The turnaround is where blues comes full circle — the two bars that give a 12-bar blues its shape and take the progression back to the top. Master these and your blues will instantly sound more authentic.
A turnaround is the phrase that occurs in bars 11 and 12 of a 12-bar blues — the final two bars before the progression cycles back to bar 1. Its function is both harmonic and rhythmic: harmonically, it takes the progression from the tonic back to the dominant (V chord), creating the harmonic setup needed to begin the 12-bar form again. Rhythmically, it signals to every player in the band that the form is about to restart, creating a moment of musical punctuation.
A well-crafted turnaround does three things: it provides a melodic hook that makes the form feel inevitable, it creates forward momentum that propels the music into the next chorus, and it gives the soloist a chance to make a musical statement in a defined two-bar space. Turnarounds are where blues musicians demonstrate their vocabulary, humor, and style — they're brief but revealing.
The most foundational blues turnaround is the open-position E major turnaround that appears in thousands of recordings. It starts with the open low E string, walks down chromatically through D#, D natural, C#, and then resolves to the B7 chord (the V7 in the key of E). This descending chromatic bass line beneath a static high-string drone (usually the open B and e strings) creates an unmistakably bluesy sound that references the style of Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and countless Chicago blues players.
The technique involves using the thumb or a flatpick on the bass strings while the index or middle finger holds a partial chord shape on the treble strings. The chromatic descent is the key element — each half-step creates a pull toward resolution that releases when the V7 chord arrives. Learning this single turnaround pattern gives you immediate access to authentic open-position delta and Chicago blues.
Fingerstyle turnarounds add a melody to the harmonic movement. Rather than simply walking a bass line down to the V chord, fingerstyle turnarounds create a two-voice texture — bass line below, melody above — that sounds like two guitarists playing simultaneously. This technique is associated with acoustic blues fingerpickers like Robert Johnson (whose turnarounds were decades ahead of their time), Skip James, and later players like Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo'.
The most common fingerstyle turnaround structure: the bass walks down chromatically on the lower strings while the melody plays a simple pentatonic phrase on the treble strings. The two voices move in opposite directions — bass descending, melody holding or ascending — creating the harmonic tension and forward motion that defines the best blues turnarounds.
Study David Hamburger's fingerstyle blues lessons for an in-depth exploration of turnaround technique. His systematic approach to fingerstyle blues vocabulary is one of the best free resources available for this style, and BestGuitarLessons.net links directly to his Fretboard Confidential channel.
More harmonically sophisticated blues players add diminished chords to their turnarounds for additional tension and chromatic colour. The diminished chord — built from stacked minor thirds — has a symmetrical, all-interval structure that creates a sense of suspended dissonance that releases beautifully into the V7 chord. Used in the turnaround context, a diminished chord between the I and V7 creates a three-step harmonic progression with increasing tension before the final resolution.
The classic diminished turnaround substitution: replace the standard chromatic bass walk with a I chord moving to a diminished chord a half step below the V chord, then resolving to V7. In the key of A, this sounds like: A7 — Eb dim7 — E7. The Ebdim7 (or its enharmonic equivalent Bbdim7, which is the same chord) creates a moment of maximum harmonic tension that makes the E7 resolution feel like an exhale. This is why blues musicians have been using diminished chord substitutions in turnarounds for over a century.
These six turnarounds represent the essential vocabulary of blues guitar. Learn each one in at least two keys:
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