Sixteen bar blues

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The sixteen bar blues can be a variation on an eight bar blues or the more standard twelve bar blues.

Any standard eight bar pattern can be viewed as a sixteen bar pattern played at twice the speed with the measures repeated.

More commonly, a sixteen bar blues is an extension of a twelve bar progression. In order to form a sixteen bar blues progression, the 9th and 10 chords are repeated:

twelve bar progression
T	T	T	T
S	S	T	T
D	S	T	T

sixteen bar progression
T	T	T	T
S	S	T	T
D	S	D	S
D	S	T	T

Note (one chord per measure)

*T – tonic chord,

*S – subdominant chord

*D for the dominant chord,

A famous example of this blues progression is "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock.

Sixteen bar blues

See also