The 12-bar blues may be the most popular chord progression there is.

It is named after the number of bars in the progression and not the number of local bars it has been played in which far exceeds twelve.

In it’s basic form the blues progression is based solely on the primary chords ( I, IV, V ). The IV and V chords are typically dominant chords, but the I chord can be either dominant or minor depending on the song.

The last four bars of the progression are called the Turnaround, and they use chords designed to lead the song back to the beginning or to an ending.

Before we get into the 12 bar blues progression let’s take a look at the chords we’ll be using.

The Blues Shuffle Pattern

The 12 Bar Blues Progression

The 8 Bar Blues Progression

Another blues progression is the 8-bar blues. Below is an example of the most common 8-bar blues progression though there are many variations of it to be found.