|F       |        |        |        |


|Bb      |        |F       |        |


|C7      |        |F       |        |








Another common variation, sometimes 


Described as a “V-IV Blues”  (5-4)








|F       |         |        |        |


|Bb      |         |F       |        |


|C7      |Bb       |F       |        |





What I’ve heard called a “fast four” blues:


(with a V-IV)








|F        |Bb      |F       |F7      |


|Bb       |        |F       |        |


|C7       |Bb      |F       |        |








We’ll stick with the “fast IV” for the rest of 


These examples. 


You’ll notice that not many chords other


 than the V are notated as 7ths, but of


 course, as it’s The blues, you can pretty


 well use a dominant chord For all of them.


 In other styles of music, doing this may 


 sound too, well, bluesy!





Sometimes instead of going V-IV, jazzier 


 arrangements Call for a II-V change.








|F         |Bb       |F      |F7       |


|Bb        |         |F      |         |


|G7        |C7       |F      |         |








The II chord could also be minor. 


In this case, G-7 instead of G7.





And, jazz guys being the way they are,


 notice that, if you’re going to use II-V, 


 you might as well jam the VI in before it, 


 and use a nice turnaround…





|F       |Bb       |F         |F7        |


|Bb      |         |F         |     D7   |


|G-7     |C7       |F         |(G-7   C7)| 





or, perhaps








|F         |Bb       |F        |F7         |


|Bb        |Bo       |F        |Am7b5 D7   |


|G-        |C7       |F   D7   |G-7   C7   |








After they had pretty well hit the limit


 with possible variations on the last 8 bars


 of the blues, guys like Charlie Parker


 started to find interesting ways to get to


 the IV through the first four bars, and


 beyond:








|F      |Em7b5  A7   |D-7  Db-7 |C-7   F7  |


|Bb     |Bb-7   Eb7  |F    Bb7  |Am7b5 D7  |


|G-     |C7          |F         |(G-   C7  |








That might seem kind of thick, but it’s


 actually A very beautiful sounding thing


 when handled right.





We haven’t gone much beyond 7th chords


 here, but Anywhere a 7th symbol appears,


 experimenting with Dominant chord


 variations such as 9th, b9th, #9,





Altered, and even Sus4 chords can reveal


 interesting Harmonic shades. 


    There are other variations, I know, but


 there's a few basic ones.

[This message was edited by Earnest Bovine on 06 January 2003 at 09:02 PM.]