12-Bar Blues Skeleton I7-IV7-I7-V
Piano sound loads on first tap. Resolved in the key of C — every chord links to its full analysis.
The heart of the blues, compressed. Every primary chord is a DOMINANT 7th — tonic (I7), subdominant (IV7) and dominant (V) — so the whole loop shimmers with the bluesy flat-seventh even on the 'home' chord: the tension-drenched skeleton behind every 12-bar shuffle.
What each degree does
The tonic turned dominant — adding a minor 7th makes I the V OF IV, tonicising the subdominant. That blues-and-gospel turn that pushes toward IV.
The subdominant as a dominant — IV with a minor 7th, a bluesy colour that pulls toward I by the 'backdoor' or tonicises bVII.
The tonic turned dominant — adding a minor 7th makes I the V OF IV, tonicising the subdominant. That blues-and-gospel turn that pushes toward IV.
Tension pulling home — the chord that 'wants to resolve' to I; it closes or opens sections. The dominant, the engine of the key.