What is a 1-IV-V Blues Chord Progression

The I-IV-V progression, better known as the 12-bar blues progression, is one of the most common in American music. Any musician familiar with it can join in the improvisation at any time, having a clear understanding of the subsequent chords.

The basic blues progression consists of three chords that are built on the I, IV and V degrees. For example, in E major they correspond to the notes E (I), A (IV) and B (V). Having studied this progression in E major, it can be transposed to any key without any problems for further performance.

To quickly master the 12-bar blues progression, we suggest using a chord generator, which will help you study the main variations of this progression.

If you’ve been playing guitar for even a few weeks, or have never played and just enjoy modern music, you’ve undoubtedly come across the term “I IV V Blues.”

I IV V Blues is one of the most commonly used chord forms and progressions in modern music, found in rock, blues, jazz, funk, soul, R&B, pop, and country, especially in songs written by or featuring guitarists.

In today’s lesson, we’ll look at how to construct and recognize an I IV V blues melody, 10 songs that use this form, and then test your theoretical knowledge by doing some transposition exercises with this common musical form.

What is AI IV V Blues?

The I IV V blues is built on the same principle as the I IV V chord progression we looked at earlier in this series of lessons.

But there are a few key differences we need to point out.

First, there’s the type of chords used in each of these progressions. Typically, you build I IV V chords in a key by taking the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes of the parent major scale and layering thirds on top of those to form chords.

You can see an example of this here, where I’ve written the I IV and V chords of the C major scale, creating the chords Cmaj7, Fmaj7, and G7.

But in the blues, the chords are a little different. What we’re doing here is using the same basic notes, the 1st, 4th, and 5th of the parent major scale, which is C-F-G in a C blues, but each chord is a seventh, which is C7-F7-G7.

Here’s what those chords look like on paper.

Also, the I IV V blues form is 12 bars long with a semi-strict chord order, at least for a basic blues progression, as you can see here.

In this case, the I7 chord is in bars 1-4, 7-8, and 11-12. The IV7 chord is in bars 5-7 and 10, and the V7 chord is only in bar 9.

Try playing this progression on guitar to get the sound of the form and the three seventh chords in your ears and under your fingers before checking out some of the famous blues tunes below.

I IV V Blues Songs

Here is a list of 10 classic songs that use the blues form. While some of these songs were written by earlier artists that you should also check out, I have included the titles of the most famous recordings and covers so you can check them out as well.

Since the blues form and chord order varies with each artist, and sometimes even between covers of the same song, this list includes “pure” I IV V Blues songs as well as songs that use variations of the form to get you started.

1. Crossroads – Cream/Robert Johnson;
2. Dust My Broom – Elmore James;
3. Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker;
4. Texas Flood – Stevie Ray Vaughan;
5. Sweet Home Chicago – Buddy Guy/Robert Johnson;
6. Red House – Jimi Hendrix;
7. I Can’t Quit You Baby – Led Zeppelin/Otis Rush;
8. Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker;
9. CC Rider – Mitch Ryder/Ma Rainey;
10. Black Magic Woman – Fleetwood Mac.