Turnaround Changes

12 bars · 2 changes per bar · Originally associated with the song Turnaround · Often played in C

Usage

Turnaround - Ornette Coleman (in C) (1959)

Summary

This 12-bar blues follows a familiar outline at first, opening with the quick-change to the IV7 in bar 2 before returning to I7 in bars 3–4. Bars 5–8 are also mostly conventional, moving to the IV in bar 5 and staying there in bar 6 before dropping back to I7 for bars 7–8, although the use of a minor 7 quality on the IV in bar 6 adds a small colour shift. The more distinctive writing arrives in bars 9 and 10: bar 9 begins on I before rising to ♭II, and bar 10 starts on VII before falling to VI, giving the turnaround a more chromatic, less standard character than many basic blues forms. Overall, it’s a fairly accessible progression with a recognisable blues foundation, but those later-bar twists give soloists and accompanists a few extra harmonic contours to respond to.