Repetition is one of the hallmarks of blues music. Repetition refers to the reoccurrence or reappearance of musical ideas. Since the blues itself is a repetitive twelve-bar loop, it stands to reason that your musical sentences can also repeat and paraphrase themselves. Duke Ellington's brilliant yet sparse “C Jam Blues” is a perfect example. This little tune uses only two notes — C and G — in the melody. The rhythm is as shown in FIGURE 10-3.

FIGURE 10-3: C Jam Blues Four-Bar Phrase

This melody is a four-bar phrase. Moreover, it is repeated three times. As you know, 3 × 4 = 12. Twelve is the exact number of bars in a blues. You really can't get any more austere than “C Jam Blues” and still play a melody of any substance.

FIGURE 10-4 shows you another repetitive melodic phrase. The chord changes are purposely left out of this example. Use your ear — together with your knowledge of the blues — to add your own left-hand chord voicings. If you're feeling adventurous, try dropping the roots out of each chord. You might want to use major thirds and dominant sevenths as shell voicings.

FIGURE 10-4: Repetitive Right-Hand Riff

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