Some cool 12 bar progressions for Blues Guitar

12 bar blues progressions are by far the most common ways of playing the blues. They are also common in Jazz and Rock n Roll music, and are a great way for any guitarist to explore theory and practice new techniques. I've charted these out in the key of A, but they can be transposed into any other key.

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This version of the 12 bar blues is simple enough that a new guitarist can learn it in their first lesson.  Improvise over this progression with the A blues scale, and optionally with the A harmonic minor over the ninth and tenth bars.

This is more or less the "default" 12 bar progression.  Note the use of seventh chords throughout.  You can use an A blues scale to improvise over this progression, and the A mixolydian and Dorian modes also work well over the first 8 bars of this progression.  You can also use an A harmonic minor over the E7 chords (bars 9 and 12).

This progression gets its name from the use of the IV chord in the second bar.  It is, in other respects, the same as the last progression, and you can use the same scales and modes to improvise over it.

This is a more jazzy progression, with a lot more scope for different scales and modes throughout the 12 bars.  You can of course just stick to a blues scale in A through the whole progression, and it will sound great.  An A natural minor works well everywhere except bar 4, where you can modulate to an A major, and once again you can use a harmonic minor over the E7 (in bar 10 and 12) - there are lots of other things you can do with a progression like this, but that's a start.