Eight-bar Blues

8-bar blues · C major · I7–IV7–I7–V7–I7–V7

Play this pattern

Eight-bar Blues is a chord pattern you can play in any key. The degrees are I7–IV7–I7–V7–I7–V7.

Twelve bars compressed into eight. Short enough to loop for practice, and especially good at slow tempos.

Patterns are common chord moves. They are not the chart of a recorded hit.

Patterns are named by theory. Play them in any key that fits your voice.

Each song page has a chord chart, fingerings, and the same song in every key.

The pattern

I7 – IV7 – I7 – V7 – I7 – V7

C7 · F7 · C7 · G7 · C7 · G7

Chord chart

Chord chart
1	C7	·	F7	·
2	C7	G7	C7	G7

How to sing it

Shorter than twelve bars, so there is no room to repeat a line. Throw one line and answer it straight away; two lines are exactly enough, and it is easiest at a slow tempo.

In every key

In every key
Keys	Chord chart
C major · Written in this key	C7 · F7 · C7 · G7 · C7 · G7
Db major	Db7 · Gb7 · Db7 · Ab7 · Db7 · Ab7
D major	D7 · G7 · D7 · A7 · D7 · A7
Eb major	Eb7 · Ab7 · Eb7 · Bb7 · Eb7 · Bb7
E major	E7 · A7 · E7 · B7 · E7 · B7
F major	F7 · Bb7 · F7 · C7 · F7 · C7
F# major	F#7 · B7 · F#7 · C#7 · F#7 · C#7
G major	G7 · C7 · G7 · D7 · G7 · D7
Ab major	Ab7 · Db7 · Ab7 · Eb7 · Ab7 · Eb7
A major	A7 · D7 · A7 · E7 · A7 · E7
Bb major	Bb7 · Eb7 · Bb7 · F7 · Bb7 · F7
B major	B7 · E7 · B7 · F#7 · B7 · F#7

Heard in

Heartbreak Hotel · Elvis Presley. An eight-bar blues, but laid out differently: the song holds I for four bars before IV, while this pattern moves to IV in the third bar.
Key to the Highway · Big Bill Broonzy. A variant that jumps straight to V7 in the second bar, so the order differs. The Derek and the Dominos cover is the better known.
Trouble in Mind · Bertha Chippie Hill. A 1926 song, and recordings differ so much in key and bar-filling that no single one can serve as the reference.

These songs use this pattern. This is not their chord chart: real recordings differ in key, rhythm and the chords they add.