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Jazz guitar for beginners · Tune 6 of 10 · The blues
Greenhouse Blues DG original
A 12-bar blues in G with a two-bar riff and a blue note. Free jazz guitar sheet music with TAB and chord boxes. Press Play to hear it on a guitar, with the chords strummed behind it, then turn off the tune and play it yourself.
- Key G (blues)
- Time 4/4
- Tempo Swing, crotchet = 112
- Chords G7, C7, D7
The chords
Learn these first. The dots are where your fingers go, numbered 1 (index) to 4 (little finger); an open circle means play that string open, and × means don’t play it.
The music
Play counts you in with one bar of clicks. Chords only leaves the tune to you; Tune only leaves the strumming to you. Click any note to start from there.
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Swipe the music sideways to see the whole line.
About this tune
A 12-bar blues in G that we wrote for this page. The blues is the form jazz players jam on more than any other, and every chord in it is a seventh chord. The tune is a two-bar riff played four times, then an answering phrase. The third time, over C7, the riff’s B becomes B♭ (both Bs in bar 5), a “blue note”, so it fits the new chord. All the notes are in the first three frets.
How to practise it
- Learn G7, C7 and D7. Then learn the order: four bars of G7, two of C7, two of G7, then D7, C7, G7, G7. That’s the 12-bar blues; see the chart on the theory page.
- Strum it with Chords only and Loop on until you can go round without looking.
- Learn the riff (bars 1 and 2): G, B, D, E, D, B, G. Then the version with B♭ for bar 5: G string, 3rd fret.
- Improvise: with Chords only on, play the riff in bars 1 and 2, then make up your own answer in bars 3 and 4 instead of repeating it, using only G, B♭, B, D and E. Simple is good.
About the tune
We wrote this tune for these pages, so it’s free to play, record and share. It’s a “riff blues”: a short phrase repeated over the changing chords, the way swing bands built tunes in the 1930s.
The 12-bar blues grew out of African-American folk music in the Deep South around the start of the twentieth century. W. C. Handy’s published blues in the 1910s made the form famous, and it has been the backbone of jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll ever since.
Where the tune comes from
We wrote Greenhouse Blues for this course, so you won’t find it anywhere else. It’s free to play, teach, record and share.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Digital Greenhouse, 2026
- Key
- G (blues)
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 12 bars
- Tempo
- Swing, crotchet = 112
- Chords
- G7, C7, D7
- What it teaches
- The 12-bar blues, and the B♭ “blue note”
- Place in the course
- Tune 6 of 10 (The blues)
Questions and answers
Which chords are in Greenhouse Blues?
Is Greenhouse Blues free to use?
How do I read the TAB under the music?
How fast should I play it?
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