Lessons 2 - Jazz Blues

I remember my first combo band lesson.  My audition had gone well; when asked if I would play a scale that would go over a GmMaj7 chord I asked

 

“Would you like Harmonic Minor or Melodic minor ascending?”

 

Later I would realize that the Melodic Minor scale ascending is better known as the Jazz Minor scale.

 

Back to my first combo band lesson… 

 

I had learnt my scales long ago, but as a rock player, my idea of a 12 bar blues was fairly basic.  I was asked to write the chords of 12 Bar blues in Bb.

 

I wrote:

[Bb7       |              |              |              |

|Eb7       |              |Bb7        |              |

|F7         |Eb7        |Bb7        |F7         ]

 

I thought that this was pretty good – but I was sure surprised when the teacher said that this was not what she was expecting.

 

This is the Jazz Blues:

 

[Bb7                       |Eb7                      |Bb7                      |Bb7                      |

|Eb7                       |(Edim7)                |Bb7                      |G7                        |

|Cm7                      |F7                        |Bb7      G7            |Cm7     F7           ]

 

The bracketed Edim7 in bar 6 is optional – but I quite dig it.

 

In jazz, there’s a whole bunch on jazz tunes that use this progression either in F or Bb for their chords. 

 

Here’s the same progression in F

 

[F7                       |Bb7                      |F7                         |F7                         |

|Bb7                     |(Bdim7)                |F7                         |D7                        |

|Gm7                   |C7                         |F7         D7           |Gm7    C7            ]

 

Practical:  Learn these progressions for the Jazz Blues for both these keys by heart.  Be able to play them.  If you get stuck, I have included the Bb Jazz Blues as a chord library in the community content (where you can download it for guitar). 

 

Here is a list of songs that use the Jazz Blues (or some variation) for their chords.  If you want to learn a couple of them, look them up on Youtube and find the sheet music from Google images.

 

• Tenor Madness

• C Jam Blues

• Sonnymoon for Two

• Things Ain’t What They Used to Be

• Watermelon Man

• Mr. P.C.

• Stolen Moments

• Straight No Chaser

• Blue Monk,

• Pfrancing (also known as No Blues)

• Walkin’

• Blues in the Closet

• Turnaround

• Comin’ Home baby

• All Right

• Ok, You Win

• Ool ya coo

• Route 66

• Billy’s Bounce

• The thrill is gone (B.B. King)

• Searchin’ for a woman

• Israel

• Blues on the Corner

• Blues Connotation,

• 3 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West

• Things Ain’t What They Used to Be

• Chitlins con Carne,

• Now’s the Time

• Blues for Alice

• Relaxin’ at Camarillo

• Au Private

• Blues Walk

• Blues March,

• Cool Blues

• Teenie’s Blues

• Twisted

• Dance of the Infidels

• Five Spot After Dark

• Bag’s Groove,

• Birk’s Works

• Blues by Five

• Blues for Stephanie (John Clayton)

• Cookin’ at the Continental,

• Blowin’ the Blues Away

• Senor Blues

• The Jodie Grind

• All Blues

• Doodlin’

• Cedar’s Blues,

• Bemsha Swing

• Green Onions

• Freddie the Freeloader

• Night Train

• Footprints,

• Buzzy (Charlie Parker)

• Blue Train

• Afro Blue

• Bessie’s Blues

• Equinox,

• Back at the Chicken Shack

• The Chicken

• Mustang Sally (24 bar blues)

• Stolen Moments,

• One for Daddy’O

• Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid

• Barbados

• Cheryl

• Sandu,

• Sippin’ at Bells (Miles Davis)

• Speedball (Lee Morgan)

• Twisted

• Decision

• Red Top,

• Wee Dot

• Bessie’s Blues

• Chasin’ the Trane

• Filthy McNasty

• Eye of the Hurricane,

• Yabada Ool Ya (Dizzy Gillespie)

• C.C. Rider

• Gingerbread Boy

• Spontaneous Combustion,

• Dig Dis

• Blue Bolivar Blues

• Royal Garden Blues

• T-Bone Shuffle

• St. Louis Blues,

• Stormy Monday

• Sweet Home Chicago

• I’m Tore Down

• Hoochie Coochie Man,

• Memphis Blues

• Pine Top Boogie

• Red House (Jimi Hendrix’s only 12-bar blues),

• Pride and Joy

• Black Coffee

• Mr. Day

• H+H

• Go Get It

• Mohawk

• Parker’s Mood

• Bloomdido

• Vierd Blues

• Nutville

• Chi Chi

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