1. Home
  2. Chord progressions
  3. I - I - I - I - IV - IV - I - I - V - IV - I - I

I - I - I - I - IV - IV - I - I - V - IV - I - I

Also known as the twelve-bar blues.

The harmonic skeleton under an enormous share of blues, early rock and roll, and jazz standards. It's the same I-IV-V vocabulary as the three-chord trick, arranged over twelve bars: four bars of the tonic, two of the subdominant, two more of the tonic, then a turn through the dominant and subdominant on the way home. Blues musicians usually play all three chords as dominant sevenths, which is what gives the progression its bite.

Hear it in different keys

In A major

I7 A7 I7 A7 I7 A7 I7 A7
IV7 D7 IV7 D7 I7 A7 I7 A7
V7 E7 IV7 D7 I7 A7 I7 A7

In C major

I7 C7 I7 C7 I7 C7 I7 C7
IV7 F7 IV7 F7 I7 C7 I7 C7
V7 G7 IV7 F7 I7 C7 I7 C7

Roman numerals show scale degree and quality: uppercase for major, lowercase for minor, a small circle for diminished. Tap any chord above to open its full page, with a diagram and playback.