Are there more blues/chordal patterns than I-IV-V? (1-4-5)

Well, there are lots (and lots and lots) of chord progressions used in music in general. See Olaf Torvund's site for a treatment of the more common ones.

As for blues in particular, blues uses only a few simple chord progressions.

The most basic of all is 12 bar blues which goes rougly like:

I I I I (first line of lyrics)
IV IV I I (second line, usually the same as or similar to first)
V IV I I (third line, different from the others)


In the key of E, that would be:

E E E E
A A E E
B A E E

or, if you'd like the gnarly sound and stronger tension/resolution of the dom7th in there:

E E E E7
A7 A7 E E
B7 A7 E E


Often a special phrase, known as a blues turnaround (there are many such) is put in instead of the last I.

Anyway, there are many variations on the 12 bar blues, the most common probably being minor key blues.

There are also blues with 8, 16 or 24 bars.

I hope this helps.

Is there an I-II-IV? And i've also heard of a ii-V thing?

Okay, the primary chords of each key are the I-IV-V (1, 4 and 5). These chords are major.

There are also 3 secondary chords, the ii, iii and vi (2,3 and 6) which are minor. (Minor chords lower case, major upper).

In addition, there is the diminished vii chord, but you can think of it as a variant of the V (vii has the notes 7-9-11, V7 has the notes 5-7-9-11, so they function the same).

So, you could certainly have a I-ii-IV progression, but it is uncommon.

Now the defining progression in jazz, is the ii-V7-I. This is because nothing nails down the I as the key centre as that movemenet, and the way jazzists mess about with chords, you need that. You can think of the ii (notes 2-4-6) as a substitute for the IV (notes 4-6-8) and they function the same, so the ii-V-I progression is a variation on the I-IV-V.

You really, really need to start reading the Theory section here at GuitarNoise.

I suggest starting with these articles:

Five To One (Or Home, Home Again ...)by David Hodge.

You Say You Want a Resolution by David Hodge.

Theory Without Tears

I hope this helps.

Dude, would you please put on a SMILE! :lol:

By the way, thanks for the suggestion on reads. Looks good. 8)