This is the last in the current 12 Bar Blues lesson series. All we are doing is assembling all of the pieces that we have learned over the last 3 lessons into one coherent song (with very lame lyrics). You will need to download the chart since it is 7 pages long and I really didn't feel like having the worlds longest and hardest to read lesson.

You can download it here: www.markweinguitarlessons.com/bp/btswholesong.pdf

The only really new things in this lesson are are the ending and some "call and response" type licks in the second verse.

For an ending to this song I just took the last 4 bars of the form and repeated or "tagged them" to the end of the song. To me, a "tag" ending is one where we take the last complete musical statement of the song and repeat it one or more times. I also put a break ...

This is the second in our blues series. We are taking a look at a common melodic structure used in many traditional 12 bar blues. Then we will apply this idea to a solo!

I have written a cheesy cliche blues song to apply all of our 12 bar blues concepts.

The 12 measures are broken up into three 4 bar phrases.

As you can see in the music below the first 4 bars are the initial "statement". The lyrics go "I woke up this morning, my baby left before the sun".

The next 4 measures (bars 5- re-state the first phrase - "I woke up this morning, my baby left before the sun".

The last 4 measures are the resolution or "punchline" of the verse "If I don't find my baby, then my troubles just begun"

You can find this structure in songs like "Sweet Home Chicago", "Texas Flood", "Crossroads", "Red House", "The Thrill is Gone" and many more. Its not the only way to play blues but it is VERY common.


For the solo I am taking this 3 phrase idea and breaking each phrase up into a "Question" and an "Answer" idea. One of my first lessons (Minor Pentatonic Scale Lesson 1) worked on this idea and we are taking it a step further in this lesson.

Over ...