Ten Bluesy Chords

The dirty cousins of the vibe set. Ten easy dominant-flavoured chords — mostly two or three fingers — that drip blues. Built around E (where you live), with the full 12-bar kit and the greasy colour chords on top. Strum lazy, swing everything.

HOW TO READ: top line = high e, bottom = low E · teal 0 = open · amber = fretted · x = don't play · finger counts = fretted fingers only

01The Ten Chords

The first three are the whole 12-bar in E. The rest are the colour — the 9ths, 13ths, sus moves and slippery shapes that make blues comping sound like it knows something.

E7

2 fingers

Home. The I chord. Two fingers, four open strings, pure blues.

A7

2 fingers

The IV. Two fingers. E7 to A7 is the vamp you've lived in all week.

B7

4 fingers

The V. The hardest one here — worth it. Now you own the whole 12-bar.

E9

3 fingers

E7 with the F♯ on top. Instantly funkier — the sophisticated I.

A13

2 fingers

Two fingers of pure jazz-blues grease. The fancy IV. Skip the D string.

E7♯9

2 fingers

The Hendrix chord, easy version — top four strings only. Mean and raw.

D7

3 fingers

The ♭VII — slide it up 2 frets and it's E7 shaped. The moveable trick.

A7sus4

3 fingers

The D hangs, then drops to C♯ — A7sus → A7 is gospel-blues in two beats.

E7♭5

2 fingers

The slippery one — low, dark, unstable. A passing chord that oozes.

G7

3 fingers

The ♭III — the "wrong" dominant that sounds so right sliding down to E7's world.

02How To Use Them Together

Loop A · the whole game

The 12-Bar in E

E7 ×4 → A7 ×2 → E7 ×2 → B7 → A7 → E7 → B7

The form. Twelve bars, three chords, all of blues. Swap in E9 for E7 and A13 for A7 when you want it uptown — same form, sharper suit.

Loop B · the funky two

The Grease Vamp

E9 → E9 → A13 → E9

The Trip vamp in its Sunday best. Stab them short (Vibe Chug style) or let them hang lazy. This is the bed for everything in the funk MIDI groove.

Loop C · the gospel move

Sus & Resolve

A7sus4 → A7 → A7sus4 → A7 (then fall to E7)

One finger lifts and drops — the D aching down to C♯, over and over. Gospel-blues hypnosis. When you finally fall to E7 it feels like coming home.

Loop D · the slide down

The Chromatic Ooze

G7 → E7♭5 → E7 · or · D7 (slide up 2) → E7

The passing-chord tricks. G7 slinks through the slippery E7♭5 into home; or grab the D7 shape and physically slide it up two frets so the open strings ring against the moving shape — the greasiest sound two frets can buy.

Loop E · the turnaround

The Last Two Bars

E7 → E7♯9 → A13 → B7 (and round again)

A real turnaround from the colour chords: home, mean, greasy, tension — then the B7 throws you back to bar one. Tag this on the end of any loop above.

The Shuffle Secret

Swing everything. These chords are 50% what you play and 50% when — lazy behind-the-beat downstrokes, muted scratches between (the Vibe Chug x's), and let the open strings buzz a little. Blues comping should sound slightly drunk and completely certain. Broadcast at noon, Butter on, Suhr S position 2, volume at 7. Dig in on the ♯9.