Lessons · Techniques

Twelve-bar blues

The changes, a walking bass, shuffle

% Twelve bars, three chords, and all three are ONE dominant seventh
% moved: I here, IV five semitones up, V seven. IV brings in a note A
% major has not got, since its own seventh is 3b; V is the one of the
% three the key owns whole. Bars 9-12 are the turnaround: V, IV, I,
% and V again to send it round.
 
bpm 144
instrument reed
meter 4
unit 1/4
key a3 maj
 
Dom7 ::= {1, 3, 5, 7b}
Chop ::= {Dom7 _2 -}*4
 
assert Dom7@5 == {4, 6, '1, '3b}
assert Dom7@7 == {5, 7, '2, '4}
 
Changes ::= | Chop   |*4
            | Chop@5 |*2
            | Chop   |*2
            | Chop@7 | Chop@5 | Chop | Chop@7 |
 
Changes
 
 
% Three notes the major scale has not got. Run the scale against the
% chord and its 7 is the note that will not fit: the chord already
% owns a g. The blues sings 1 3b 4 5b 5 7b instead, and the flat fifth
% only ever passes: 4 up to 5, 5 back down to 4.
 
Blue ::= '1 '3b '4 '5b '5 '7b ''1 -
       = ''1 '7b '5 '5b '4 '3b '1 -
 
assert Dom7 == {1Dia, 7b}
 
{| '1 '2 '3 '4 '5 '6 '7 ''1 |, | Dom7 _4 |}
{| Blue | Blue#2 | '4 _2 '5b '5 _9 | '3b _2 '1 _10 |, | Dom7 _4 |*4}
 
 
% The bass walks the same map. One figure (1 3 5 6 7b 6 5 3, long
% then short on every beat), with the same two moves under it, @5 for
% the IV bars and @7 for the V. Its 7b is the blue seventh down in the
% bass, and under the IV bar it arrives as that chord's own seventh.
%
% Long then short, four times over, is the SHUFFLE. Write that once as
% a rhythm with eight holes in it and the bass is only the eight notes
% it walks, which is what a bass player would tell you it is.
 
Shuffle ::= $1 _2 $2 $3 _2 $4 $5 _2 $6 $7 _2 $8
Climb   ::= .1 .3 .5 .6 .7b .6 .5 .3
Walk    ::= Shuffle(Climb)
 
assert Walk == .1 _2 .3 .5 _2 .6 .7b _2 .6 .5 _2 .3
 
Bass<bass> ::= | Walk   |*4
         | Walk@5 |*2
         | Walk   |*2
         | Walk@7 | Walk@5 | Walk | Walk@7 |
 
{Bass, Changes}
 
 
% The head is AAB: a two-bar cry answered by a two-bar fall, said
% twice, then the turn. Every note in it comes from those six blues
% notes, and none of them moves when the chord does: the same c5 is a
% blue third over I, the plain seventh of IV, and a minor sixth over V.
 
Cry  ::= | '1 _2 '3b '4 _2 '5b '5 _2 - _4 |
         | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _8 - |
Fall ::= | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _2 '4 '3b _2 '1 - _2 - |
         | - _9 '5 _2 - |
Turn ::= | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _2 '5b '4 _2 '3b '1 _2 - |
         | '4 _2 '3b '1 _9 |
 
Head ::= Cry Fall Cry Fall Turn Fall
 
{Head, Changes, Bass}
 
 
% Chop, Walk and the head all divide the bar twelve ways: three
% places to a beat, every pair of them long-short. That division is
% the shuffle, and the ride is where it sounds bare. Kick on 1 and 3,
% snare on 2 and 4.
 
Ride ::= {hat _2 hat}*4
Kit  ::= | {Ride, kick snare kick snare} |
 
Kit*4
{Bass, Kit*12}
 
% The shuffle holds no notes of its own, so any line can walk it. Here
% are the six blues notes up and back down, poured into the same
% rhythm the bass has been playing all along.
 
Shuffle(.1 .3b .4 .5b .5 .4 .3b .1)
{Shuffle(Climb), Kit}
 
 
% Twice round: the rhythm section takes the first chorus, the head
% sings the second, and the tag answers the V with one last I7.
 
{Changes, Bass, Kit*12}
{Head, Changes, Bass, Kit*12}
| Chop@7 | {Dom7, .1, crash} _4 |

% Twelve bars, three chords, and all three are ONE dominant seventh
% moved: I here, IV five semitones up, V seven. IV brings in a note A
% major has not got, since its own seventh is 3b; V is the one of the
% three the key owns whole. Bars 9-12 are the turnaround: V, IV, I,
% and V again to send it round.

bpm 144
instrument reed
meter 4
unit 1/4
key a3 maj

Dom7 ::= {1, 3, 5, 7b}
Chop ::= {Dom7 _2 -}*4

assert Dom7@5 == {4, 6, '1, '3b}
assert Dom7@7 == {5, 7, '2, '4}

Changes

% Three notes the major scale has not got. Run the scale against the
% chord and its 7 is the note that will not fit: the chord already
% owns a g. The blues sings 1 3b 4 5b 5 7b instead, and the flat fifth
% only ever passes: 4 up to 5, 5 back down to 4.

Blue ::= '1 '3b '4 '5b '5 '7b ''1 -
       = ''1 '7b '5 '5b '4 '3b '1 -

assert Dom7 == {1Dia, 7b}

{| '1 '2 '3 '4 '5 '6 '7 ''1 |, | Dom7 _4 |}
{| Blue | Blue#2 | '4 _2 '5b '5 _9 | '3b _2 '1 _10 |, | Dom7 _4 |*4}

% The bass walks the same map. One figure (1 3 5 6 7b 6 5 3, long
% then short on every beat), with the same two moves under it, @5 for
% the IV bars and @7 for the V. Its 7b is the blue seventh down in the
% bass, and under the IV bar it arrives as that chord's own seventh.
%
% Long then short, four times over, is the SHUFFLE. Write that once as
% a rhythm with eight holes in it and the bass is only the eight notes
% it walks, which is what a bass player would tell you it is.

Shuffle ::= $1 _2 $2 $3 _2 $4 $5 _2 $6 $7 _2 $8
Climb   ::= .1 .3 .5 .6 .7b .6 .5 .3
Walk    ::= Shuffle(Climb)

assert Walk == .1 _2 .3 .5 _2 .6 .7b _2 .6 .5 _2 .3

{Bass, Changes}

% The head is AAB: a two-bar cry answered by a two-bar fall, said
% twice, then the turn. Every note in it comes from those six blues
% notes, and none of them moves when the chord does: the same c5 is a
% blue third over I, the plain seventh of IV, and a minor sixth over V.

Cry  ::= | '1 _2 '3b '4 _2 '5b '5 _2 - _4 |
         | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _8 - |
Fall ::= | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _2 '4 '3b _2 '1 - _2 - |
         | - _9 '5 _2 - |
Turn ::= | ''1 _2 '7b '5 _2 '5b '4 _2 '3b '1 _2 - |
         | '4 _2 '3b '1 _9 |

Head ::= Cry Fall Cry Fall Turn Fall

{Head, Changes, Bass}

% Chop, Walk and the head all divide the bar twelve ways: three
% places to a beat, every pair of them long-short. That division is
% the shuffle, and the ride is where it sounds bare. Kick on 1 and 3,
% snare on 2 and 4.

Ride ::= {hat _2 hat}*4
Kit  ::= | {Ride, kick snare kick snare} |

Kit*4
{Bass, Kit*12}

% The shuffle holds no notes of its own, so any line can walk it. Here
% are the six blues notes up and back down, poured into the same
% rhythm the bass has been playing all along.

Shuffle(.1 .3b .4 .5b .5 .4 .3b .1)
{Shuffle(Climb), Kit}

% Twice round: the rhythm section takes the first chorus, the head
% sings the second, and the tag answers the V with one last I7.

{Changes, Bass, Kit*12}
{Head, Changes, Bass, Kit*12}
| Chop@7 | {Dom7, .1, crash} _4 |

running…edit it and it re-runs as you type

Twelve-bar blues · Techniques