Songwriting Advice
How to Write Memphis Blues Songs
You want a blues song that smells like cigarette smoke, tastes like cheap coffee, and hits like a freight train. You want lyrics that sound lived in. You want guitar licks that feel like a wink and a punch at the same time. Memphis blues is not polite. Memphis blues is honest, dirty, soulful, and sometimes hilarious in a blue way. This guide gives you everything you need to write songs in that tradition while still sounding like you and not a museum exhibit.
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Quick Links to Useful Sections
- Why Memphis Blues Still Matters
- Core Elements of Memphis Blues
- Quick History That Helps Write Better Songs
- Understanding the Twelve Bar Structure
- Tempo and Feel
- Scales and Notes That Define the Sound
- Guitar Techniques That Taste Like Memphis
- Writing Lyrics in Memphis Blues Style
- Melody and Phrasing
- Rhythm Section, Groove, and Drums
- Arrangement and Instrumentation
- Juke Joint Map
- Slow Heart Map
- Rockabilly Blues Map
- Production Tips for Authentic Tone
- Writing Workflows and Exercises
- Two Hour Juke Joint
- Object Drill
- Call and Response Drill
- Song Templates You Can Use
- Examples: Turn Cold Lines into Memphis Gold
- Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
- How to Finish a Song Faster
- Distribution and Live Performance Tips
- FAQ
This is written for millennial and Gen Z songwriters who want to write Memphis style blues that fans actually care about. Expect practical steps, real life scenarios that make things sticky, and exercises that force you to make decisions instead of tinkering forever. We cover history, rhythm, chords, melody, lyrics, guitar moves, arrangement, production, and finish workflows that help you ship songs. We also explain music terms and acronyms so you do not have to guess at the jargon.
Why Memphis Blues Still Matters
Memphis sits on the edge of a few musical tectonic plates. Delta blues flowed into the city. Gospel and soul developed their own swagger. Early rock and roll got born in the same studios where blues artists worked. Because of that blend Memphis blues carries storytelling from the country and electricity from the city. That combination is why a Memphis blues song can be intimate and loud at the same time.
Real life scenario
- Imagine you are sitting on the steps of a shotgun house at dusk. A train whistles down the line. Someone plays a wailing guitar in the distance. The lyric you write from that step will almost always be more interesting than a perfectly tidy line invented in an app.
Core Elements of Memphis Blues
Memphis blues has a handful of repeatable traits. Master these and you will be speaking the language.
- Twelve bar form. This is a chord architecture used in most classic blues songs. It means the chord changes happen over twelve measures. We will break this down later.
- Shuffle and slow groove. The feel often rocks on swung eighth notes. That means instead of straight equal eighths you play a long short pattern. If you need the math term it is swung eighths. If someone says BPM they mean beats per minute. That tells you how fast the song moves.
- Blues scale and pentatonic. The common scale is the minor pentatonic with a flat five note added. That flat five is called the blue note. It is where the emotional salt lives.
- Call and response. Vocal line answered by guitar, horns, or piano. This back and forth is a conversation style borrowed from African musical traditions and church singing.
- Raw vocal tone. Grainy, raspy, conversational vocals sell authenticity more than perfect pitch. Think storyteller not Broadway star.
- Street level lyricism. Trains, juke joints, late paychecks, lost love, and working hands. Use objects and small scenes rather than broad statements.
Quick History That Helps Write Better Songs
Understanding where things came from gives you permission to borrow without sounding like a knockoff. Memphis became a crossroads for musicians in the early twentieth century. W.C. Handy published blues sheet music out of Memphis which helped move the music into popular culture. Beale Street was the living room and stage for many early blues players. Later Sun Studio and other spots layered electric guitar and studio techniques onto that base.
Real names to anchor you
- W.C. Handy is often called the father of the blues because he published some of the first printed blues pieces.
- B.B. King learned and played in Memphis before he became known world wide. His vibrato and phrasing are textbook good for blues players.
- Howlin Wolf recorded in Memphis early on and brought a growl and personality that shows how vocals can own a song.
Understanding the Twelve Bar Structure
When people say twelve bar blues they mean a set of chord changes that repeat every twelve measures. You can think of it as a scaffold to hang lyrics and solos on. Here is a simple pattern in plain words so there is no guessing.
- Count twelve bars
- Bars one through four: stay on the tonic chord. The tonic is the home chord of the key. If you play in the key of A the tonic chord is A.
- Bars five and six: move to the subdominant chord. That is the chord built on the fourth degree of the scale. In A that is D.
- Bars seven and eight: return to the tonic chord.
- Bar nine: move to the dominant chord. That is the chord built on the fifth degree. In A that is E.
- Bar ten: move to the subdominant chord again.
- Bars eleven and twelve: return to the tonic chord. Sometimes the twelfth bar is the dominant for a turn back into the next chorus.
If you prefer numbers this is often called the I IV V progression. Roman numerals are a shorthand where I means the tonic, IV means the subdominant, and V means the dominant. If someone says the I IV V in A they mean A D and E. If you are new to this use the spelled out chord names first and then learn the numerals once you are comfortable.
Tempo and Feel
Memphis blues covers a speed range. Classic slow blues sit around sixty to eighty beats per minute. Medium shuffle sits around ninety to one hundred ten beats per minute. If you want a party juke joint shuffle push toward the one hundred mark and add a second line groove with snaps or a snare pattern that lifts in the pocket. Try a small experiment. Record a twelve bar loop at seventy five BPM and then at one hundred BPM. Play the same riff and listen to how the feel changes. Often the slower tempo gives you more breath to deliver gritty lyrics. The medium tempo will get people moving.
Scales and Notes That Define the Sound
The bread and butter for Memphis blues guitar and vocal lines is the minor pentatonic scale with the flat five or blue note added. If you are in A the minor pentatonic notes are A C D E G. The blue note is the D sharp or E flat which sits between D and E. Play around with that one note. Bend into it. Let the string howl a little. The ear loves the tiny tension it creates.
Another useful palette is the mixolydian mode. That is a major sounding scale with a flattened seventh. It can make major chords sound earthy and a little spicy. Use the mixolydian for riffs over the tonic and dominant chords to add an old school feel without going minor.
Guitar Techniques That Taste Like Memphis
If you want to sound authentic on guitar focus more on phrasing than on speed. Here are practical moves you can use.
- String bends. Bend a note up a whole step or a half step and let it fall back. Bends should speak like a sentence. Bend up then release slowly for a conversational feel.
- Vibrato. This is a small shake on sustained notes. B.B. King is famous for wide, controlled vibrato. Practice a slow wide vibrato and a faster narrow vibrato. Use both for variety.
- Slides. Slide into notes rather than pluck them cold. Sliding from below gives a vocal like entry.
- Skeleton chords. Play partial chords or double stops with open strings. That creates space for vocal phrasing and horn like fills.
- Call and response. Sing a line then answer it with a short guitar phrase. This will help the song breathe and make room for solos.
Real life scenario
- Practice a five minute drill where you sing a line and always answer with either a two note bend or a three note slide. This trains your ear to reply cleanly instead of noodling.
Writing Lyrics in Memphis Blues Style
Memphis blues lyrics are direct but textured. They prefer specificity over abstraction. That means instead of writing I am sad you write The streetlight outside my window bills me for insomnia. Say small true things and let listeners fill the spaces with their own memory.
Key lyrical moves
- Object and action. Put a real object in the line and make it perform an action. Instead of I miss you write My coffee tastes like your last cigarette.
- Time crumbs. Add a time of day or a detail that locates the scene. Midnight, two AM, the shift change, the last bus. Tiny markers make scenes live.
- Double entendre. Blues loves lines that can mean two things. That is cheeky and smart when used sparingly. Keep the meaning clear enough that listeners can choose the shade they want to feel.
- First person storyteller. The best blues voices tell the story as if they lived it. Use I and you to keep it intimate.
Before and after examples
Before: I feel lonely at night.
After: Two AM and the faucet taps Morse code over my tired house. I answer with an empty glass.
Before: He left me and I am sad.
After: He took the last of the coffee and left the sugar, like some kind of small mercy.
Melody and Phrasing
Melodies in Memphis blues are often narrow in range and heavy on repetition. That repetition is the point. A short melodic phrase repeated with subtle variation becomes a hook. Avoid going too wide if you want the song to feel raw and human.
Phrasing tips
- Speak the line before you sing it. Mark where you naturally breathe. Those are your musical breaths.
- Place stressed syllables on strong beats. This is called prosody. If the important word lands on a weak beat the line will feel off.
- Let the guitar answer the vocal with the same melodic shape. This creates unity and indelible hooks.
Rhythm Section, Groove, and Drums
The drum pocket in Memphis blues can be a lazy train shuffle or a tight second line. If you are producing and you need quick advice try this.
- Kick on one and three for a shuffling slow blues.
- Snare on the two and four with some swing to the sixteenth notes for medium groove. Remember swing means the subdivisions are not even. Program or play a swung feel rather than quantizing everything to a grid.
- Bass walks moving between chord tones. The bass should tell the story between guitar fills. Use small steps and passing chromatic notes.
If you are using a drum machine or loops label the tempo in BPM which stands for beats per minute. A live drummer can translate a BPM to feel. If you program drums put subtle timing and velocity variations to avoid a mechanical sound.
Arrangement and Instrumentation
Memphis blues arrangements can be spare or full. Here are three maps you can steal and adapt.
Juke Joint Map
- Intro with a short guitar lick or organ hit
- Verse one with guitar, upright bass, brushes on snare, light piano
- Chorus adds a short horn stab or harmonic vocal answer
- Verse two introduces a harmonica lead phrase
- Solo section with guitar call and horn response
- Final chorus with stacked backing vocals and a final guitar cry
Slow Heart Map
- Minimal intro with electric piano and a vocal tag
- Verse with sparse guitar and distant snare
- Chorus brings the organ forward and a harmony line
- Bridge strips instruments to voice and bass for intimacy
- Final chorus returns with a small string pad for warmth
Rockabilly Blues Map
- Short drum fill leading into verse
- Driving upright bass and slapback echo on guitar
- Chorus punches with handclaps and horns
- Instrumental break with a fast run on guitar
- Final double chorus with gang vocals on the last line
Production Tips for Authentic Tone
You can write a Memphis blues song without knowing studio wizardry. Still a few production ideas will make the song land the way you hear it in your head.
- Use tube warmth. If you have access to a tube amp mic it up. If not, add gentle saturation in the DAW to simulate warmth. Overdrive is not distortion. Use it to make a guitar feel like it is alive.
- Keep some room. Early blues recordings have air around the instruments. Avoid over compressing everything. Let the drums breathe.
- Try slapback delay on electric guitar for that Sun Studio vibe. Slapback is a short single echo that sits close behind the main sound.
- Vocal placement. Put the vocal slightly forward in the mix but keep room for call and response. Small room reverb and a tiny bit of compression will give grit without killing dynamics.
Writing Workflows and Exercises
Use timed drills so you do not get lost in taste debates. Here are reproducible exercises that create songs instead of endless drafts.
Two Hour Juke Joint
- Hour one: Pick a chord progression. Start with the twelve bar in A. Improvise a vocal line over it for twenty minutes using nonsense syllables and vowels. Record it.
- Hour one continued: Listen to your recordings and mark any repeatable moments. Those are your hooks.
- Hour two: Turn the best one into a chorus line. Build two verses using object and time crumb rules. Keep it first person. Record a rough demo with a metronome or drum loop.
Object Drill
Pick a small object within arm reach. Spend ten minutes writing four lines where the object appears in each line and does a different thing. This forces concrete imagery.
Call and Response Drill
Sing a line then immediately play a two bar guitar answer. Do ten iterations. Keep both parts under five notes each. This builds the conversational muscle that defines much of Memphis blues.
Song Templates You Can Use
Template A: Classic Twelve Bar Ballad
- Intro 4 bars with guitar lick
- Verse 12 bar
- Chorus 12 bar with a hook line repeated
- Verse 12 bar with a new object
- Solo 12 bar over chords with call and response
- Final chorus with harmony and a changed last line for twist
Template B: Short Shuffle
- Intro 8 bars
- Verse 12 bar
- Chorus 8 bar vamp repeated twice
- Solo 16 bars
- Chorus repeat with gang vocals
Examples: Turn Cold Lines into Memphis Gold
Before
I miss you every night and think a lot.
After
Two AM again. Your side of the bed is a cold country and my socks still know the route to your door. Before He broke my heart and I am sad. After
He left the radio on and the last song plays like an empty apology. I pour the whiskey back in the bottle politely. Memphis blues songs live on stages and in late night bars. A few practical live tips help the song survive translation from demo to stage. The typical structure is the twelve bar blues. It uses the I IV and V chords. If you are in the key of A those chords are A D and E. The sequence roughly goes I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I. Variations and turnarounds are common. Learning a few different endings for the last two bars will make your songs feel less predictable. No. You need to capture the storytelling and the pocket. Electric guitar with a small amp and a bit of grit can be more Memphis than a pristine acoustic. The important thing is the feel and the lyrical honesty. Memphis blues works at slow tempos like sixty to eighty BPM and medium shuffles around ninety to one hundred BPM. Pick the tempo that supports the mood. Slow for sorrow. Medium for the juke joint swagger. Keep the chorus short and repeat a strong, clear line. Use a title that is easy to say and sing. Place the title on a long or held note. Repeat it twice and then add a twist on the third repeat to keep listeners interested. Aim for conversational grit. If you can feel the lyric in your throat when you speak it you are close. Add controlled rasp, dynamic changes, and occasional pushed notes for emphasis. Keep it honest rather than theatrical.Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
How to Finish a Song Faster
Distribution and Live Performance Tips
FAQ
What is the typical chord progression for Memphis blues
Do I need to play acoustic guitar to write authentic Memphis blues
What tempo should I use
How do I write a memorable blues chorus
What vocal style should I aim for
