12 Bar Blues - Beginning Songwriter

A great place to start for a beginning songwriter is the 12 bar blues format. 12 bar blues songs usually have three (3) lines per verse. The first line is repeated and all three lines rhyme.

Here's an example from Robert Johnson's Sweet Home Chicago

Hey baby, baby don't you wanna go
Hey baby, baby don't you wanna go
Back to the same old place, Sweet Home Chicago

Here's an example of one of my own songs - Do The Time

The judge says son you gonna have to do the time
The judge says son you gonna have to do the time
He looks down on me says I'm guilty of the crime.

Try one of your own and e-mail it to me smokinjoewiseman@gmail.com.