Boogie Woogie Piano 101 - Great left hand for Blues, Rock & Country

Published by Chris Marx on October 2, 2008 05:29 am under Blues Piano Lessons, Country Piano Lessons, Swing Piano Lessons
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In this video lesson there are 2 boogie woogie patterns for the left hand. In fact, its these LEFT HAND patterns, (not right hand) and the swing that are characteristic of boogie woogie. For the left hand boogie woogie pattern, I would only focus on the easy one at :42 seconds.

The right hand patterns can be used in many styles, not just boogie woogie.
I really like 2:04 - swing 8th notes in the right hand and would practice that the most.
You could use that pattern on a blues or on a song like Great Balls of Fire.

Make sure you practice these patterns in different keys so you can apply them to songs other than a 12 bar blues in C.

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10 Comments so far

Lorna on October 6th, 2008

I really really enjoyed and appreciate very very much your lessons!!!!!!!! 3 cheers!!! Wishing for more. Thanks a zillion for your time in sharing, blessings.
jeremy on October 6th, 2008

hey i love all the jerry lee videos so can u add whole lot of shakin goin on for me.
Boogie Woogie 110 - 2 Handed Blues Pattern | Fast Piano Lessons Blog on October 24th, 2008

[...] Here is a boogie woogie pattern for two hands on Dominant 7 chords! (G7) It builds off of our last post Boogie Woogie 101 [...]
John Mc carthy on November 13th, 2008

Hi Chris,

this boogie great sounds great .. it swings….

” both right” helps a lot to get it down
Victoria on December 23rd, 2008

Hello, Chris!

Thank you very much for these videos they help greatly :D.

I couldn’t help but notice someone requesting “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ on” by the great Jerry Lee Lewis, I would also love to finish learning how to play it, and properly.
I have everything down except the solo part which is quite baffling to me as I planned on playing this song at my sixteenth birthday party. O.o (maybe I bit off more than I could chew.)

I bet you’re quite busy, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Victoria.
josh on May 27th, 2009

thanks for the lessons

You’re welcome!
Thanks for visiting the site!
-Chris Marx
Digitalpiano on July 12th, 2009

good work. keep up. thank you.
pc on July 22nd, 2009

it would be very helpful to me to gain the ability to establish a pattern in lh and then add rh with a completely different rhythm - say 3 against 2. i’ve been struggling with this inability for most of my 74 years.
thanks
pc
Chris Marx on July 29th, 2009
Hi PC!

I know what you mean, 3vs2 is difficult.

There is no end to the amount of coordination patterns you can practice. You can always add a little bit more of a challenge once you master one pattern.

If you’re using a meteronome thats the best advice I can give. Also if a pattern has taken you longer than 10minutes to be able to play slowly, then figure out a way to break it down to a simpler pattern and work your way up to the harder one.

For 3vs2 I think your best bet would be:
1. Turn the meteronome to a slow pace (60-90bpm)
2. Clap each hand against your thighs, left hand: left thigh, right hand: right thigh.
3. First practice clapping two against the meteronome. 2 for every one click, then 2 for every 2 clicks.
4. Then practice clapping three against the meteronome. 3 for every one click, 3 claps for every 2 clicks. etc.
5. Then try clapping one hand with the meteronme, while the other claps against it: the right hand claps along 2 claps for every 2 clicks, the left hand claps 3 for every 2 clicks. (you can use the meteronome as a support to help you get back on track)
Breaking things down into that many steps is the key to learning any difficult thing on piano. I’m sure you’ve probably tried many of these steps? And we should even break it down further somehow if one of the steps was giving you trouble!

Thanks!
Chris Marx
Chris Marx on July 30th, 2009

Thanks

Chris Marx

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