Transitioning to the High Section

So then we're off into this sort of very high, high section, which is, again, you know, you can tell we're getting towards the end of the song. We're going up in the register.

Climax of the Song

In these boogies, it's often the case that the tune will gravitate towards the high end of the register for the sort of climax of the song.

• We've got this riff built on that kind of harmony.
• These are the kind of notes that we were looking at before, but right at the top.
• That's just what Pete Johnson played on the day.

You could play that in all sorts of ways. Feel free to experiment with that:

• Change where all those little bits of detail happen.
• Shift it around in the bar.

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Melodic Ideas

It's just a really cool, cool little melodic idea that you can use. Why not just repeat it? Instead of just rolling there:

• Add the G or the A.
• Go between the two.

You sort of hear that. Or you could go down to the G at the bottom. I'm kind of changing between the G and the A. Explore that idea!

Moving Down the Octaves

When I go down the octaves, then we go to the chord IV again. It's just that sort of sliding:

• Flow with all these little linking phrases between his ideas.

Then we're into this quite ferocious idea. So, you know, this is all about a flexible wrist because you're essentially playing that eighth note rhythm throughout the whole 12-bar structure.

• You can see my wrist is quite flexible there.
• Again, make sure your arm is relaxed.

Fingering Techniques

So that's the fingering I'm using. There's no sort of really elegant way of doing it.

• Practice these at a slower tempo until you're comfortable.
• Then ramp up the tempo.

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Introduction to a New Idea

Then we go into this next bit. This is a little bit tricky. This section is all built on that idea again, which we've had before, but we're sort of jumping back to that idea.

• The last bar, the fourth bar of the 12-bar, stays on that idea. He doesn't move.
• That's a cool thing, actually: playing across bar lines.

Riding the Wave

So, using an idea and rather than just resolving that idea on the downbeat of the next point of interest, which in this case would be the chord IV, he goes across that line.

It's like riding a wave and waiting for it to crash; eventually, it does in a good way.

Exploring Thirds

Then we're back into this idea of thirds.

Let's have a look at playing things across the bar line:

• Carry the idea into the chord IV.
• Use an idea that we used before, something like this:

So I sort of carried it over into the chord IV, which just keeps that idea going a bit. It's something a little unexpected.

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Returning to Pete Johnson's Style

So back to what Pete Johnson does on this chorus.

I'm using these fingers a lot because you've got to reach down to that G. There's that phrase that we've used a lot.