Standard Blues Progression
Found in: Blues, Curriculum, Foundation Songs
Jayne J., Colorado
Why do we teach the 12-bar blues with CFCC as the first 4 instead of the standard CCCC that is everywhere else? Personally I like the F added in as it makes it more interesting. But does SM have a reason?
Gabrielle B., Iowa
I’m guessing congruency, so that there’s a pattern for beginning players.
Mark M., New York
Remember that the blues is a folk tradition, not some formal music theory thing. There is no one genuinely standard pattern. There are several very common variations, and if you look at the Wikipedia article on the 12-bar blues, you’ll see the I-IV-I-I version corroborated as one of the most common. It certainly does have a pedagogical advantage with the “IV-I-I” pattern.
Original discussion started August 30, 2018
