Most blues songs follow the standard 12-bar pattern. Blue Jean Blues doesn’t. ZZ Top wrote it as a 10-bar progression, which gives the song a slightly different feel — like the verse ends a beat or two sooner than your ear expects. It keeps things moving. This version is in A minor, a nod to Jeff Healey’s arrangement of the tune.
The F-G-Am Run-Up
The signature move in this song is the chord push at the beginning: you hit a low open E bass note, then walk up through F major, G major, and land on A minor. All barre chords, all using the E major shape moved up the neck.
Here’s the trick that makes the changes smooth. Instead of using your normal E major fingering (first, second, third fingers), flip it around — use your second, third, and fourth fingers instead. Same shape, different fingers. That frees up your first finger to do the barre when you slide the shape up to the F position at the first fret.
From F, slide the whole shape up two frets to G. Then two more frets to A minor — just lift your second finger off at the fifth fret position and you’ve got the minor chord. The whole run feels like one fluid motion once you get it dialed in.
The 10-Bar Verse
ZZ Top originally recorded this in B minor, but Jeff Healey dropped it to A minor because of his lower vocal range. Same deal here — and honestly it sits nicely on the guitar in that key.
The verse cycles through the A minor progression four times. Each cycle uses that E-to-F-to-G-to-Am push. After four cycles, you move to the D chord for two passes, then back to A minor, then up to the E (the five chord). That’s your verse — ten bars instead of twelve.
The arrangement changes depending on which version you listen to. The ZZ Top studio recording, the live versions, and Jeff Healey’s take all have slight variations. But the core chord progression stays the same through all of them. Once you learn the progression, you can adjust the arrangement however you want.
The Closing Riff
The song ends with a chromatic walk-up on the sixth string. Start with the open low E, then walk up — third fret, fourth fret, fifth fret — using your first, second, and third fingers one after another. From there, cross over to the fifth string and hit the C at the third fret, then resolve back to A minor.
It’s a simple riff, but it wraps up the song with a sense of finality. Like a period at the end of a sentence. Practice it slowly until the finger walk feels natural, and keep the timing even on each note.
Making the Changes Smooth
The biggest challenge in this song isn’t any individual chord — it’s the transitions. That F-G-Am run-up needs to sound like one connected movement, not three separate chord changes. A couple things that help: keep your barre finger pressure consistent as you slide, and don’t lift your hand off the strings between positions. Think of it as one chord shape traveling up the neck.
The other tricky spot is the shift from the A minor section to the D. Make sure you know your D chord shape cold so you can grab it without hesitating. Any pause at that transition breaks the flow of the song.
Blue Jean Blues is a great tune to add to your blues guitar collection. The 10-bar structure makes it a good study piece if you’ve been playing mostly standard 12-bar tunes — it trains your ear to follow the actual progression instead of just counting bars on autopilot. If you want more ZZ Top after this, Tush is a completely different energy — fast, driving, and built on a shuffle. For another barre chord workout, The Thrill is Gone uses similar shapes higher up the neck.