Guitar Blues Turnarounds - 8 Essential Patterns

What is a Blues Turnaround?

The turnaround is the signature move of blues guitar. It's a 1-2 bar phrase at the end of each 12-bar cycle that pulls the music back to the top. Every blues guitarist needs a handful of turnarounds ready to go.

Turnaround 1: The Classic Chromatic

Key of E:
e|--------------------------|
B|--------------------------|
G|--1---0---------0---------|
D|--2---1---0-----0---------|
A|--------------2-----------|
E|--0---0---0---0---0-------|

Turnaround 2: Robert Johnson Style

Key of E:
e|--0---0---0---0-----------|
B|--0---0---0---0-----------|
G|--1---0---2---1---0-------|
D|--2---1---2---1---0-------|
A|--------------------------|
E|--0---0---0---0---0-------|

Turnaround 3: Double Stop Walk-Down

Key of A:
e|-----------------------------|
B|--10---9---8---7---5---------|
G|--9----8---7---6---5---------|
D|-----------------------------|
A|--0---0---0---0---0----------|
E|-----------------------------|

Next Steps

Apply turnarounds in full blues improvisation and explore fingerstyle blues for solo turnarounds.