Guitar Articles 

How To Play the Blues On Guitar 

Learning how to play the blues on guitar is not that hard. This article will lead you through its fundamentals with an introduction to the ever popular twelve-bar blues in G. Let’s start with a look at the standard twelve-bar blues, its chords, and the G blues pentatonic scale to get you started.

The following basic blues chord progression uses roman numerals to represent the chords of any key. 

The roman numerals refer to the relationship of different dominant seventh chords in a particular key center starting with I as that center. Notice that all chords are all dominant sevenths, an essential part of the blues sound and key factor in learning how to play the blues on guitar.

Now, let's translate the roman numerals to chords in the key of G.  I7 corresponds to G7. To determine IV7, count up four steps from G: G-A-B-C one-two-three-four. IV7 is C7. Similarly V7 is D7 G-A-B-C-D one two three four five.

The following chart lists the chords for common guitar keys:

You simply substitute the chords for a particular key into the twelve-bar progression with roman numerals. To get you going, let’s learn how to play the blues on guitar by substituting in the chords for a G blues.

The blues is usually played in four-four time, in other words, each measure in our above chord progression receives four counts of equal duration. You may also notice that the twelve bars of the progression are organized into three phases of four measures each.

The simplest strumming pattern you can use for how to play the blues on guitar is to strum down once four each count. You may also wish to choke the chord on beats two and four creating an almost percussive effect with the muted strings using the inside part of the strumming hand's palm.

A big part of how to play the blues on guitar is the use of a particular scale for melodic lines and solos, namely, the blues scale. The theory behind this scale and the sound it creates against the dominant seventh chords is something you may want to consider later. In the meantime, learn the quality of the sound, simply by playing.

The following pattern demonstrates a G blues scale. Although you can use the blues scales that correspond to each of the form's three different chords, using the G chord's scale will sound good against the complete progression:

To start to understand how to play the blues on guitar, build easy two and three note licks using simple rhythms out of this scale. I usually ask beginner students to play on the first and second string only using rhythms that fall on the beat. Here is an example of a melody you can use for the opening four bars of the blues progression.

You could even repeat this melody three times to cover one full chorus of the blues. Play several choruses varying it slightly for each one. You could also try changing the rhythms or the order of the notes.

Playing both solo lines with this scale, and the blues chord progression above should provide you with a good starting place with learning how to play the blues on guitar. The blues is a fascinating form that has its own collection of sub-genres and variations that can provide both the guitar player and listener alike with a lifetime of enjoyment and learning.