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Form

The 12-Bar Blues

1 I A7
2 IV D7 Quick change
3 I A7
4 I A7
5 IV D7
6 IV D7
7 I A7
8 I A7
9 V E7
10 IV D7
11 I A7
12 V E7 Turnaround

Every chord is a 7th

I7, IV7, V7 — dominant sevenths, all three. Even the “home” chord carries a dominant's tension. That's the blues sound.

The quick change

Bar 2 swaps to IV a bar early. You'll hear this far more often than four straight bars of I.

The turnaround

Bar 12 lands on V instead of I, pointing back to the top so the form can repeat without a hard stop.

Shown in the key of A. It's still I–IV–V in any key — spell those three chords from wherever you start and the form is the same.