one idea per chorus / 12 bar blues

Many blues tunes are written with one four bar phrase that is simply repeated three times, which upon completion creates one full chorus of the 12 bar blues form or cycle. Often termed monothematic, the idea of one musical idea per chorus is a good one to consider. Done well, combining one idea per chorus and the 12 bar form creates a cool storytelling format so common in the performance of the blues. This next idea is one chorus of 3 chord / 12 bar blues in C minor with one 4 bar blues lick repeated three times as the melody ( story line ). Example 1.

Along the same lines, many times the identical melody phrase is transposed up a fourth in bar 5 and 10, and a fifth in bar 9 within the same 12 bar blues form. Here we are simply moving the melodic line in a similar intervalic motion to the common One, Four, Five chord progression, so essential to the 12 bar blues form. Rock blues in G, Batman heads for surf city, stopping at the Buddy Holly school of rock and roll. Example 2

Advanced players talk about coming up with one nice idea per chorus and developing that one idea through the form of the tune, then evolving this idea into a new one and repeating the process in the next chorus. Simple in theory but potentially a challenge for players at all levels. A good place to develop this strength might be in playing blues. Gradually we'll apply this principle to playing through more advanced chord progressions, cycles of keys etc. Oh, have you taken the blues challenge yet?

Here are a few blues ideas for development in either of the above fashions. Example 3.

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Example 9.

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"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it" Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)