Last Updated on May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

Robert Johnson died at the age of 27 and today known as the Master of the Delta Blues (one of the earliest styles of blues music). His music has been a great influence on guitar players like Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and many others. In other words, Johnson’s music is the real deal!

His blues chops and turnarounds are a really nice asset to your blues vocabulary. Memorize these 5 Robert Johnson style blues turnarounds so you can take them out of your back pocket and put them into use whenever you need to play a 12 bar blues.

Practice them, get ‘m under your fingers and experiment with different turnarounds at the end of each 12 bar blues section.

Enjoy the lesson!

Blues Turnaround #1 – Key of E



Blues Turnaround #2 – Key of E



Blues Turnaround #3 – Key of A



Blues Turnaround #4 – Key of E



Blues Turnaround #5 – Key of A



Assignments:

– Learn each blues turnaround thoroughly.

– Memorize all five blues turnarounds one by one.

– Play the 12 bar blues sequence a couple of times and incorporate a different blues turnaround at the end of each section.

– Don’t forget! Play the blues turnarounds regularly so they will be stored in your long term memory. If you learn them now and don’t repeat the turnarounds frequently they are not gonna last in your repertoire. Practice and repeat.

If you like to dig into his guitar playing style check out Robert Johnson: The New Transcriptions

Have a great day!