Developing a Strong Left Hand

It's important when you're getting to grips with this left hand to develop a really strong little finger. It needs to be doubling up on that root all the time, eight times in every bar.

• Recommended Fingering:
  • Second finger on the fifth
  • Thumb on the sixth

Make sure that little finger isn't being lazy. A lot of people play, and you might end up playing it like this, it needs to be really clean and crisp. This is quite a bouncy left hand.

Right Hand Technique

In the right hand, we're starting on the blue third and going to the major third.

• Fingering:
  • Use second finger and thumb
  • End up on the first inversion, sixth position, moving this up to C and on D.

For the D chord, the thumb will be on the blue third, and the second finger on the major third. You need to use this fingering to ensure that you land on the correct notes for the D6 chord.

Chord Patterns

You've probably noticed that the first 12 bars I played were more of an accompaniment pattern.

• Characteristics:

  • There isn't a lot going on melodically.

  • The chord pattern in the right hand is an on/off chord pattern.

  • On/Off Pattern:

    • First chord on the beat
    • Second chord on two and off the beat

This is the same in every bar, with a pick-up every two bars. When you change chords, you have to move the right hand ahead of the left hand so that the C chord arrives on the first beat of bar five.

Practice those chord changes so you can do them without hesitating.

Adding Interest

Once you've got the first 12 bars down, you can start to think about how to make it more interesting.

• What I've Done:
  • Leave half those chords out
  • In bar two, play a short melodic idea

So, we alternate the pick-up and the on/off chords with a very short melodic idea. You can vary these melodic ideas as you wish. Sometimes, I add grace notes or syncopate them.

I finished off with a famous lick. You may remember doing one of these in part one, lesson six, On Off Boogie.

Ending with Licks:

• Famous licks always end on the third of the chord.
• We're in G now, so we want to end on B.

The famous lick at the end of this piece started with a pick-up and resolves onto not only B but B and D from a semitone below. You can slide off those if you like.

Practicing the Ending

That's a very, it's a kind of version of the famous lick that uses thirds. I would practice that over and over with maybe the barrel house to start with. When you've got it, upgrade to left hand shuffle. You can use that as an ending.

Right Hand Chords

Let's look at these right hand chords.

• They're first inversion six shapes.
• The first chord is on the beat, and the second chord is off the beat, this is the on/off chord pattern.

Here it is with the left hand shuffle, so practice that until it's really crisp and precise. If you have difficulty with it, try it with the barrel house left hand instead, four to the bar.

Don't forget to go around the changes. Make sure you can change smoothly, whether you're doing barrel house or the left hand shuffle.

Add the pick-up, just practice the pick-up and then put it all together.

Sometimes it's useful to deconstruct the piece and practice specific things before you put it all together, and that will help you learn it much quicker.