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Blues Chord Progressions: The Quick Change

Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson used basic and quick change blues progressions all through their careers. These two fundamental chord structures are essential knowledge for anyone wanting to play the blues. Once you learn these, you'll be able to jam with hundreds of your favorite tunes.

Basic Blues Progression

If we look at the most basic blues progression in the key of E we have the following chord structure:

E | E | E | E |
A | A | E | E |
B | A | E | B |

Reading from left to right we can see that the first 4 bars are played with an E chord. The 5th and 6th bars are shown with an A chord. The 7th and 8th bars move back to the E chord. The 9th bar uses a B back to the A in the 10th, E in the 11th and finally to the B again in the 12th bar.

A variation on this is the quick change.

Blues Progression With A Quick Change

E | A | E | E |
A | A | E | E |
B | A | E | B |

As you can see from the above, the only difference we are playing is in bar 2. Instead of sitting on the I chord (the E), we are moving to the IV chord (the A). This is called a blues progression with a quick change. Although its very similar to the first structure, the simple variation adds a bit more life to the tune.

It is very common for blues tunes to go to the IV in the 2nd bar. Two examples of this are in the song Red House by Jimi Hendrix and also Crossroads by Robert Johnson. Most people know these songs. Crossroads has been covered by many others but was made extremely famous by Cream who recorded an amazing live version in the 1960s.

'What did people do in 1960 with no internet?' I hear you ask: they played guitar!

Learn the above two structures by playing along with records of your favorite artists and jamming with friends. Backing tracks without vocals are a great way to get the sound in your head as well.

If you aren't familiar with the two blues progressions above and want to become a better player: set aside some time each day for practice, and most importantly, have fun!