Rhythm and blues (R&B) is a popular music genre that combines elements of jazz, gospel, and blues. It emerged in the 1940s from jump blues and features vocalists accompanied by horn-driven orchestras or smaller combos. R&B is characterized by a driving rhythm, shouted vocals, and honking saxophone solos. Many early R&B hits used the twelve-bar blues chord progression, which follows a pattern of tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords. Over time, R&B influenced and blended with various other genres, including pop, rock, and soul music.

1. Rhythm and blues
R&B or RnB

2. R&B or RnB
 popular music genre combining
 jazz,
 gospel, and
 blues influences

3. R&B or RnB
 Lawrence Cohn
 Nothing but the Blues
 Robert Palmer
 Jump blues

4. R&B or RnB
 Jump blues
 Artists:
 Louis Jordan,
 Big Joe Turner and
 Wynonie Harris

5. R&B or RnB
 features
 vocalist
 horn-driven orchestra
 medium-sized combo

6. R&B or RnB
 Style
 driving rhythm,
 intensely shouted vocals, and
 honking tenor saxophone solos

7. R&B or RnB
 lyrics
 celebratory in nature
 full of braggadocio and
 swagger

8. R&B or RnB
 Jerry Wexler of
 Billboard
 the Billboard Hot 100
 Billboard 200

9. R&B or RnB
 African American music
 black music, formerly known as
 race music


10. R&B or RnB
 Louis Jordan
 Tymphany Five
 Lawrence Cohn
 Robert Palmer

11. R&B or RnB
 Shake, Rattle and Roll
 Jesse Stone
 Charles E. Calhoun
 originally recorded by Big Joe Turner
 most successfully by
Bill Haley & His Comets.

12. Twelve bar blues
 lyrics
I hate to see the evening sun go
down,
Yes, I hate to see that evening sun
go down
'Cause it makes me think I'm on my
last go 'round

13. Twelve bar blues
 chord structure
 guitar and bass players: open chords,
chords with several open strings:
 E-A-B7 or A-D-E7
 Keyboardists
 C-F-G7 or G-C-D7.
 tonic, subdominant, and dominant

14. Twelve bar blues
 blues songs "St. Louis Blues", "
Shake, Rattle and Roll” "Hound Dog”
 gospel songs, "I'm So Glad (Jesus Lifted Me)„
 jazz classics like "Flying Home" and "
Night Train"
 pop and rock songs, Glenn Miller's "
In the Mood", The Beatles' "
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?”

15. Twelve bar blues
 Many songs use a verse in the first four bars
and a chorus in the final eight bars:
That big eight-wheeler rollin' down the track
Means your true lovin' daddy ain't comin' back.
I'm movin' on, I'll soon be gone
You were flyin' too high for my little old sky
So I'm movin' on.

16. The blues chord progression
Different Notations
Chord Alphabeti
c
Numerical Roman
Numeral
Tonic T 1 I
Sub-
dominant
S 4 IV
Dominant S 4 V

17. The blues chord
progression
 The first line takes 16 quarter notes
(4 bars × 4 beats), as do the remaining
two lines
(for a total of 48 beats and 12 bars).
 T/S/D
 TTTT 1 1 1 1 I I I I
 SSTT 4 4 1 1 IV IV I I
 DSTT 5 4 1 1 V IV I I

18. The blues chord
progression
 "Quick to Four" variation
 T/S/D
 TSTT
 SSTT
 DSTT

19. The blues chord
progression
 the tenth bar
 10th bar stays in dominant
 TTTT
 SSTT
 DDTT

20. The blues chord
progression
 Seventh chords
 Using a seventh chord
 TTTT7
 SS7TT7
 DSTD7

21. The blues chord
progression
 minor 12-bar blues
 "Why Don't You Do Right?"
 by Lil Green with Big Bill Broonzy and
then
 Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman
Orchestra.
 music of Charles Brown
 Major and minor mixed together

22. The blues chord
progression
 From Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues".
D - - -
Woke up this morning with an
G - - - D - - - D7 - - -
awful aching head
G - - -
Woke up this morning with an
G7 - - - D - - - D7 - - -
awful aching head
A - - A7
My new man had left me
G - - G7 D - - - D - A A7
just a room and an empty bed.

23. "Twelve-bar" oddities
 Chuck Berry's "Oh Carol" is a 24-bar blues
 The Beatles's "Day Tripper" starts with
the first eight bars of the 12-bar progression.
 Queen's song I Want To Break Free uses the
twelve-bar pattern for its verses, with a
different chord progression only for the middle
eight.