Starting a Boogie Woogie Tune

So how do you start a Boogie Woogie tune?

Basic Chord Movement

Well, most boogie tunes have an intro, and a lot of them are built around this kind of chord movement:

• C7 to C diminished 7 and then back to C7.

There are some variations on that. For example:

• C7 to diminished 7 to an F minor or D minor half diminished chord back to the C7.

A lot of them are built by adding a rhythm to that basic harmonic movement.

Example:

You might have a simple version like this:

• This particular voicing is definitely one that was used a lot. Essentially, it's the third and the seventh in the bass going down, while in the right hand, the octave stays the same.

So you've got the whole diminished seventh there. You could add some extra note values in there, say, like that or that kind of thing.

You'll probably hear that this is very similar to a lot of the Albert Ammons intros and Pete Johnson's very famous intro to Roland Pete.

Introduction to Roland Pete

Let's look at that introduction to Roland Pete by Pete Johnson.

You'll hear it's built on the same harmonies that we just looked at, plus some other ones thrown in.

I'm going to play it for you once and then break it down.

Playthrough:

So that's it. Now, let's break it down.

• It starts with a little line to introduce it: G, A, B in octaves.
• Very simple! It uses the same harmony as we looked at, but with the C at the bottom.

The diminished here is:

• It's the same, but it has this discordant B at the bottom, which, if you listen to the record, adds a feeling of movement downwards.

This works in context as follows:

1. To the C7
2. Then, lots of parallel chords at the bottom.

These parallel chords are essentially an F. Occasionally, I do put in a little roll there.

So there you go, there's Pete Johnson's intro to Roland Pete.

Another Classic Intro

Let's look at another classic intro.

This one is by Albert Ammons to his Boogie Woogie Stomp, which he actually took from the original Pinetops Boogie Woogie intro.

Approach

This one is built on tremolos between the two hands.

Playthrough:

So, yeah, it involves a bit of technique there, just trying to get this rhythm as consistent as possible between the hands.

Breakdown

Let's play it slowly:

• The first bit has this little run in the left hand, and then it's rocking with the right hand.
• It's always the left hand that leads.
• Then it does it again.

Notice these harmonies going up.

And then this time, it does the same thing on the F with the run-up.

Final Thoughts

That's the basic idea!

Just remember, tempo-wise, try to play it at a comfortable speed before ramping it up. Eventually, you'll get up to the speed of the original.