The turnaround
The descending figure over the last two bars that pulls the form back round to the top.
- Style
- blues
- Written in
- A
- Feel
- shuffle
- Tempo
- ♩=88
- Length
- 2 bars
Numbers are the order you play them, so notes sharing a number sound together. Drop the tempo until it is clean, then bring it back up.
Written in A, and the writing below describes it there. Move it to another key and the shape does not change, only where its root sits — which is the difference between knowing a lick and knowing a fret number.
- 1A · string 1, fret 5 + A · string 4, fret 7
- 2A · string 1, fret 5 + G♯ · string 4, fret 6
- 3A · string 1, fret 5 + G · string 4, fret 5
- 4A · string 1, fret 5 + F♯ · string 4, fret 4
- 5E · string 5, fret 7vibrato
The turnaround is the most recognisable gesture in the idiom: a descending line over the last two bars that hands the form back to bar one. Audiences hear it as the end of a sentence even if they could not name it.
This one walks down the D string against a held A on top, then steps onto the V to set up the next chorus. Week 8 in the app teaches a sibling line that walks down the B string instead, landing on the same E — same device, different strings. Play it slightly behind the beat and let the last chord ring rather than cutting it off.
Where this fits
This comes out of week 8 of the blues path — stealing licks by ear. The week is where you learn the device; this page is where you come back to it once the week has rolled over.