We now have our 3 chords to play in the key of A which is – A, D and E. To work out the final chord all you need to now do is count up 2 more notes from D which will take you to E – this is your final chord. You have now quickly identified your second chord of the 12 bar blues in A which is the D chord. Also remember to include the black keys when counting – you should get to the note D if you have done this correctly.

Look at the keys of your keyboard or piano and count from A up 5 notes (remember to count away from A – so A is zero). We know that the first chord is A, so what are the other two? For example, let’s try and work out the chords to play a 12 bar blues in the key of A. Now that we know the interval between the notes we can calculate the chords for any key we choose. Use this formula to work out chords for other keys The interval between the F and the G is 2 notes (or 2 semi-tones or 1 tone). Once you know that distance it will be the same for all keys and scales.įor instance, the interval (distance) between C and F on the above example is a total of 5 notes (or 5 semi-tones). All you need to do is count the distant between the notes on the C example above (including all the black keys). Top tip – if you are unfamiliar with a particular scale or key, there is an easy way to find out what the 4th and 5th notes are of that scale. For example, if you want to know what the chords are for playing in G, you take the 4th and 5th notes which are C and D. This means that if you want to know what the 3 chords are of a 12 bar blues chord progression, you only need to locate the 4th and 5th notes of the key. You will see above that on a C scale the first note is of course C, and the 4th and 5th is F and G. Take a look below so you can see how they look on the piano –

The next two chords can be found by taking the 4th and 5th notes of the C scale which are F and G. The first chord is always easy to work out as it is the same chord as the key you are playing in – in this example it will be C. Let’s begin by working out the 3 chords in the key of C.

With only 3 chords you can begin to play 12 bar blues instantly – and here’s how… One of the reasons why blues music is so great to listen to is that it likes to keep things simple. Here’s a quick guide on how to play 12 bar piano blues chords, and how you can start playing the blues today with this simple tutorial. Some of the most famous blues, boogie and rock ‘n’ roll songs use this simple chord technique – artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles and Fats Domino would use these chords in a lot of their legendary songs. Playing the blues often comes down to a straight forward chord progression, which anyone can learn and play on the piano within minutes.

Between the bars piano chords