Jazz blues: the chord progression and a swing backing track

The same twelve bars and the same landmarks — the IV in bar 5, the I in bar 7, home in bar 11 — with jazz chords in between. This is the form of most blues heads in jazz, from Charlie Parker to Wes Montgomery.

Your key

1F7I7

2B♭7IV7

3F7I7

4Cm7Vm7F7I7

5B♭7IV7

6B°7♯IV°7

7F7I7

8D7VI7

9Gm7IIm7

10C7V7

11F7I7D7VI7

12Gm7IIm7C7V7

New in this step

▶ Play it in JamShed

Tempo

Swing · 132 bpm · F · the trio repeats the form until you stop it

What changed

Bar 4: Vm7–I7 (in F, Cm7–F7), a ii–V that turns the I into the V of the IV. Bar 6: the ♯IV diminished (B°7), so the bass climbs B♭–B–C back to the I. Bar 8: VI7 (D7), the V of the chord that follows. Bars 9–10: IIm7–V7 (Gm7–C7) instead of V–IV. Bars 11–12 are the turnaround of step 2.

Jazz players play the blues in F and B♭ because those are horn keys. If your blues lives in A or E, pick it above: the chords are the same distance apart in every key. The trio swings now: walking bass and ride cymbal, the head in two and the solos walking, as on the records.

Your pentatonic box here (in F)

Your F minor pentatonic (F A♭ B♭ C E♭) still works over the F7 and B♭7 bars. It stops working exactly where the new chords are, and each one tells you why.
Bar 4 and bars 9–10 are ii–Vs: move the same box to the root of the ii chord — C minor pentatonic over Cm7–F7, G minor over Gm7–C7. Same shape, new place, every note inside.
B°7 in bar 6 is B D F A♭: two of its four notes, F and A♭, are already in your box. Land on them and the diminished chord sounds intended; then add the B.
Over D7 in bar 8 your F minor box turns into the altered sound: E♭ is the ♭9, F the ♯9, A♭ the ♭5, B♭ the ♭13. It works as tension only if it resolves — step into Gm7 on B♭ or D.

The tips are in the step’s own key; in another key the same degrees apply. The pentatonics finder shows any pentatonic against any chord, note by note.

How to practise this step

First the box over the whole form, moving it to C minor in bar 4 and to G minor in bars 9–10.
Then the head of Now’s the Time or Billie’s Bounce from their pages, and a solo between two heads.
The Jazz Guitar Shortcut has a Blues in F study on this form: a whole chorus written out, with the reasons.