im Im Im Im

IVm IVm Im Im

V IVm Im V

Both the natural minor and the harmonic minor forms can be used in the variations above with or with out the use of the dominate seventh added to each of the chords.

A great place for those just learning how to play electric guitar to start soloing is to use the minor pentatonic scale in the same key of the song, regardless of whether the song is in a major or minor key.

The minor pentatonic, which you can find in almost every blues guitar lessons, has two "blue" notes: the minor third and the flat seven, which blends in perfectly with minor blues, and has a beautifully dissident (a defining characteristic of the blues) sound when play against a major key blues progression.

When you learn to play guitar in the style of blues, you truly learn one of the most universal forms of music used throughout the world.