Sixteen-bar blues
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The sixteen-bar blues can be a variation on the standard twelve-bar blues or on the less common eight-bar blues. Sixteen-bar blues is also used commonly in ragtime music.[citation needed]
Adaptation from twelve-bar progression
Most sixteen bar blues are adapted from a standard twelve-bar progression,[citation needed] i.e.,
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by applying one of several formulae including the following:
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- Guide:
- Each table field represents one measure
- T = tonic chord
- S = subdominant chord
- D = dominant chord
- Guide:
(1a) Twelve-bar progression's first tonic chords (bars 1-4) are doubled in length or repeated, becoming the first half (bars 1-8) of the sixteen-bar progression
- Examples: "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man"[1] and "Close to You", written by Willie Dixon, first performed by Muddy Waters; and "Oh, Pretty Woman", written by A.C. Williams, first recorded by Albert King (instrumental sections are 12-bars)
(1b) Twelve-bar progression's last dominant, subdominant, and tonic chords (bars 9, 10, and 11-12, respectively) are doubled in length, becoming the sixteen-bar progression's 9th-10th, 11th-12th, and 13th-16th bars[citation needed]
- Example: "Trigger Happy" by "Weird" Al Yankovic (verse, with additional ornamentation and "turnaround" applied to tonic chord in bars 13-16)
(2a) Twelve-bar middle section (subdominant on bars 5-6, tonic on 7-8) is repeated, often along with its lyrical-melodic material
- Examples: "rural" (as opposed to "urban") versions of "See See Rider"[2] (as interpreted by, among others, Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy); most renditions of "Going Down The Road Feelin' Bad" AKA "Lonesome Road Blues", e.g. by Henry Whitter (first recording of this tune, 1924), the Blue Ridge Duo (George Reneau and Gene Austin, also co-author of The Lonesome Road, a different song) and Woody Guthrie; "Sleepy Time Time" by Cream
(2b) Transition from ninth (dominant) to tenth (subdominant) twelve-bar chord is repeated twice[citation needed]
- Example: "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock
(3) Transition from ninth (dominant) to tenth (subdominant) twelve-bar chord is repeated once; last tonic chord bars are doubled in length
- Example: "Let's Dance," written by Jim Lee, first performed by Chris Montez, and covered by bands including the Ramones[citation needed]
Adaptation from eight-bar progression
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Alternatively, a sixteen bar blues can be adapted from a standard eight bar blues by repeating each measure of the eight-bar progression and playing the result at double speed (doppio movimento).[citation needed]
See also
- Eight-bar blues
- Thirty-two-bar form
- Blues ballad
- Talking blues
- '50s progression, another chord progression widespread in Western popular music
References
- ^
The Blues. Hal Leonard Corporation. 1995. pp. 112–113. ISBN 0-7935-5259-1.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a review of Elijah Wald (2005). Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, Amistad. ISBN 0-06-052423-5 on Google group rec.music.country.old-time