View source for Eight-bar blues

{{short description|Common chord progression}}
{{Listen image
| main_image = Eight bar boogie-woogie blues in C.png
| main_image_size = 350px
| main_image_caption = One [[boogie-woogie|boogie woogie]] [[bassline]] for 8-bar blues progression in C, chord [[root (chord)|roots]] in red.
| type = music
| filename = Eight_bar_boogie-woogie_blues_in_C.mid
| title = Eight-bar boogie-woogie blues in C
}}
In music, an '''eight-bar blues''' is a common [[blues]] [[chord progression]]. Music writers have described it as "the second most common blues form"<ref name="Riker">{{cite book| last = Riker| first = Wayne| year = 1994| title = Complete Blues Guitar Method: Mastering Blues Guitar| isbn = 978-0-7390-0408-1| page = 91| publisher = Alfred Publishing Company, Incorporated}}</ref> being "common to folk, rock, and jazz forms of the blues".<ref>{{cite book| last = Barrett| first = David| author-link = David Barrett (musician)| year = 2000| title = Blues Harmonica Jam Tracks & Soloing Concepts #1| isbn = 978-0-7866-5653-0| page = 8| publisher = Mel Bay Publications, Incorporated}}</ref>  It is often notated in [[time signature|{{music|time|4|4}}]] or {{music|time|12|8}} time with eight [[bar (music)|bars]] to the [[verse (music)|verse]].

==Overview==
Early examples of eight-bar [[blues standards]] include:
*"[[Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do]]" ([[Sara Martin]], 1922)<ref name="Leonard">{{cite book| author = Hal Leonard| title = The Blues| publisher = [[Hal Leonard]]| year = 1995| isbn = 0-7935-5259-1 | pages = 210–212, 224–225, 160–161}}</ref>
*"[[Trouble in Mind (song)|Trouble in Mind]]" ([[Bertha Hill]], 1926)<ref name="Leonard"/>
*"[[How Long, How Long Blues|How Long Blues]]" ([[Leroy Carr]], 1928)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/8-bar-blues/ |title=8 bar blues Leroy Carr |date=10 January 2013 |access-date=14 July 2020}}</ref> 
*"[[Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out]]" ([[Bessie Smith]], 1929)<ref name="Leonard"/>
*"[[It Hurts Me Too]]" ([[Tampa Red]], 1940)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last = Herzhaft| first = Gerard| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Blues| section = It Hurts Me Too| year = 1992| location = Fayetteville, Arkansas| publisher = [[University of Arkansas Press]]| isbn = 1-55728-252-8| page = 445}}</ref>
*"[[Key to the Highway]]" ([[Big Bill Broonzy]], 1941)<ref name="Inside">James, Steve (2001). ''Inside Blues Guitar'', p.18. {{ISBN|978-1-890490-36-2}}.</ref>
*"[[Worried Life Blues]]" ([[Big Maceo]], 1941)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/8-bar-blues/ |title=Eight-bar blues Big Maceo |date=10 January 2013 |access-date=14 July 2020}}</ref>
 
One variant using this progression is to couple one eight-bar blues melody with a different eight-bar blues [[bridge (music)|bridge]] to create a blues variant of the standard [[thirty-two-bar form|32-bar song]]:<ref>Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day, ''Music Theory For Dummies'' (London: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 244. {{ISBN|111805444X}}</ref> "I Want a Little Girl" ([[T-Bone Walker]]) and "[[Great Balls of Fire]]" ([[Jerry Lee Lewis]])(<ref>Form in Rock Music: A Primer, p. 70.</ref>

Eight-bar blues progressions have more variations than the more rigidly defined twelve bar format. The move to the IV chord usually happens at bar 3 (as opposed to 5 in twelve bar); however, "the I chord moving to the V chord right away, in the second measure, is a characteristic of the eight-bar blues."<ref name="Riker"/>

In the following examples each box represents a 'bar' of music (the specific time signature is not relevant). The chord in the box is played for the full bar. If two chords are in the box they are each played for half a bar, etc. The chords are represented as [[scale degree]]s in [[Roman numeral analysis]]. Roman numerals are used so the musician may understand the progression of the chords regardless of the key it is played in.

"Eight-bar blues chord progression":<ref>Alfred Publishing (2002). ''Beginning Delta Blues Guitar'', p.41. {{ISBN|978-0-7390-3006-6}}.</ref>
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|V<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|-
| I || V<sup>7</sup>&nbsp;&nbsp;IV<sup>7</sup> ||I ||V<sup>7</sup>
|-
|}
{{Listen|filename=Eight_bar_blues.mid|title=Eight-bar blues chord progression in C|plain=yes|style=margin-left:1em}}

"[[Worried Life Blues]]" (probably the most common eight-bar blues progression):
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|IV
|-
| I ||V ||I IV||I V
|-
|}
{{Listen|filename=Eight_bar_blues_progression_in_C.mid|title=Eight-bar blues progression in C|plain=yes|style=margin-left:1em}}

"[[Heartbreak Hotel]]" (variation with the I on the first half):
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|'''I'''
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV ||IV ||V ||I
|-
|}

[[J. B. Lenoir]]'s "Slow Down"<ref name="Harmonica">David Barrett, John Garcia (2008). ''Improvising Blues Harmonica'', p.50. {{ISBN|978-0-7866-7321-6}}.</ref> and "Key to the Highway" (variation with the V at bar 2):
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|'''V'''<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|-
|I<sup>7</sup> ||V<sup>7</sup> ||I<sup>7</sup> ||V<sup>7</sup>
|-
|}<ref name="Riker"/><ref>Barrett, David (2006). ''Blues Harmonica Play-along Trax'', p.16. {{ISBN|978-0-7866-7393-3}}.</ref>

"Get a Haircut" by [[George Thorogood]] (simple progression):
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I
|-
| IV || IV ||V ||V
|-
|}

[[Jimmy Rogers]]' "Walkin' By Myself"<ref name="Harmonica"/> (somewhat unorthodox example of the form):
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|-
|IV<sup>7</sup> ||V<sup>7</sup> ||I<sup>7</sup> ||V<sup>7</sup>
|-
|}

[[Howlin Wolf]]'s version of "[[Sitting on Top of the World]]" is actually a 9 bar blues that adds an extra "V" chord at the end of the progression. The song uses movement between major and dominant 7th and major and minor fourth:
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|iv
|-
|I<sup>7</sup> ||V ||I<sup>7</sup> IV ||I<sup>7</sup> V
|-
|}

The first four bar progression used by Wolf is also used in [[Nina Simone]]'s 1965 version of "[[Trouble in Mind (song)|Trouble in Mind]]", but with a more [[uptempo]] beat than "Sitting on Top of the World":
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|iv
|-
|I VI<sup>7</sup>||ii V||I IV||I V
|-
|}

The progression may be created by dropping the first four bars from the [[twelve-bar blues]], as in the [[solo (music)|solo]] section of [[Bonnie Raitt]]'s "Love Me Like a Man" and [[Buddy Guy]]'s "Mary Had a Little Lamb":<ref>Riker (1994), p.92.</ref>
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|IV<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|width=25%|I<sup>7</sup>
|-
|V<sup>7</sup> ||IV<sup>7</sup> ||I<sup>7</sup> ||V<sup>7</sup>
|-
|}

There are at least a few very successful songs using somewhat unusual chord progressions as well. For example, the song "[[Ain't Nobody's Business]]" as performed by [[Freddie King]] at least, uses a I–III–IV–iv progression in each of the first four bars. The same four bar progression is used by the band [[Radiohead]] to make up the bulk of the song "[[Creep (Radiohead song)|Creep]]".
: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:250px;"
|width=25%|I
|width=25%|III
|width=25%|IV
|width=25%|iv
|-
|I ||vi ||ii ||V<sup>7</sup>
|-
|}

The same chord progression can also be called a [[sixteen-bar blues]], if each symbol above is taken to be a half note in {{music|time|2|2}} or {{music|time|4|4}} time. Examples are "[[Take This Hammer|Nine Pound Hammer]]"<ref name="Inside"/> and [[Ray Charles]]'s original [[instrumental]] "Sweet Sixteen Bars".

==See also==
*[[Twelve-bar blues]]
*[[Sixteen-bar blues]]
*[[Thirty-two-bar form]]

==Sources==
{{reflist}}

{{Chord progressions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eight Bar Blues}}

[[Category:Major-key chord progressions]]