Description
Just as often as the use of Dominant 7 chords, minor chords are used in the 12 Bar Blues to create some nice variations. By simply substituting some of those 7th chords for minor chords, you can take your blues playing in several new and exciting directions. In our first example, we are going to look at a 12 Bar Minor Blues progression in the key of A minor. Our A7 (or I chord) becomes A minor, the D7 (IV chord) becomes Dmi, and our V chord stays the same as E7. Reason for this is that the Dominant 7 for the V creates a much stronger pull towards the I, regardless if it is major, minor, or Dominant 7. You can experiment with playing an Emi chord as the V as well if you wish. We are using all open position chords in this example. This progression moves in our standard 12 Bar Blues form and begins to train our ears to this new sound.
Lesson Info
