Port Street Blues Tutorial: Chords & Harmony
In this lesson Jon breaks down the chord sequence for the tune "Port Street Blues" and discusses the reharmonisations and modulations. Port Street Blues contains an interesting chord progression that departs from the standard 1-4-5 changes.
Chord Substitutions In The Blues
When playing the blues we can use chord substitutions to tick the listeners ear to the point where the listener cannot remember the tonic or home base of the chord progression.
When playing the standard 1-4-5 blues it’s always very obvious where the ‘home base’ sits in the chord progression. However, with Port Street Blues the tune takes the listener on a journey through some interesting chord substitutions.
Port Street Blues Chord Changes & Form
Port Street Blues follows a 16 bar form. The first 8 bars follow a repeated motif based around C7 which is the tonic of the tune. This opening sequence establishes the tonality and sets the stage for the upcoming substitutions.
In bar 8 the harmony begins to shift with a modulation to F7 in bar 9 which is then followed by a 251 progression to Eb Major. At this point in the progression we have tricked the listener into thinking that the Eb is the new tonic.
The progression then uses interesting passing chords to move to Ab7, F#dim7, and G-7 which is then used to start a 251 progression which takes us back to the original home base of C.
Lesson Downloads
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Port Street Blues Chord Voicings File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
In this lesson Jon explores on the turnaround chord progression found at the end of the blues form and shows us ways to expand and embellish it.
We arrange the blues tune in the key of F and we explore a wide range of common passing chords, substitutions, and reharmonisations.
We apply all of the concepts that we have covered so far in the course including bass lines, voicings, melodic decoration, and turnarounds.
Practice Tips
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Study the passing chords which are used to 'soften' the modulations. Passing chords are often dominant chords a half step above the target chord.
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Play through the voicings in the PDF download and notice how certain notes are kept consistent between the chord changes.
- In particular the passage from Eb6 to A7#11 to Ab7 which keeps the note Eb on top of each voicing for these 3 chords.
I love this tune! Having the songwriter Mr Cleary himself very generously dissecting and sharing it is such a treat!
Hi Rich,
I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson!
You might also like to check out Jon’s pre-recorded seminars where he discusses the music of New Orleans in more detail. You can find the the seminars here: https://www.pianogroove.com/live-seminars/?tag=blues
If you have any questions with the material just let us know.
Cheers,
Hayden