Walk With Me 8 Bar Blues?
David, Hi. New student/old player here (off/on since 1994). Mostly self-taught, though I've been following Adam Gussow for nearly a year now. By his standards, I'd classify myself a "Advanced Beginner" or "Beginning Intermediate". Being self-taught (mostly), I have many learning gaps and a few bad habits to overcome. My sense of timing is horrible, especially if trying to swing, and I know very little about blues structure/music theory (hence my question). I'm starting at the beginning to fill in the gaps.
A number of questions about the first study song :
1. Is it a 12-bar blues or an 8-bar blues (is there such a thing)? I see the chord pattern (I,V,IV,IV,I,V,I,V), which is 8 bars and it repeats quite nicely. All I know about 12-bar blues is from Gussow's pattern (I,I,I,I,IV,IV,I,I,V,IV,I,I) or with a "quick IV" on the 2nd bar. I assume (I,V,IV,IV,I,V,I,V) is a valid chord progression, but what's "valid" and what's not? And, since some notes exist is multiple chords, how can I tell what chord I'm on
2. If you're playing with a band (thinking ahead to an improv session - which I've never done), how can you (they) tell we're doing a 12-bar or 8-bar (if it exists) progression? What happens if I go to a V and they're playing a I? Even though they share root and 5th (I think), won't it sound off?
Tips/tricks appreciated.
Jonathan Bouriaque
Hello Jonathan, welcome to the site.
"Walk With Me" is an 8-bar blues (this one being based on Little Walter's version of "Key To The Highway" After his song starts from the V... V-IV-I-V [the last four bars of the standard 12-bar progression] it goes into the form). I don't mention it in the lesson because I don't want to focus on that level of music theory right away. I want them playing right away, going into chord progressions later in their lessons (when they're more ready for it, and it means something more to them... the beginner just wants to play music in the beginning, not deal with music theory).
Though 12-bar blues is the most common (as a harmonica player you'll run into that ~95% of the time), 8-bar blues is valid, and common enough to be known as not an uncommon thing (though harmonica players tend to stay away from it... playing it more in their advanced stages... because we're most used to the 12-bar form... other instruments tend to like the change from the standard 12, making it more likely to be chosen by them (~30% of the time... I'm just throwing a number off the top of my head here).
You will study the 12-bar form intuitively in Accompaniment Playing Study 2 (which you already outlined well above, but you will learn the theory behind it). You will learn which notes sound good/match in Accompaniment Playing Studies 3 and 5. You will learn about chord structure (the theory of how to build chords) in Music Theory Study 3. You will learn about non-standard blues progressions in Music Theory Study 6. You will study deeply the IV and V Chords in Improvising Study 4.
With all this said, you can tell that you'll learn all this as you go through your studies with me (I recommend you use LOA as a lesson plan, though you can of course go through all the music theory, accompaniment, and improvising lessons as a set now, just being slowed down by possible bending difficulties when the lessons advanced beyond your bending skill, of which you can of course work on as you study).
You will recognize the form based on studying that form in the past. In other words, for a long time, you will recognize a form if you've studied it before... been-there-done-that, "I know what that is, I've played to it before." As the years roll along, you'll have enough experience with different types of 8-bar blues (there is no "one" standard... 8-bar blues has a lot of forms that it can take), and non-8 or 12 bar forms, that you'll be able to "hear" the changes.
If the band says nothing... "Shuffle, in the Key of G, from the I"... then it's assumed it's a 12-bar. In other words, the 12-bar form is assumed, so it doesn't need to be stated. If it's not, it will be stated, and they will say what the song is "like," thus giving you the form if you've learned that song. To jam with other musicians requires that you seek out the standard blues songs, as well as the songs that are well-known, but don't have standard forms (you will learn these in Music Theory Study 6). In jam situation, if you don't know the song, then they'll either say forget it, or you will ask them to tell you the chords... this assumes that you know how to play over each of the chords well to make this happen (this is after Music Theory Study 6). If you're in a band, that different. One of the members of the band commonly charts out the songs, of which you'll use to study at home (again, I show you how to do this in Music Theory Study 6). It's always smart to learn the playing of the harmonica, if there is one, in the non-standard song... it gives you one reference point for what to play.
If you play over, and choose the notes that match, what you think is the I, but the band is actually on the V (or any other mismatch of chords), you're right, it will sound "off." You still are in the same "key," so it's not going to sound horrible, but there will be notes that don't quite match, especially if you hold on them.
I recommend you dig into the Music Theory lessons right now, as well as the Accompaniment lessons. With the mixture of these two lessons (very dense and very intuitive), you'll get what you're looking for. The Improvising Lessons would also be good, especially from 4 onwards will be great eye-openers in this area.