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Essential blues turnarounds, part 2

- BY SUE FOLEY

LAST MONTH, I discussed the role of the turnaround in a 12-bar blues. To review, the turnaround occurs in the last two bars of the progression. Its function is to set up the return to the beginning of the form by providing a “wrap up" to the musical ideas of the previous 12-bar section. Every blues guitar great uses turnarounds masterfully, and many have their own signature turnaround phrases.

Turnarounds can also be used to add tension between the I (one) chord and the IV (four), or when moving from any one of the three chords in a I - IV - V (one-four-five) progression to the next. It's very useful to learn as many of the “tried and true” turnarounds that exist in blues music, but you should also feel free to invent your own.

Let's stick with the key of E, which we used for last month's examples. In the key of E, a I - IV - V progression is made up of the I chord, E, the IV, A and the V, B. FIGURES 1 and 2 illustrate two of my favorite turnarounds in E. In