Chord Substitution in 12 bar blues?

A neat little trick I picked up on recently comes up in the 9th and 10th bars of the 12.

In E

B7-B7-B7-Bb7-A7-A7-A7-A7

Although the Bb doesn't naturally exist in the key of E, you use the Bb7 as a passing chord and it sounds really good.

Who's going to explain the flat 5th substitute in words I can understand?

Best,

A :-)

It's part of the blues scale.

I like to do that, too. Often I make a run up bIII-III-IV for the IV part, IV-bV-V for the V, back down V-bV-IV for that last IV, then I-bIII-I to get back to I, and of course back to V for the turnaround. Especially works well to do it that way in something like "Little Red Rooster."

A neat little trick I picked up on recently comes up in the 9th and 10th bars of the 12.

In E

B7-B7-B7-Bb7-A7-A7-A7-A7

Although the Bb doesn't naturally exist in the key of E, you use the Bb7 as a passing chord and it sounds really good.

Who's going to explain the flat 5th substitute in words I can understand?

Best,

A :-)

It's part of the blues scale.

I like to do that, too. Often I make a run up bIII-III-IV for the IV part, IV-bV-V for the V, back down V-bV-IV for that last IV, then I-bIII-I to get back to I, and of course back to V for the turnaround. Especially works well to do it that way in something like "Little Red Rooster."

So what you guys are saying is replace the V & IV of the 9th & 10th bars with what you posted? This means instead of one chord per bar there are 3 chords (for ricochet's example) and 4 chords (for Alan's example) in place of the single chord? So is it just one strum per chord then? I have been using a Dudu with an emphasis on the first downstrum. Kind of like DA da da da DA da da da

Thanks guys.

Ah, no - I set it out like that in a pretty pathetic attempt to show it on a per beat basis - so the 9th bar has 3 beats of B7 and one beat of Bb7, and then the 10th bar is all A7 as normal.

I've also been reading a series of articles by Brian Setzer and he suggests using a 13th of the I chord in bar 4, so your first four bars are E7-E7-E7-E13 (he arpeggiated the chord too), and if you use the "dim" chord substitution mentioned earlier in the second bar it starts to sound quite meaty. Like this:

Bar 1 E7
Bar 2 Edim
Bar 3 E7
Bar 4 E13
Bar 5 A7
Bar 6 A7
Bar 7 E7
Bar 8 E7
Bar 9 B7.B7.B7.Bb7
Bar 10 A7
Bar 11 E7
Bar 12 E7.B7.B7.B7

Best,

A :-)

Right - I've looked up the Flat 5th Substitute I was banging on about earlier. Go here

Clickety click

Which, if I've read it right, means you can use Eb7 as a substitute for the A7 because the G-C# tritone is present in both chords; making my sequence above:

Bar 1 E7
Bar 2 Edim
Bar 3 E7
Bar 4 E13
Bar 5 Eb7 (or A7)
Bar 6 Eb7 (or A7)
Bar 7 E7
Bar 8 E7
Bar 9 B7.B7.B7.Bb7
Bar 10 A7 (or Eb7)
Bar 11 E7
Bar 12 E7.B7.B7.B7

So what you guys are saying is replace the V & IV of the 9th & 10th bars with what you posted? This means instead of one chord per bar there are 3 chords (for ricochet's example) and 4 chords (for Alan's example) in place of the single chord? So is it just one strum per chord then? I'm doing that with a slide, and often do just that with one strum, but with a definite slide to each of those chords up or down. Can pick 'em on each note when extra emphasis is desired.

So what you guys are saying is replace the V & IV of the 9th & 10th bars with what you posted? This means instead of one chord per bar there are 3 chords (for ricochet's example) and 4 chords (for Alan's example) in place of the single chord? So is it just one strum per chord then? I have been using a Dudu with an emphasis on the first downstrum. Kind of like DA da da da DA da da da
Think of it more as an indcation of the timing of the change. That way you fill out the time you spend on each chord however you like, and each different way you do so is a different style of playing the same piece.

Exactly. It's a drawn out transition between the chords that takes up part of the time for the IV or V, or the I.

Since we are talking about endings, here is a nice turnaround in the key of A. This would
be the 11th and 12th measures. Let the E7 chord sustain till the end of the measure. The cool thing about this turnaround is the melody line played on the B string.



The p in the A6 chord means to use your pinky for this note. This is not a pulled-note.

Mike

If you like 50's music you need to learn the I, VIm, IV, V progression. Literally thousands of songs were written in this exact progression. It was the sound of the 50's.

Some common keys:

C, Am, F, G
G, Em, C, D
A, F#m, D, E
D, Bm, G, A
E, C#m, A, B

and of course you can use variations on those chords, you could play C, Am7, F, G7 for instance. Or you could substitute the relative minor of F, so you would have C, Am7, Dm7, G7 for instance. The possibilities are pretty endless.

Based on your suggestion Wes I came up with THIS song. It's the first I have written...kind of 50's style with a bit of Prince tone to it (a la Purple Rain).

Please leave your suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

I like your song very much and left a message on Hear Here.

Great job.

Wes

Since we are talking about endings, here is a nice turnaround in the key of A. This would
be the 11th and 12th measures. Let the E7 chord sustain till the end of the measure. The cool thing about this turnaround is the melody line played on the B string.



The p in the A6 chord means to use your pinky for this note. This is not a pulled-note.

Ah, check out my lesson "Hound Dog Barking" on this site for a neat turnaround in E.

Best,

A :-)

I'll check that out Alan.

Looking again, I see I left a chord out. I do not usually have my guitar handy when I post here, so I rely on my memory a lot. :oops: The correct tab should have been:


A A7 D Dm A A6 A E7(let sustain)

e-------------------------------------
b--5----8----7----6----5---7p--5---5--
g--6----6----7----7----6---6---6---7--
d--7----5----7----7----7---X---7---6--
a--7----7----5----5----7---7---7---7--
e--5----5----5---------5---5---5------
1 2 3 4 1 & 2 &


There should be more lessons on turnarounds. They add color to a standard 12 bar Blues.

Alan

Found your lesson, thought I'd post it here for everyone. :D

https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/theres-a-hound-dog-barkin-in-the-yard/

Thanks,

Wes