Chords for Eight Bar Blues Lesson (In the Style of Key to the Highway)
Tempo:
109.1 bpm
Chords used:
A
Ab
E
Bm
Gb
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[E] [B] [E]
[N] Hey everybody, today on the Blues Guitar Institute we're going to talk about 8 bar blues.
Now if you've been playing blues for more than 30 seconds, you've probably got a 12
bar blues progression under your fingers.
I mean it's one of the first things that you should pick up as a new blues guitarist.
And it should be pretty natural because when you hear the blues, that 12 bar format is
one of the most recognizable thing about the blues.
But if you've been there, done that, and want an option, I encourage you to check out 8 bar blues.
There are a ton of great songs in that vein and it has a whole different feel to it.
Some of my favorite songs in 8 bar format would be Worry Life, Blues, Sitting on Top
of the World, and then Key to the [Db] Highway.
Which today we're going to look at a progression in the 8 bar format that's [N] very similar to
Key to the Highway.
So with that, let's dive into the guitar and check it out.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to play this in the key of A.
I'm going to use my A7 [A] chord as the I chord.
[Gb] And the IV chord is going to be my D9 here.
And then up two [Bm] frets from that will be my V chord and E9.
Alright, so let's take [N] a look at this progression.
I'll play it through and then we'll break it down.
Alright, here we go.
[A] [Bm]
[Gb]
[A] [Bm]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [N]
Okay, so what we're doing is I'm playing the I chord, which is the A7, for the [Em] first measure.
[A] It gets four beats, right?
One, two, three, four.
[D] Then going to the V chord for another bar.
One, two, three, four.
Then down to my IV for [Gb] two bars.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Back to the one, two, three, [E] four.
The [Bm] V, two, three, [A] four.
And then the one again, two, three, four.
And we wrap up on [Ab] the V.
[A]
[B] Okay?
Alright, so let's play that through again and I'll count out the bars and you can hear
these things clicking off.
Ready?
One, [A] two, three, four.
One, two, three, [Dbm] four.
Two, [Ab] two, three, [D] four.
Three, two, three, four.
Four, two, three, [A] four.
Five, two, three, [E] four.
Six, two, [A] three, four.
Seven, two, three, four. And [E] eight.
[A] Four, two, [N]
three, four. Okay?
Alright, so practice that and work this into your playing.
Whether you're writing or need something new to jam over or if you want to learn a whole
new bank of songs, check out the 8 Bar Blues format and you'll be surprised just how many
standards fall into this category.
So good luck with it and have fun [A] with it.
[Eb] [Ab] [D] [Gb]
[Fm] [A] [E] [Bm]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [E] [Ab]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [E] [Ab]
[A] [Ab]
[N] Hey everybody, today on the Blues Guitar Institute we're going to talk about 8 bar blues.
Now if you've been playing blues for more than 30 seconds, you've probably got a 12
bar blues progression under your fingers.
I mean it's one of the first things that you should pick up as a new blues guitarist.
And it should be pretty natural because when you hear the blues, that 12 bar format is
one of the most recognizable thing about the blues.
But if you've been there, done that, and want an option, I encourage you to check out 8 bar blues.
There are a ton of great songs in that vein and it has a whole different feel to it.
Some of my favorite songs in 8 bar format would be Worry Life, Blues, Sitting on Top
of the World, and then Key to the [Db] Highway.
Which today we're going to look at a progression in the 8 bar format that's [N] very similar to
Key to the Highway.
So with that, let's dive into the guitar and check it out.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to play this in the key of A.
I'm going to use my A7 [A] chord as the I chord.
[Gb] And the IV chord is going to be my D9 here.
And then up two [Bm] frets from that will be my V chord and E9.
Alright, so let's take [N] a look at this progression.
I'll play it through and then we'll break it down.
Alright, here we go.
[A] [Bm]
[Gb]
[A] [Bm]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [N]
Okay, so what we're doing is I'm playing the I chord, which is the A7, for the [Em] first measure.
[A] It gets four beats, right?
One, two, three, four.
[D] Then going to the V chord for another bar.
One, two, three, four.
Then down to my IV for [Gb] two bars.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Back to the one, two, three, [E] four.
The [Bm] V, two, three, [A] four.
And then the one again, two, three, four.
And we wrap up on [Ab] the V.
[A]
[B] Okay?
Alright, so let's play that through again and I'll count out the bars and you can hear
these things clicking off.
Ready?
One, [A] two, three, four.
One, two, three, [Dbm] four.
Two, [Ab] two, three, [D] four.
Three, two, three, four.
Four, two, three, [A] four.
Five, two, three, [E] four.
Six, two, [A] three, four.
Seven, two, three, four. And [E] eight.
[A] Four, two, [N]
three, four. Okay?
Alright, so practice that and work this into your playing.
Whether you're writing or need something new to jam over or if you want to learn a whole
new bank of songs, check out the 8 Bar Blues format and you'll be surprised just how many
standards fall into this category.
So good luck with it and have fun [A] with it.
[Eb] [Ab] [D] [Gb]
[Fm] [A] [E] [Bm]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [E] [Ab]
[A] [Ab]
[A] [E] [Ab]
[A] [Ab]
Key:
A
Ab
E
Bm
Gb
A
Ab
E
[E] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] Hey everybody, today on the Blues Guitar Institute we're going to talk about 8 bar blues.
Now if you've been playing blues for more than 30 seconds, you've probably got a 12
bar blues progression under your fingers.
I mean it's one of the first things that you should pick up as a new blues guitarist.
And it should be pretty natural because when you hear the blues, that 12 bar format is
one of the most recognizable thing about the blues.
But if you've been there, done that, and want an option, I encourage you to check out 8 bar blues.
There are a ton of great songs in that vein _ and it has a whole different feel to it.
Some of my favorite songs in 8 bar format would be Worry Life, Blues, Sitting on Top
of the World, and then Key to the [Db] Highway.
Which today we're going to look at a progression in the 8 bar format that's [N] very similar to
Key to the Highway.
So with that, let's dive into the guitar and check it out.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to play this in the key of A.
I'm going to use my A7 [A] chord as the I chord.
[Gb] And the IV chord is going to be my D9 here.
_ And then up two [Bm] frets from that will be my V chord and E9.
_ Alright, so let's take [N] a look at this progression.
I'll play it through and then we'll break it down.
Alright, here we go. _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
Okay, so what we're doing is I'm playing the I chord, which is the A7, for the [Em] first measure.
[A] It gets four beats, right?
One, two, three, four.
[D] Then going to the V chord for another bar.
One, two, three, four.
Then down to my IV for [Gb] two bars.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Back to the one, two, three, [E] four.
The [Bm] V, two, three, [A] four.
And then the one again, two, three, four.
And we wrap up on [Ab] the V.
_ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] Okay?
Alright, so let's play that through again and I'll count out the bars and you can hear
these things clicking off.
Ready?
One, [A] two, three, four.
One, two, three, [Dbm] four.
Two, [Ab] two, three, [D] four.
Three, two, three, four.
Four, two, three, [A] four.
Five, two, three, [E] four.
Six, two, [A] three, four.
Seven, two, three, four. And [E] eight.
_ [A] Four, two, _ _ [N]
three, four. Okay?
Alright, so practice that and work this into your playing.
Whether you're writing or need something new to jam over or if you want to learn a whole
new bank of songs, check out the 8 Bar Blues format and you'll be surprised just how many
standards fall into this category.
So good luck with it and have fun [A] with it.
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] Hey everybody, today on the Blues Guitar Institute we're going to talk about 8 bar blues.
Now if you've been playing blues for more than 30 seconds, you've probably got a 12
bar blues progression under your fingers.
I mean it's one of the first things that you should pick up as a new blues guitarist.
And it should be pretty natural because when you hear the blues, that 12 bar format is
one of the most recognizable thing about the blues.
But if you've been there, done that, and want an option, I encourage you to check out 8 bar blues.
There are a ton of great songs in that vein _ and it has a whole different feel to it.
Some of my favorite songs in 8 bar format would be Worry Life, Blues, Sitting on Top
of the World, and then Key to the [Db] Highway.
Which today we're going to look at a progression in the 8 bar format that's [N] very similar to
Key to the Highway.
So with that, let's dive into the guitar and check it out.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to play this in the key of A.
I'm going to use my A7 [A] chord as the I chord.
[Gb] And the IV chord is going to be my D9 here.
_ And then up two [Bm] frets from that will be my V chord and E9.
_ Alright, so let's take [N] a look at this progression.
I'll play it through and then we'll break it down.
Alright, here we go. _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
Okay, so what we're doing is I'm playing the I chord, which is the A7, for the [Em] first measure.
[A] It gets four beats, right?
One, two, three, four.
[D] Then going to the V chord for another bar.
One, two, three, four.
Then down to my IV for [Gb] two bars.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, [A] four.
Back to the one, two, three, [E] four.
The [Bm] V, two, three, [A] four.
And then the one again, two, three, four.
And we wrap up on [Ab] the V.
_ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] Okay?
Alright, so let's play that through again and I'll count out the bars and you can hear
these things clicking off.
Ready?
One, [A] two, three, four.
One, two, three, [Dbm] four.
Two, [Ab] two, three, [D] four.
Three, two, three, four.
Four, two, three, [A] four.
Five, two, three, [E] four.
Six, two, [A] three, four.
Seven, two, three, four. And [E] eight.
_ [A] Four, two, _ _ [N]
three, four. Okay?
Alright, so practice that and work this into your playing.
Whether you're writing or need something new to jam over or if you want to learn a whole
new bank of songs, check out the 8 Bar Blues format and you'll be surprised just how many
standards fall into this category.
So good luck with it and have fun [A] with it.
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Ab] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _