Blues Changes, Plus...

Most jam sessions I have been in start with a warm-up song, usually using simple Blues changes. While that’s great for loosening up, having a couple of additional chords in the pattern can really liven things up and stretch the mental muscles a little.

Wes Montgomery’s “West Coast Blues” is a tune that offers just that...a couple of additional chords to liven things up. The original is in the key of Bb. The changes below are transposed down to the very guitar-friendly key of A. The tempo is a moderately lively 3/4, rather than the usual 4/4, and is a 24-bar pattern, rather than the familiar 12-bar pattern.

Get together with another player (or a tape recorder) and have some fun with these. If anyone’s interested, I can post a more complex (and even more interesting/challenging) set of changes to the same tune. They’re called “Solo Changes” or “Blowing Changes”, and are meant to be played during the solos, after the initial statement of the melody is finished.
Hint: a quick trip to iTunes will give you several different 30-second samples of what the song sounds like.

John Williamson

Basic Changes (Key of A)
| A7 | A7 | G7 | G7 | A7 | A7 | Bbm7 | Eb7 |

| D7 | D7 | D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |

| E7 | E7 | D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |

John Williamson
RGC Core Member

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