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I came out with a sort of 12-bar-loop, but it's not one "classical blues progressions", like these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-bar_blues#Variations

Here's the harmonic pattern:

 1      2     3     4
 Bm     D     A     G  F#
 Bm     D     A     G  F#
 Em     D-1   Em    A  F#

where "D-1" still means D major, but one octave below the other "D" used before.

I was wondering how that would sound to you (say with swing or bossa nova @100 BPM), if it's something already used before, and so on: feel free to provide any feedback.

Cheers Corrado

ccampisano
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    It's certainly a 12 bar - it has 12 bars! Most 12 bar blues sequences seem to have IV (or iv) as the 5th bar, whatever other variations they have. – Tim Nov 06 '17 at 16:42
  • Don't use things like "D-1" as it will always be confusing and you will need to explain it. Besides that, chord symbols are not used to talk about voicing except for the bass notes and there is a special notation for that (see slash chords). – Dom Nov 06 '17 at 17:30

1 Answers1

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It's a nice sounding sequence, which more than likely has been used already - most have! However, it's not a 12-bar blues sequence by any stretch of the imagination. There are tens of thousands of sequences that are 12 bars long, and are not recognised as anything but 12-bar sequences.

Generally, in blues sequences, the 5th bar goes to either IV or, in the case of minor blues, iv. This obviously doesn't, so it's not in the category 12-bar blues, of which there are myriad variations, all of which have a very basic format, but with lots (in some cases) of subtle changes.

Got me wondering if there really is a 'formula' for 12-bar blues. And who came up with the first 12-bar blues. And at the same time why haven't thousands of blues songs been considered plagiarised...

Tim
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  • Well I'm sitting' here just thinking' in my one room country shack – Areel Xocha Nov 06 '17 at 19:41
  • Well I'm sitting' here just thinking' in my one room country shack. Yes I'm sitting' here just thinking' in my one room country shack. Leadbelly done plagiarised me bad and I'm damn sure gonna plagiarise him back (Traditional) – Areel Xocha Nov 06 '17 at 19:47
  • Hi, I agree with the "need to go IV/iv in the 5th (and 6th) bars" for a blues, looks quite well established. I was wondering what kind of harmonic analysis could be done here: is it tonal? if so: what's the tonic, B? what's (if any) the associated scale? – ccampisano Nov 10 '17 at 09:13
  • @ccampisano - in some cases the 6th bar is anything but IV/iv. A dim chord fits nicely here, taking us back to the almost inevitable I in bar 7. – Tim Nov 10 '17 at 09:24
  • @tim - which dim chord, a IV/iv dim? I tried that on the piano, in C major, and it sounded nice, with the Fdim in the 6th bar even more "pulling" to that "missing C who turned into B", being C the root/tonic, which would get "restored" in the C in the 7th bar. Seems to be sort of "looking interesting by standing on a rope", so not standing still, having to move: risking losing equilibrium just for the fun of restoring it. – ccampisano Nov 11 '17 at 10:41
  • @ccampisano- I prefer F#o. I'm calling it that rather than Io (Co) as after F (in key C) it sounds good to go to F#o, then C/G, Then A(maj), so there's a bass line moving. Then 'round the houses' through D, G back to C. Of course, Fo will work, but in a different way. The third dim. chord also works, but sounds like it'll take a more circuitous route to get back. Give it a try! – Tim Nov 11 '17 at 10:51