Shuffle and boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie was born in the bars of Texas and Chicago in the 1920s: a lone pianist had to get a whole room dancing. Its secret: a tireless left hand playing bass and rhythm at once, and a triplet swing, the shuffle.

The shuffle feel

In a shuffle each beat is split into three: the first eighth lasts two thirds of the beat, the second one third ("long-short, long-short"). It's often written as eighths marked "swing", or in 12/8, as below.

The boogie bass

The most famous pattern climbs the chord with the sixth and seventh, then comes back down: C – E – G – A – B♭ – A – G – E. You transpose it onto each chord of the progression.

M:12/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=60
K:C clef=bass
"C7" C,2E, G,2A, _B,2A, G,2E, | "F7" F,2A, C2D _E2D C2A, | "G7" G,2B, D2E F2E D2B, |]

Hands together

The right hand plays short chords ("stabs") on the off-beats, answering the left hand:

M:12/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=60
K:C
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "C7" z3 [G_Bc]2 z [G_Bc]3 z3 | "F7" z3 [Ac_e]2 z [Ac_e]3 z3 |]
[V:LH] C,2E, G,2A, _B,2A, G,2E, | F,2A, C2D _E2D C2A, |]

Variant: walking bass

For a calmer blues, the bass walks in quarter notes on the chord tones, with the sixth and seventh:

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C clef=bass
"C7" C, E, G, A, | _B, A, G, E, | "F7" F, A, C D | _E D C A, |]

Step-by-step exercise

1. Left hand alone, very slowly: the boogie bass on C7, counting "1-2-3, 2-2-3…". Suggested fingering: 5-3-2-1 for C-E-G-A, slide the thumb onto B♭, then 2-3-5 for A-G-E. Keep the wrist supple.
2. Chain C7 – F7 – G7 without stopping: play the whole 12-bar form left hand alone.
3. Start the boogie backing in C and play the left hand with the loop.
4. Add the right hand: first the stabs above, then blues-scale riffs on a single repeated note.
5. When it's steady, raise the tempo gradually. Then try the slow blues in C with the walking bass.