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12.4: The 12-Bar Blues

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    12.4 The 12-Bar Blues

    Associated with the Blues genre, which originated in the early 1900s, the 12-bar blues progression was also popular during the Swing Era of the 1930s and 1940s, (examples include “In The Mood” and “One O’Clock Jump”), as well as during the early years of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1950s (“Johnny B. Goode,” “Hound Dog,” “Rock around the Clock”). The basic 12-bar blues progression is shown below.

    Table 12.4.1. Chuck Berry, “Johnny B. Goode” (1958)
    Bars 1–4: I I I I
             
    Bars 5–8: IV IV I I
             
    Bars 9–12: V IV I I

    This page titled 12.4: The 12-Bar Blues is shared under a GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robert Hutchinson via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.