In some ways, the different flavors of popular music have been all over the place stylistically. There are big differences between Sinatra and Hank Williams! But in other ways, structurally speaking, it’s surprising how closely different pop styles follow similar structural patterns. In that sense, rockabilly music has a lot in common with many different genres of popular music.

Having grown out of a mix of country, blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues music from the turn of the last half century, it shouldn’t be too surprising that rockabilly music has a lot in common with each of those genres. Specifically, rockabilly songs often follow the familiar 12-bar blues pattern that forms the basis for millions of songs that have been written and recorded not only in the blues style, but also in country, rock and roll, folk music, and music. much others.

So what exactly is the “12 bar blues” pattern? For musicians who play in any of the styles I’ve mentioned here, the pattern is second nature. Players who don’t pay much attention to music theory may not even realize they’re playing the pattern; it just shows up in so many songs that have been drilled into them. But many people who aren’t musicians may have heard the term and wondered what it is. And for rockabilly fans, why should you care?

Well, you certainly don’t need to understand the 12-bar blues pattern to enjoy rockabilly music, but if you’re interested in how it works, here’s a basic rundown!

The pattern is simply a structure that the composer uses to create a song that makes sense to the ear of the western listener. There is no law that says that a songwriter have to adhere to the structure, but one cannot go too far wrong with it. The structure gives the listener instant familiarity and makes them feel comfortable with the direction of the song. The composer applies this structure typically to the verses of the song, and, not surprisingly given the structure’s name, it is 12 bars, or musical bars, long. The end of those 12 bars leads handily into the next section of the song, be it another 12 bar verse pattern or a variation used as a chorus, solo, or bridge section.

Take the classic Carl Perkins song “Blue Suede Shoes” as an example. The song adheres to the 12-bar blues structure and may be the best rockabilly song ever written. Think of the first verse of the song where Perkins helps us count the bars by giving us the famous “Well, it’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, go, go.”

The “one”, “two” and “three” of the lyrics fall on the first beat of measures one, two and three of the verse. Throw in “go cat go” and you’re done with four of the 12 bars of the pattern. Perkins essentially uses the same musical chord for those first four bars. That chord can specifically be an E or an A or any other chord depending on what key the song is played in, but is generically known as the “one” chord. The choice of that chord is related to the 12 bar blues in that a very common chord pattern (one, four, one, five, one) normally works hand in hand with the 12 bar pattern. That’s another discussion for another day and it starts digging deeper into music theory than most fans want!

After those first four bars, the song changes to what is known as the “four” chord, and the song’s melody changes accordingly. The song stays in the four chord for two bars. In our example, Perkins sings, “Now don’t step on my blue chamois,” and we’re six bars into the middle of the pattern. The word “shoes” kicks off the seventh bar of the pattern on the “one” chord and Perkins fills the rest of bar seven and eight with a clever guitar riff.

Over bars nine and ten, Perkins sings “do anything but leave my blue suede shoes” over what is known as the “five” chord. He ends the pattern on a chord with his big guitar lick again and then the whole pattern repeats as he launches into the “Well you can take me down…” of verse two.

“Blue Suede Shoes” is a brilliant example of the 12-bar blues pattern in rockabilly music. It’s actually somewhat unusual in that the song doesn’t have a distinct chorus section. Instead, Perkins builds what serves as his chorus directly into the last eight bars of the verse so that the two share the same 12-bar pattern rather than using distinctly different patterns for each.

“Blue Suede Shoes” is simply a great example of the 12-bar blues pattern used in rockabilly and other forms of popular music. Things get even more interesting when composers start playing around and experimenting with the standard pattern. There are no set rules about how many bars a song or its individual sections should be. For example, Gene Vincent’s brilliant “Be Bop a Lula” uses a standard 12-bar blues pattern for the chorus (where Gene sings, “Be Bop a Lula she’s my baby. Be Bop a Lula I don’t mean such time.” etc.) But his verse sections use an unusual eight-bar pattern and it all works beautifully.

If you consider the 12-bar blues pattern to be a rule, then songs like “Blue Suede Shoes” prove that rules make great rockabilly music. And songs like “Be Bop a Lula” prove that with rockabilly, rules are made to be broken!