{"id":8844,"date":"2024-12-11T23:11:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T05:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=8844"},"modified":"2024-12-11T23:11:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T05:11:28","slug":"12-bar-blues-is-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2024\/12\/11\/12-bar-blues-is-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"12-Bar Blues Is Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>12-bar blues is a foundation that artists from all genres around the world have used to build their musical visions.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jCOX8dT9q8M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Blues goes beyond just a genre of music. The 12-bar blues progression has become one of the most significant building blocks of American popular music. Its influence can be traced through decades of musical evolution, from the birth of rock and roll to the rise of modern pop and hip-hop.<\/p>\n<p>The 12-bar blues was a chord progression that could be used for improvisation and manipulation to create thousands of works of music. The structure allows for ample room for improvisation and emotional expression, especially when it comes to vocal delivery and instrumental solos.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> It&#8217;s easy to see why it became so foundational to blues musicians\u2014it provided both a predictable framework and the freedom to inject personal style and feeling into the music.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9123\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-1024x670.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-150x98.jpg 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM-458x300.jpg 458w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-11.02.53\u202fPM.jpg 1063w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blues started in America. It&#8217;s origins are traced back to the late 19th century in the Southern United Stater. It was created by African American musicians and influenced by precursors like ring shouts, work songs, and spirituals.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> Blues was the most popular music for Black Americans for a long period of time, before white people made the style commercially profitable and published (stole) the work of black artists. Blues is also famous for being grass-roots and there are many folktales about where it really started. The start, to me at least, is less important than it&#8217;s legacy among American (and non-American) music today.<\/p>\n<p>So what artists have used the 12-bar blues to make their music?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YeLsEuZ3EGk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Led Zeppelin uses the 12-bar blues in their song &#8220;Rock n Roll&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AeZRYhLDLeU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Johnny Cash is a country singer who often uses the blues influence in his music.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3BNpW7cxzrw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the movie <em>The Little Mermaid<\/em> the song &#8220;Kiss the Girl&#8221; uses the 12-bar blues.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ItBbngybK3U?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This extremely popular song might not be thought of as part of the Blues genre by listeners, but it is certainly a blues song that uses the 12-bar blues progression.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_iGOWk-r614?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>John Mayer uses the 12-bar blues his song &#8220;Gravity&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The 12-bar blues is not just a formula\u2014it\u2019s a framework for expressing a large range of deep emotions that\u00a0 encapsulate the universal human experience. As long as musicians continue to innovate, adapt, and express themselves through song, the 12-bar blues will remain a key part of American popular music.<\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote1\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">1\u00a0 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alper, Garth. \u201cHow the Flexibility of the Twelve-Bar Blues Has Helped Shape the Jazz Language.\u201d College Music Symposium 45 (2005): 1\u201312. <\/span><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40374516\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40374516<\/span><\/a><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>12-bar blues is a foundation that artists from all genres around the world have used to build their musical visions. Blues goes beyond just a genre of music. The 12-bar blues progression has become one of the most significant building &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2024\/12\/11\/12-bar-blues-is-everywhere\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-2iE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9124,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8844\/revisions\/9124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}