The Blues – From 3 Chords to 30 Chords, They’re Yours for the Picking

By: Robbie Burns

Billy Gibbons said, “you can’t lose with the blues”.

And in Guitar International’s interview with guitar legend George Benson,  George talks about how his early boss, Brother Jack McDuff, instructed him to  “put some blues in” because no matter where you are in the world, if you play blues, people understand it.

The blues are a great vehicle and common ground for guitar players of many styles. From throwing in an occasional flat 3^rd or 7^th to forging a full-on harmonic heyday, the way Matt Warnock or Pat Metheny play them, there’s a lot you can do with the blues.

Where do we start? One way to get ideas on how to shape your blues is to go to the core of what you are expressing. The blues are all about telling a story.

So, let’s get to the heart of what we are trying to play – and say. Will 3 chords be enough to support the feeling or emotion that you want to project?

Remember, when you pick up your instrument, you’re going to be conveying your unique identity with every note you play. The individuality of your expression is now making you more than “just” a player. You’re an arranger, a writer and a communicator. And for organizing, amplifying and presenting your feelings, your guitar may be the most powerful tool that you’ll ever have. And here we thought we were just making some noise in our bedroom!

When I wrote the Breakfast Blues I had some specific objectives in mind. One was to come up with a blues story that epitomized the concept of starting the day off on the wrong foot. I remembered when I was a kid, hearing Arlo Guthrie’s song, an elaborate story about being the “last guy”, where no matter how bad things got, there was always someone worse off. Arlo’s theme asked the question, what if you were the “last guy”?

So in that spirit, I wanted to portray the pain of someone with a plethora of problems – a guy with a real case of the blues.

Another objective was to incorporate the character’s hard-scrabble story into a chord progression that honored traditional blues but offered root motion that would support the lyrics.  I needed chords that would use a lot of open strings so the song could be carried by only one player – but imply the sound of a band.

The Breakfast Blues has 7^th chords substituted with 9^th and 13^th chords (detailed in the video below) and introduces some daring, dissonant intervals that add resonance to the track. The progression also offers opportunities for creating and relieving harmonic tension – all over a 12-bar blues structure.

If you’re new to substitutions or wanting to try some new chords, the blues is a great place to do it.

You can add and subtract bits and pieces without losing track of the overall form.

For more ideas on how to open up your blues, there is a good section on blues substitutions in a book written by my former teacher and friend, Joe Pass. It’s called Joe Pass Guitar Style. The book introduces basic concepts that quickly ramp up to some very sophisticated material, so it’s a great reference guide that you will be able to use over a lifetime of learning and playing.

If you don’t know that many chords yet, that’s okay. There are lots of chords to experiment with. Try different voicings of the chords you know and try playing them in different keys. I originally played Breakfast Blues in E Flat because that’s a great key for the blues. But when I got into it, I wasn’t able to use enough open strings to achieve the sustain I needed to carry a solo presentation of the song. When I switched to the key of E, I stumbled onto some new chords that worked well and gave me the sound I was looking for.

The blues offers a lot of opportunities to try new things in a well-worn format. And because it’s a staple of modern music, there are many examples and variations out there to listen to and learn from. You can start small and work your way up to many new musical challenges with the blues, they’ll never let you down.

About Robbie Burns – Robbie’s songs have been published by Warner/Chappell, Almo Irving (A&M) and BMG (Arista). His interest in writing for the acoustic guitar brought us the independent release, “Robbie Burns Returns”, with the popular single, “You’re an Angel … you don’t need to be an idol”.  His latest releases include “A Dream a Dollar” and “Candy From a Baby”.