When I was growing up in Auburn, California my older cousin Irving (later to become Dr. Irving Eisley, professor of music at the University of California and Mt. Holyoke College) would come to visit us during the summer and thrill and amaze me by playing Flight of the Bumblebee and Bumble Boogie. That was my introduction to boogie, and I still find it interesting and exciting.

Boogie-Woogie, thought to have its birth place in Marshall Texas, Is a style of blues piano playing that is characterized by a steadily repeated left hand bass figure. Sometimes called eight to the bar with a succession of right hand figures, much of it is written in 4/4 using eight notes. Boogie-Woogie pieces are generally 12 bar Blues.

This raw rhythmic style is considered the most impressive form of Jazz music. This piano music is infectious. Once you catch the Boogie-woogie “there ain’t no going back”. This music is extremely rhythmic with a real strong drive. It just grabs hold of you and makes you want to submit to its amazing power. It takes you to rapid highs and fast paced rhythms before you know what is happening to you.

The lively, exhilarating, rhythmic Pinetop Boogie Woogie was first recorded in 1928 by the incomparable Pinetop Smith. But that wasn’t the beginning of Boogie-Woogie. It was just the first recording of this exciting fast paced music. Soon to follow was a hit by Mead Lux Lewis that was called The Honky Tonk Train Blues. The Boogie Woogie was soon being played in house parties and Juke joints across the country. It wasn’t long before it even hit Carnegie Hall in 1938.

Boogie-Woogie style is characterized by the pumping left hand patterns that were said to be inspired by the steam locomotives that were opening up new opportunities for the recently emancipated Afro- Americans in America. This syncopated style of blues piano playing, has had a major influence on popular American music. In the early forties it had a huge influence on the swing bands and RandB style Jazz music. It was soon to become one of the major ingredients of what would become known as Rock and Roll.

Boogie-Woogie was originally called Barrelhouse music because it was played in the Barrel Houses that were a place where barrels of liquor were stored. The Boogie-Woogie has a distinctive 8 beat rhythm that will get your toes tapping in no time and will make you want to shout with enthusiasm. The roots of this style of music are said to go back as far as the 1900s But it really came into it’s own in the 1930s.

Fats Domino and Dr. John are a couple of all time favorites when it comes to Boogie-Woogie. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are not to be forgotten when talking about Boogie-Woogie piano playing. They brought this style of music to a whole new generation.

The Boogie- Woogie style is kept alive by current piano players both famous and amateur. The most famous Boogie-Woogie piano player today is probably Axel Zwingenberger. Ben Waters and Caroline Dahl are also known for their mastery of playing a mean Boogie- Woogie piano. Some of the well known songs by these pianists are Boogie Woogie Be With Me by Axel Zwingenberger, Boogie Woogie Stomp by the UKs Ben Waters and Caroline’s Boogie by Caroline Dahl.

If you are a relative beginner, take a look at Boogie For Beginners. It will get you started as a boogie-man or boogie-lady.

There is a style in music called “new age”, and while I don’t care for the title, it is a beautiful style that is so nice for relaxation and meditation, that I thought I would make a short video showing how you can create your own little “peaceful song” using just 3 or 4 chords. I chose Am, F, Dm and Em, but you can choose any chords you like. The key is to play rubato (which literally means “robbed time”) and get lots of contrast between arpeggios for an open sound and supportive chords.

Watch this short video:

The walking bass style imitates a bass player in a combo, except in this case your left hand does the walking. Your right hand will not only need to play the melody, but will also need to play the chords under the melody, since your left hand will be busy playing the bass line only. Use this style sparingly, but it can be effective at times as a contrast to other styles. Watch this short video and you’ll understand.

This is the last of 4 videos about how a beginner can learn a simple piano boogie pattern and put it together into both hands. It will take some time to get the co-ordination down, but it is doable for many folks.
If you haven’t watched the first 3 videos on the subject, be sure to do so, and take it slow - Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is piano technique. And for those of you who are more advanced, you will be glad to know that tomorrow we will be getting on to other things!

The Alberti bass is a style which simply breaks up any 3-note chord into a pattern consisting of bottom note, top note, middle note, top note, and repeat. Watch this short video and you’ll instantly understand how to apply it to most any song:

There are many ways you can make your right hand part fuller, and on other videos we have looked at parallel 6ths, parallel 3rds, etc. On this video I demonstrate how to “comp” under the melody for a rhythmic-chording style.

To get a really full piano sound in your right hand, stuff all the notes of the chord between the octave notes. Of course you need to know chords, and you need to know what chord is in force at any given moment, but given that, you can create a big, full sound for your melody in the right hand.

Playing the tune of a song in a “single-finger” style leaves much to be desired in terms of fullness. One way to make a stronger melody is to play it in octaves with an interval of a 3rds under the top octave note. Watch this short video:

To get a really full sound in your right hand, try putting in not only the notes of the chord under the melody, but also try to incorporate a color tone of some kind, such as a 6th, 7th, major 7th, or 9th. You can overdo it, of course, but this short video demonstates how it is done.

There are several things you can do to add interest to your right hand melody in your piano playing, including block chords under the melody, 3rds under the melody, octaves, octave-3rds, octave-6ths, stuffed octaves, broken undernotes, etc. In this video I demonstrate how adding a parallel 6th under a melody adds fullness and beauty.

Double the melody in your left hand for a smoother sound

Alberti was a composer around 1730 or so, and used this style so much that it was eventually named after him. Mozart and many other composers use his style:

The Alberti Bass Style on “Angels We Have Heard On High”

Using parallel major 7th chords is a good way to create a rich sounding chord progression. Watch as I play “O Little Town of Bethelehem”, “White Christmas”, and “Joy To The World:

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all arrange songs on the keyboard right on the spot? I always thought that would be so great. So when I was in my late teens I went hunting. Not for elk or quail, but for piano styles I could use to arrange the songs I wanted to play and make them interesting. Back then there was no such thing as the internet, or CD’s, or video — it was either in a book or from a private teacher, and I went hunting in both areas — I bought tons of books on piano playing, and took lessons from several different teachers, some of whom were at the very top in the world of piano arranging.

     Gradually I learned style after style, but it took a long time. I thought at the time “There must be a better way to learn these styles than chasing down book after book, teacher after teacher.” So when I got a music teaching studio of my own years later, I started putting together a list of the piano styles I had learned. Still later I thought “I could put these styles on cards — one style on each card, and they would show each style by slipping behind the piano keyboard and pointing at the notes to be played!”

     Wow! What a breakthrough!

     So I started work on the project, and it took me several years to get all the styles down on paper and the bugs worked out. I realized, though, that the cards weren’t enough by themselves — I would need to demonstrate and explain how to use each style. So I painstakingly recorded six CD’s where I demonstrate audibly how each style works and how it can be used in a song.

    Still later I thought “A video showing each style close up would be really helpful as well”, so I recorded a DVD that shows me positioning each card on the piano keyboard then playing the pattern myself, so it is crystal clear to the learner. So the result was a set of 6 CD’s and 1 DVD along with the 72 piano style cards.

Here’s a 2-minute video that shows how it all works:

If you think you would find this helpful, check out “Keyboard Arranging — How To Do It On The Spot!”