Chords for Learn Every Blues Song Ever in 8 Minutes

Nothing really says blues music like a white guy wearing a linen shirt and chambray toms
But that doesn't mean I can't feel the blues in my soul
And I'm gonna teach you how to play it basically every blues song ever in just a few short minutes
So we're gonna [A] start
_ By rooting a chord on the fifth fret of the low E string
So right here
And we're gonna make a shape out of that now what I mean by a shape is
This so we're gonna start one corner of the shape is gonna be on five low E string
Play it two times right we're gonna skip two strings to the D string _ an
Octave which is the seventh fret of the D string two times again?
So this is gonna be another corner of the shape [G] now.
We're gonna back up two frets on the same string star on 5d
_ play that twice _ and
Then [N] finish it finish the shape on the seventh fret of the [E] a string right here
So four corners of a [A] shape _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [E] _ _ [Bb] so you can see that shape right there now
This is a movable shape so you can play any song with this shape by moving it up or down
So we're just doing it on the fifth fret of the E string which is an A
So this is gonna be the blues in a if we were to do it up
It would be a sharp or B flat we do the exact same [F] shape
[B] _ _ [A] _ [Gb] _ So all this is movable right _ so basically we're gonna repeat this pattern of this shape four [A] times in a row so one
_ [Gm] _ [E] _ _ [A] two
_ [E] _
_ _ [Am] three
_ [G] _ [E] _ _
[A] four
[Gm] _ _ [E] _ Now we're gonna take the same shape and move it down a string so [Dm] everything moves down a string
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ I'm really gonna do that two times right now
We're gonna go back to the first shape which is the same shape, but on the first [A] part so
_ _ [Gm] _ _ [A] _ _ _
[Gm] _ _ [Em] _ So that's [Bb] that shape on the first _ space two more times
So we've got the shape on the first position four times down a string two times back up a string two times
Now we're gonna move that same shape down two frets so rooting it on [E] 7a
_ [Bb] Just [Em] _ _ one time [Gm] back to the second position one time
_ [Am] _ _ _ [Em] _
Back to the first position two [A] times
_ _ [Gm] _ [Em] _
[A] _ _ _ [C] _ [Em] _ So we have one shape that we're moving around in three different spots.
It's [A] like a formula now
To communicate this better is better to use words that other musicians will understand so instead of saying one time around on one shape
It's gonna be one bar.
This is four beats usually music four beats equal a bar
So one and two [Gm] and three [Em] and four and so one time around is gonna be one bar
[Eb] So we have four bars of the first shape two bars of the second shape two bars of the first shape
One bar of the third shape one bar of the second shape and two bars of the first shape now
You can be infinitely creative with all of these different things and we're gonna start by replacing those last two bars
With what's called a turnaround okay?
So I'm gonna skip to the
_ ninth bar of the song [E] which is
_ [Bm] _ _ [D] And _ _ [Am] _ _ _ then we usually have two more of the first shape, [Em] right?
_ But it can get kind of boring if you repeat that too often so what we're gonna
Do is we're gonna replace the two bars the final two bars in the whole progression
With what's called the turnaround and you can really do anything you want creatively with this part
But I'll give you a one right [Eb] here, so [A] sounds like this
[Db] _ [D] _ _ [Ebm] _ [E] _ _
_ _ Okay, now all I [A] did is I want 5e two times
_ [Dm] 4a [Ebm] 5a [E] 6a
7 7 _ and then this chord right so this is a 7 chord
This is a e the seventh in the a string is a eases e7.
I've got [Ab] 7a
_ _ [Bb] 6d _ _ [E] 7g
so [A] the turnaround is
[Db] _ [D] _ [Eb] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
So I'm gonna do the whole thing and on the side
We're gonna count off how many of each one is going [Gbm] through so we have four bars [Am] of the first shape one _ _ two _ _ _
three _ [Em] _ _ [A] four
[Em] _
down a [D] string one _ _ two
[Am] _ up a string [E] three
_ [A]
Four [Em] four more bars to go one of this shape one of this [Am] shape and then the [Db] turnaround
_ [D] _
[Eb] _ [E] _ _ Which lasts two bars
So a better way to communicate this instead of using first shape second shape third shape is by using numbers and the way we use
Numbers is [Gb] where they are relative to the major scale right so we have three root notes that these shapes have [A] happened on
_ The fifth [D] fret on the E string the fifth fret on the a [E] string and the seventh fret on the a string [Am] now
Since this is our main root note right here where we start
We're gonna play the major scale one [E] two three four [Gb] five [Ab] six [A] seven eight so this would be one
_ [B] [Dbm] Two [Dm] three four number four is where we rooted
[Am] _ _ the [G] second shape and number five
_ Is where we rooted the third shape so a better way to say it would be I'm gonna play four bars of one
the one chord the one
Kind of riff I'm gonna play two bars of four and two bars of one then I'm gonna have one bar of five
One bar of four and two bars of one or the turnaround can replace the two bars of one
_ Now it doesn't [D] have to be
[Em] _ This [A] pattern it can be anything it can be a single note you could play four bars of one note _ one _ _
two _ three
_ _ four
_ Then [D] down a string now, I'm playing the four chord even though.
This is being represented by a single note
I'm still playing the four chord the [Abm] fourth note [G] however you want to look at it, and then [A] back up a string
_ [E] then to the five
[D] Four [E] and then [A] back to the one _ _ _ and again like I said before you can use this anywhere
You can do it in G.
Which is the third fret of the E string just give me four [G] bars of this G one _ _ two _
You play all the chord one _ _
two _ _ _ _ _ _ _
three four and
Then I have to go to the four chord which if G is one G [Ab] ABC
Then [G] I'd go to a C.
[C] So then two bars of C one _ _ two _
[G] back to G _ _ and
Now [Ab] five away from GG ABC D.
Go to the [D] five go to the D.
So play D chord one _ _ [C] two
_ [G] _ one
Two _ [N] so again.
This is really just the underlying framework of almost any blues song now
It doesn't have to be 12 bars.
It's called the 12 bar blues
It can be 8 bars if you wanted it to be if you wanted to shorten the whole length of the entire thing
One common way to do that would be take one bar of [A] one
_ [E] _ _ _ right down to the four [D] bar four [Am] _ and back to one [G] _ _
[A] and
[Em] _ Then go to the [G] five
the four [Am] _ and the [Db] turnaround
[Eb] _ _
[E] _ _ That would be an eight bar blues progression [N] some are 16
But as long as you know the underlying framework of how to organize these things you can do anything
You don't always have to use the one the four and the five
You could use like the one the three and the five like I could just do like a bar [A] of one
[Em]
to [Db] a three
[Abm] _ _ [A] Right [Db] like one two three and the major scale really it again
That's why this is every [N] blues song because they all kind of follow this underlying framework
And once you understand that you can start substituting things in and out and eventually your ear will get better
This isn't just blues music like in pop music rock rock music metal country everything a lot of songs
You'll notice will repeat something down a string and then repeat something else in a different area
And that all kind of comes from the 12 bar blues so once you really understand how this works
Your ears gonna develop and you're gonna hear these changes in different songs
And then you can use them to your own writing and be creative and just replace them with anything you want _ _