Blues Turnarounds

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The turnaround section of a blues is found in the final two bars and is used to complete one pass of the chord sequence and a return to the top. Turnarounds are usually a modified or embellished I to V cadence. If this seems unfamiliar then you should review materials on blues progressions. In the interest of simplicity, the notation provided has no direction for feel or technique so try adding vibrato, slides and other effects to make these turnarounds sound more sophisticated.

Listen to the audio examples provided and try playing each turnaround over the ‘drums only’ track.

If you found this article useful you may be interested in our 'Ultimate Blues Jam Tracks' for lead, rhythm and bass guitar.

Blues Turnaround 1

Blues Turnaround 2

Again, the first part of this turnaround is movable. Be sure to maintain the shuffle feel. The chord at the start of the 2nd bar is E7 (V7 of A), which leads nicely into the first chord of progression proper.

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 3

You can think about this turnaround as beginning by ascending a major scale with a flattened 5th and missing out the 2nd. This is followed by bVI7(9) and V7(9) as seen in a minor blues. This is a good example of how blues mixes major and minor tonality.

Blues Turnaround 4

Notice the rhythm of bar one. The diads (2 note chords) fall on down beats (1, 2, 3, 4). Remember to keep the shuffle feel throughout.

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 5

Here is a simple and commonly used turnaround in E. Note that we’ve used a slightly different rhythm than before in bar two. Try mixing rhythms to create your own variations.

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 6

This turnaround is a variation on Blues Turnaround 5 (above).

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 7

We’re going to think more chordally in this example. Let's call the chords in bar 1 G#dim, Gdim and F#dim. We could also think of them as dominant chords without the root note (using D shape chords).

This is a bit easier to understand if we look at examples on the fret board:

E7	G# diminished

You will notice that the two chords differ only by the lowest note.

Tip: root notes are in green. All notes in the diminished chord are green because a diminished chord can be named from any component note.
Thus, G#dim7 has the synonyms Ddim7, B#dim7, Fdim7

As we’re using the “top” part of the chord, both the dominant (7) or diminished 7 labels fit. We’re going to stick with the diminished sound for our next example...

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 8

A common substitution is to replace a dominant chord with a diminished 7 chord 1/2 a step higher. So, exactly as above but with the lowest note included. This gives us a slightly jazzier sound. These chords descend chromatically and have notes outside of the key. We will consider them to be ‘non- functioning’ or passing chords because they are used to connect chords and have no other harmonic function.

Audio Example

Drums Only Track

Blues Turnaround 9

You might have to adapt your technique to play this turnaround. I use my 2nd finger and pick to play the double stops and my 2nd finger to hit the open e (1st) string. As long as it sounds fluent I don’t think it matters.

Audio Example

Drums Only Track