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Eight bar blues

An eight bar blues is a typical blues chord progression, taking eight 4/4 bars to the verse.

A basic example of the progression would look like this, using T to indicate the tonic, S for the subdominant, and D for the dominant, and representing one chord per beat:

T  T  S  S 
T  T  T  T
S  S  S  S
T  T  T  T
T  T  T  T
S  S  S  S
T  T  D  D
T  T  T  T

(The same chord progression can also be called a sixteen-bar blues, if each symbol above is taken to be a half note in 2/2 or 4/4 time -- blues has not traditionally been associated with notation, so its form becomes a bit slippery when written down.)

Many variations are possible. For instance, seventh chords are often used just before a change, and more changes can be added. A more complicated example might look like this, where "7" indicates a seventh chord:

T  T  S7 S7 
T  T  T7 T7
S  S  S7 S7
T  T  T  T
T  T  T7 T7
S  S  S7 S7
T  T  D7 D7
T  T  T  D7

When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar can be called a turnaround.

Finally, here is an example showing the pattern in the key of D, and how it fits with the lyrics of a given verse. One chord symbol is used per beat, with "-" representing the continuation of the previous chord:

D              -               
Woke up this morning with the 

G - D - D7 - blues down in my soul

G - Woke up this morning with the

G7 - D - - - blues down in my soul

D - D7 - Woke up this morning with the blues in my soul G -

Saying "My baby gone and left me, got a

G7 - heart black as coal"

D - Woke up this morning with the

A A7 D - A7 - blues down in my soul