I'm not exactly sure how to word my question(s) here, but I'm having a mental block when it comes to composing songs.  I'm trying to come up with some simple basic 12 bar blues tune.  I understand how to 12 bar blues progression works in the 1,4,5.   Where I'm having trouble is with the relation between the Chorus, Verse and Bridge sections.   Some basic guidelines or even an example would be much appreciated.
 

Here's an example: http://youtu.be/YtqjW2uhBT4 

verse 01: Billy Holiday 
verse 02: Ben Webster 
verse 03: Lester Young 
verse 04: Billy Holiday 
verse 05: Vic Dickerson 
verse 06: Gerry Mulligan 
verse 07: Billy Holiday 
verse 08: Coleman Hawkins 
verse 09: Roy Elridge 
verse 10: Roy Elridge 
verse 11: Billy Holiday 
verse 12: Billy Holiday 


 That is a pretty simple 12 bar blues song form with lots of potential for expression. 

 Have fun. 

 best regards, 
mike



edited for formatting... written in firefox... fixed in chrome

Blues... examples..... 

so many.... 

You have the old masters from the early years,..... just depends how far back you wanna go.  Then you have the white boys who were inspired by the masters..... most all the rock bands of the 60's were in this category. Then you have the modern blues players.... still changing it up and still making it fresh today.  We have a few really good blues men here in the forums too....  To get a starting point on inspiration..... hit YouTube and type in the search "Blues" and go from there....

don't forget the minor chords when working the 1,4,5.... 

as far as structure..... man, whatever works,,,, verse chorus and bridges are all fair game and in whatever order the song tells you it wants to have them played.... 

Blues are about emotion..... so let the song tell you what it wants. Feel it, and let it be what it needs to be.... That might sound like a "Zen thing" but it is what it is when it comes to the blues. 

There are no rules..... just feelings and emotion. 

Yes plenty of info on YouTube, here's a nice one about minor blues progressions; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QU97ViXTuI

I think the best "advice" comes from listening to as many Blues tunes as you can.  There are literally 1000's of artists and tunes who can answer your question, simply bu listening to them.

And there are so many variations on chord progressions....  Listen to Robben Ford... you hardly ever hear a straightn1-4-5 progression out of that guy, yet he is one of the finest Blues players around in my opinion.

Good luck!!!!

Thanks guys.  For the most part my exposure to the blues has been from the likes of Page, Clapton, Stevie Ray etc.  Understanding that what I need to do is to dig wayyyy back.  I get what you're saying about "the feeling".  I guess what I'm trying to get at here is for someone to say ok here's this song listen to this.  It's A minor D minor progression in the Chorus, and then say now here's the verse and here's what's different.  Same goes with the Bridge sections. 

I've been combing through youtube for answers, and I get the blues progressions etc, but nothing that breaks it down from verse, chorus, bridge etc.  

Sorry if I seem like an idiot here, but I feel this is my one major hic up preventing from moving along in my song writing adventures.

Iron. What you seek takes a lot of time and study. Simple as that.
Learn every blues tune that ever was/is. Then, you'll have some options if emulation is what you seek.

Guitarhacker


Blues... examples..... 

so many.... 

You have the old masters from the early years,..... just depends how far back you wanna go.  Then you have the white boys who were inspired by the masters..... most all the rock bands of the 60's were in this category. Then you have the modern blues players.... still changing it up and still making it fresh today.  We have a few really good blues men here in the forums too....  To get a starting point on inspiration..... hit YouTube and type in the search "Blues" and go from there....

don't forget the minor chords when working the 1,4,5.... 

as far as structure..... man, whatever works,,,, verse chorus and bridges are all fair game and in whatever order the song tells you it wants to have them played.... 

Blues are about emotion..... so let the song tell you what it wants. Feel it, and let it be what it needs to be.... That might sound like a "Zen thing" but it is what it is when it comes to the blues. 

There are no rules..... just feelings and emotion. 

And Dom7s see frequently use and there's the ii-V and ii-V-I. I'll see if I can find a YT video about the variations on the usual progression. Other genres you should study are: Jazz/Gospel(Hymns)/Rock 'n' Roll/Country - all utilizing the ii-V-I. Other if not most genres employ it, but those are where that progression is found very often.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VWUFpLKOFE


And there's also the appropriate Blues scales when improvising/soloing (Pentatonic is the most used which comes in three flavors - Major, Minor and Neutral)


Borrowed chords work (which you alluded to), but the ii (m7/m7b5) iii and vi and vii (m7b5) also see play time. 

And the feeling thing, that's not just blues, but every other genre. What does this song need? You'll figure that out as you write it. I've said this before, but music is her own being. She'll tell you what she wants and needs. From form, progression, dynamics/articulations, scales/modes, etc, etc.

You'll have disagreements as this is an ear thing, but you'll work things out.

What you hear evokes thought and thoughts provoke feeling. Feeling is not and can't/shouldn't be seen in isolation.

Another thing you can do is take advantage of the many 'tab' sites - pick some blues songs you like and search for the title of the song plus 'chords' and you'll end up somewhere like ultimate-guitar.com, then you can study the chord progressions.

Youtube is an excellent place to look for a good sampling of blues progressions. You can't go wrong studying the "Three Kings" Albert, BB and Freddie. Their catalogs contain an large variety of 12 bar blues progressions.