Hello, guitar and theory enthusiasts! 
Join Richard for a friendly, practical look at the theory behind the Blues. We’ll explore shuffle, with 7th chords, chunka-chunka, and some ways that Blues bends the rules.
NOTE:
The discussion topics are public, but access to the live sessions and archive recordings is restricted to PMT subscribers.
Free Resources available to download here: 2026.09 - Blues Rhythm – Google Drive
Attempted to view this only to find that it’s behind a paywall… very disappointing!
Have you thought this through? If the “classes” available through the Clubs area of the website were available at no cost, more people might be interested in buying the courses.
I am feeling frustrated that this is happening on a “donation driven” site.
Tod
This is a class for the Practical Music Theory members. Yes there is a Club for Practical music members. Just like BLIM the Practical Music Theory has always been a paid course all the way back to the times of the old forum (20 years ago.)
There has already been 22 PMT club live events since the new version was released.
Richard, just watched your video on the Blues Rhythm engine. That was one of the best lessons I’ve seen on the site! I learned so much about things I knew but you explained it so I understand it now! Like the Hendrix chord, I play it in my daily morning practice but now I can put it to use.
I wish I would have caught the session live because I would like to have you explained “turn arounds” in the blues and how to use them and what the structures are.
Thanks for all you do!
Practical Music Theory is one of the oldest paying products on the site.
I learned my theory with the first generation of this product, when it was just a book. Must have been 2007ish.
This site doesn’t run on donation alone and there is a ton of free existing content + new monthly material provided by Justin and the Approved Teachers serve that model.
Thanks Roch for the kind words, I’m glad you benefitted from the session.
The turnaround … it can be many things to many people and played in hundreds of different ways.
Essentially, a simple way of thinking about it is bars 11 and 12, played to close out the harmonic sequence and to build anticipation and momentum into the next 12-bar cycle.
If limiting ourselves to a simple approach, the chord sequence has bar 11 as the I chord and bar 12 as the V chord. If playing only a rhythm part you would simply hit those chords in a continuation of your playing. A lead part would play some lick(s) running right across them to build the tension and propel the music around for the next 12-bars.
I hope that gives enough of an answer to your question, for now at least.
Thank you for this week’s PMT live class, @Richard_close2u, and the unexpected name drop during the Q&A! 