Blues Turnarounds
The turnaround is the last two bars of a 12-bar blues — the bit that spins you back to the top for another chorus. It's where players show their personality. Learn the 12-bar form first, then hear the classic turnarounds that take it from a jam to a statement.
The Core Idea
The blues runs on three dominant 7th chords — I7, IV7, V7 — over 12 bars. The turnaround lives in bars 11–12: instead of just sitting on I, you set up tension (usually landing on V7) that demands the progression start over. Swap in fancier turnarounds and the same 12 bars sound completely different.
Blues key
The 12-Bar Form
Standard 12-bar
The blueprint. Four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V–IV–I with a V turnaround. Everything is a dominant 7th — that grit is the sound of the blues.
Quick-change 12-bar
The single most common variation: bar 2 jumps to IV before settling back on I. It adds early movement and is the default in most jam sessions.
The Turnarounds
Each one replaces bars 11–12 (or the whole last line). Play them back to back and hear the personality change.
Basic (I–IV–I–V)
The plainest turnaround — a mini I–IV–I then V to launch the next chorus.
Circle turnaround (I–VI–II–V)
The jazz-blues staple. A chain of dominants falling in fourths pulls hard back to I — instant sophistication.
♭VI7 – V7
A bluesy chromatic slide: land a bar early on ♭VI7 and drop a semitone into V7. Dramatic and vocal.
Tritone-sub ending (I–♭II7)
A slick jazz-blues button: end on ♭II7 a semitone above I — the tritone substitute for V — resolving down to I on the repeat.
Turnaround tips
A turnaround's job is tension. Landing on V7 in the final bar makes the return to I feel inevitable.
Sliding a chord in by a semitone (♭VI→V, ♭II→I) is the essence of the classic descending blues turnaround lick.
In blues even the I and IV are dominant 7ths. Turning VI and II into dominants (a chain of fifths) is what makes the jazz-blues sound.
Write your own blues
Lay out a 12-bar in Song Lab, or dig into the scales over each chord in Blues Theory.