Using sustain pedal with stretch voicings and left-hand tenths

The Use of Sustain Pedal in Boogie Woogie

I'd like to talk a bit about the use of the sustain pedal in this piece. Normally, in Boogie Woogie, the last thing you want to do is put the pedal down.

Intro

• Sustain Pedal Usage: I've used it in the intro because I'm alternating deep bass notes with rootless chords in the center of the piano. For example, G9.
• Resonance: If I don't use the pedal, that bass note will disappear along with the F9. Using the pedal gives me much greater resonance and allows the notes to ring together.

Pedal Technique

• You can hold the pedal down for as long as the chord doesn't change.
• Because the right hand's quite simple, as long as you change the pedal between the G7 and the F7, there won't be too much blurring.

Important Note:
Don't use the pedal in this bit; it'll sound hopelessly cluttered. You'll get that effect if you keep the pedal down there.

Bringing the Pedal Back

You could bring it back in for the last part of the intro:

• Chord and Bass Note: Even if you take your hand off, that's still ringing.
• Stretch Chord: Find your stretch chord. You can play the chord with the bass note ringing, and you can take your hands off to find the next bar in comfort.
• No Pedal: No pedal here, and I'm accenting 2 and 4. Did you notice that? It really adds to the groove.

The Surprise in Bar Seven

The surprise I was talking about comes in bar seven:

• Normally at that point, you've been to F and would come back to C for two bars.
• Here, we've got a new chord sequence leading us to D minor and the II V, I.

Chord Sequence

• You remember we saw the 2, 5, 1 already in the first lesson in this set:
  • Medium jump: D minor, G7, C.

We're approaching that from C:

• Progression: D minor, E minor, E flat minor, and then into the D minor for the last two bars.

Left Hand Technique

The left hand is playing tenths, which is a big stretch for most people:

• Root Positions: Root 5, 3. The 3 is actually also called the 10th. You could also call that a spread or an open position triad with the third above.

Pedal Usage for Holding Notes

Now, you need to use the pedal there. This allows you not to have to stretch because the pedal will be holding down the bottom notes:

• These are all triads: one, two, three in the key and then flat three, taking us to two and the familiar run up.
• Remember doing that one in Medium Jump? It wasn't doubled up like that; it was just a walking bass.

Conclusion

So that's pretty much covered everything in this piece. Just remember, you need to use the pedal to create a smooth effect so that all needs to ring together.

• As soon as you've played the D of the next chord, the pedal needs to go up and down to clear the previous harmony.
• You should have all six notes ringing together: pedal off.

Final Note: Instead of doing the regular ending, I played a famous lick and some new voicings in the right hand to finish.