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The turnaround is a nearly ubiquitous aspect of the 12 Bar Blues. What is it, and how can we try it for ourselves?
On bars 11 and 12 of the 12 Bar Blues, we've typically just played the Tonic and Dominant chords as usual so far, maybe adding a little flourish to the Dominant with a 7#9 Chord, or similar. But we can do so much more!
The turn-around is a climactic moment as the chord progression reaches it's end, and can either restart or close the song.
There's still play between the Tonic and Dominant during the turn-around, but it's tricked out with quick riffs, unique chords and often some chromaticism.
Here's perhaps as close to a "standard" turn-around as it gets.
The first few notes outline an E7 chord, so we're briefly playing with a Dominant 7th root (Think Mixolydian Mode), but it resolves downward chromatically back to an E Major.
We walk up to the Dominant, B7, and then resolve to the Tonic again.
Since we spend a lot of time playing in A on this site, here's the turnaround shifted up to be playable in A!
If you can get the hang of it here, you'll be able to use this turn-around in any key.
Another common bit of phrasing is to use a pedal point note along with your chromatic descent.
Notice also the sliding Dominant 7th, a really distinctive sound that you can probably recognize from blues songs you've heard.
You can also take a more riff-based approach to the turnaround.
Here I tried to outline an A7 and an E7 with some #9 flair, before returning to A, with a pretty slide-y bit of fretwork.
The sky is the limit when it comes to the turn-around. This is a chance to push the boundaries of the song a bit and flex your musical ability. If you want to understand this topic in more depth I really recommend learning and examining as many blues songs as possible.
One note, though. As good as the turnaround sounds, they do also take liberties with the key. That means that if you start incorporating these into your improvisation, you're likely to end up throwing off your musical partners. You'll need to communicate a little ahead of time so that everyone know where the jam is going!
But once you've learned to include a turn-around in your 12 Bar Blues, you won't want to go back! It just feels right.
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