The Blues Chord Book

The chords blues players actually use, with every note labelled.



Most chord books give you a wall of shapes and no idea what’s in them. This one gives you the voicings that carry a blues, the 9ths, 13ths, the Hendrix 7#9, sixths and half-diminished chords, as easy open chords and as compact movable stabs. Every dot tells you which note of the chord it is, so you can see what makes a 9th a 9th and why one chord can stand in for another.

What’s in it

• Dominant 7th, 9th, 13th, 7#9 and 7b9 chords
• 7sus4, sixths, minor 7th, minor 9th, minor 6th and half-diminished chords
• Open chords near the nut, and movable stabs you can play in any key
• The standard, quick-change and minor twelve-bars
• Four dressed-up blues to play or borrow from: in A, a funk blues in E, a soul blues in G and a jazz blues in A
• Which chord to reach for in place of a plain 7th, and where it fits in the twelve-bar

No impossible barre chords. Just the grips worth knowing.

Revised 2026 edition. Every diagram redrawn with each note labelled by its interval. 11 pages, PDF, 8.5 x 11.

It’s free. If you find it useful, you can pay what you think it’s worth.