Examples of the 12-bar Blues

Spotify playlist for these musical examples; songs identified by asterisks (**) are not currently available from Spotify.  

To play any of these examples, simply click on the song title or the video icon "" next to the song title. I would like to express my appreciation to David Etlinger, who assisted in creating these examples from a template I created in Flash, which I have since converted to MP4 video format for greater compatibility.

• Robert Johnson - "Me and the Devil Blues"
• Big Mama Thornton - "Hound Dog"
  • cover by Elvis Presley
• **The Mar-Kays - "Last Night"
• Professor Longhair - "Hey, Little Girl" & "Mardi Gras in New Orleans"
• Wilson Pickett - "Mustang Sally": this tune is actually a 24-bar blues, so each measure of the 12-bar blues form actually accounts for TWO measures of this 24-bar form
• Bessie Smith - "Mean Old Bedbug Blues"
• Bessie Tucker - "Better Boot That Thing" & "Bogey Man Blues"
• Victoria Spivey - "Blood Hound Blues"
• Alberta Hunter - "Beale Street Blues"
• Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon - "All By Myself"
• Elmore James - "Sunnyland"
• Big Joe Turner (with Pete Johnson) - "The Chicken and the Hawk", "The Chill is On", "Honey Hush", "Roll 'em Pete", "Flip, Flop, & Fly", "Shake, Rattle, & Roll", & "Chains of Love"
• Tommy Ridgley - "Jam Up"
• Chuck Willis - "Betty and Dupree" & "C.C. Rider"
• Howlin' Wolf - "Moving", "Shake for Me", "Watergate Blues", "Coon on the Moon", & "The Back Door Wolf"
• The Clovers - "Good Lovin'" & "Lovey Dovey"
• Ruth Brown - "5-10-15 Hours"
• Ray Charles - "Mess Around" & "The Right Time"
• Lavern Baker - "See See Rider"
• King Curtis - "Memphis Soul Stew" (12-bar blues form starts at 1:30, after long intro)
• B.B. King - "Sweet Sixteen"
• Frank Zappa - "Directly from My Heart to You"
• Led Zeppelin - "Rock and Roll" & "The Lemon Song" (notice how this song has verses that have a "double time" - twice as fast in tempo - feel)
• Eric Clapton - "Blues Before Sunrise"
• Prince - "Delirious"

Other examples (listen on your own and see if you can follow the form):

• Fats Domino - "Ain't That a Shame"
• Little Richard - chorus of "Tutti Frutti" (verses modified)
• Beatles - verses of "Can't Buy Me Love"
  • "Yer Blues" (two measures of 3/4 for a typical 4/4 measure)
  • "Birthday"
  • "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
• Bob Dylan - "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35"
  • "Summer Days"
• James Brown - "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"
  • "I Got You (I Feel Good)"
• Jimi Hendrix- "Come On (Part 1)"
• Electric Flag - "Killing Floor"
• Cream - "Politician"
  • "Crossroads"
• The Allman Brothers - "Southbound"
  • "Statesboro Blues"
• Charlie Daniels - "The South's Gonna Do It Again"
• **Garth Brooks - verses of "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House"
  • verses of "Kickin' and Screamin'"
• Brooks & Dunn - verses of "Boot Scootin' Boogie"
• Travis Tritt - "Leave My Girl Alone"

Variations

8-bar blues

• Fats Domino (Pat Boone) - "Fat Man"

16-bar blues

• Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters - "Money Honey"
• Rufus Thomas - "Walking the Dog"
• Rolling Stones - "19th Nervous Breakdown" (16-bar + 1: two extra bars of IV + two extra bars of I + 1 bar transition)
  • actually combines 12-bar blues and AABA (A = 16-bar blues; B = 8-bar bridge)
• Bob Dylan - "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
• Travis Tritt - "Blue Collar Man"

modified chord progression

• Rolling Stones - "Heart of Stone"
• Garth Brooks - verses of "Kickin' and Screamin'"

[more about The Blues]