Classic Blues Riff in the 12 Bar Form

In this lesson we'll use the blues riff that you learned in the previous lesson to play through the 12 bar form. I'll show you how to adapt the riff to the IV and the V chord, and once we've gone through the whole thing slowly we'll try it out with the backing track!

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Making The 12 Bar Form Sound Like Blues
Styles:
Blues
Difficulty:
Classic Blues Riff in the 12 Bar Form song notation
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Classic Blues Riff in the 12 Bar Form By Anders Mouridsen

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Questions & Answers

1 month ago
My A string seems to ring out and wash out the sound of the 2nd and 4th fret strum on the D-string. Are you deadening the A string somehow to make it more stacatto?
Mike Olekshy 3 weeks ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Anders seems to be strumming both strings wide open, so he's not doing anything to mute down the A string. Try to make your strum across both strings as even as possible. Perhaps you are strumming with too much force, and the A string is ringing out louder. Try easing up on your strums and keep your strumming hand and wrist as relaxed as possible. With more practice - you'll get it - so keep going!! Hope this helps!

3 months ago
I'm having trouble getting the rhythm down on the shuffle. I can hear it when its played but can't seem to duplicate it. Is it the first strum normal than the next two fast. HELP
Mike Olekshy 2 months ago

Hello - thanks for the question! The shuffle rhythm can be very challenging at first. I suggest going slowly with it at first. Keep at it, it will come. These are 8th note strums with a shuffle feel, so you are strumming with the following count : 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. But the ands are delayed a little bit - that's what gives the shuffle feel. I would discourage you from thinking of it as 1 normal strum then 2 fast strums. Without playing your guitar at all, just count along with the example and try to sync up with: 1 and-2 and-3 and-4 and-1 and-2. etc. Hope this helps!

1 year ago
Could someone explain why this works? The theory behind it. Why do these frets specifically work to do this? Is it because it's inside one of scales, chord shapes? Thank you!
Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks for your question! The fretboard is laid out so that as you move a chord shape up and down the frets, it transposes to a new chord. In this case it is a power chord (root and fifth). As Anders explains, when you move the shape to a new root, the new root note will become the chord you are moving to. For example - he moves the shape of the A power chord to a D power chord. Hope this helps!