LearnJazzPiano.com archives: BOOGIE-WOOGIE!!! YEAH!!!!

ayolt -- 01/06/2007, 15:54:39 -- #32220

I was listening to ray bryant's version of "take the a train", He is a m*f***er on the piano, and one hell of a blues player. He is playing this AMAZING boogie-woogie left-hand... And I want to learn this at least to some extent.... Do you no some hip patterns to get me started? And some tips... I don't want ending up with does music school patterns...

jaledin -- 01/06/2007, 17:02:26 -- #32220

If you want accurate transcriptions of patterns, go to Colin Davey's website -- he has an instruction book as well as full-on individual transcriptions for sale of classic boogie performances.  Trust me on this one, there just aren't that many high-quality transcriptions out there for sale. Pick up Pete Johnson's records as well -- "Roll 'Em Pete" is maybe one of the most imitated boogies ever.  Also Johnnie Johnson's Homespun video has a ton of boogie on it -- and a nice booklet with it as well (as does Dr. John's Homespun things -- a different style but one I spent a lot of time working on as well). It's a pretty long road to get *good* at this style, but you can get there for sure. Here's a kind of pattern which should slow you down for a while: LH (one bar): ......A..A........Bb..F C..C..D#.E..C..C..G...A Or just run an Ammons/Jerry Lee Lewis pattern in the LH -- C C E C G C A G.

jaledin -- 01/06/2007, 17:15:27 -- #32220

I see the formatting didn't work too well above -- use your imagination. The best instruction book (next to the original recordings), however, is the Colin Davey book. I also have a complete transcription of Dr. John's "The Honeydripper" from "Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack" that I made a few years ago -- I don't know where it is right now, though, but that's a pretty manageable one to start with, as far as LH goes.  If I find it, I'll try to post it, but it's not that tough to figure out.

7 -- 01/06/2007, 23:06:48 -- #32220

On the nav bar on the left click on “Rooms: show list” Go down to the section entitled: “Jazz Lessons Contains lessons, articles, examples, etc...” Click on the 8th on the list: “[Walking Bass” In the top bar on that page, click on “list files” This brings you to a file list. The info you’re looking for is contained in the following files: "This is the Blues" Otis Spann [LH only] (pdf) Notes on "This is the Blues" Otis Spann LH file "This is the Blues" Otis Spann LH.mid While these LH patterns might not represent every possible permutation of boogie-woogie bass formulae, Otis puts damn near every trick in the book in here. If you have the VanBasco player, you can watch the midi file being played on a virtual piano keyboard. VERY EDUCATIONAL!

jaledin -- 01/07/2007, 04:10:05 -- #32220

That *is* a good transcription, 7.  I checked some of it about a year ago, and you really got it down on paper about as good as it can get (at least as far as I was really checking it). Especially the LH -- you got all of the little changes Spann made.   There's a (not very good) transcription of "Otis Blues" (in A) in print somewhere -- it's a boogie, in the sense that it's a tad slower than the one you did, but with the same feeling and the same sense of drama.  I like to think of Spann, Maceo, Memphis Slim, Dupree, Davenport as having a kind of boogie all their own -- how would you describe that difference between them and Albert Ammons or Pete Johnson, 7?  More straight-8s in the LH, maybe?  I don't know, truly, how to describe it.

ayolt -- 01/07/2007, 11:04:38 -- #32220

what pattern is this guy playing? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3157288756741545974

ayolt -- 01/07/2007, 11:55:44 -- #32220

i see people writing about the "chorded bass" by albert ammons. Could somebody explain this concept to me? demonstrated in boogie woogie stomp?

jaledin -- 01/07/2007, 12:17:01 -- #32220

Chorded bass is just "beefing up" the LH with one or two notes stacked on top of certain bass notes.  There's apparently some controversy over exactly *what* was used in..."Boogie Woogie Stomp," I think, but I believe it's explained in the Colin Davey book. I bet Dalty knows more precisely, if he's still around.  I haven't played that pattern myself.  There's also a chorded bass on Jools Holland's "Shoot Shoot" from his "Solo Piano" CD -- unfortunately, it's out of print, but if you hang out at the boogiewoogiesheetmusic Yahoo! group, you might find somebody who can send it to you.  Great music, anyway -- Jools Holland is maybe best known for his piano solo on "Good Thing" by Squeeze (in addition to his late-nite talk show thing in the UK).

jaledin -- 01/07/2007, 12:18:46 -- #32220

Also, the best versions of the classic boogie guys (Johnson, Ammons, Lewis) are on the Chronological Classics series -- they can be hard to find these days, but they're *the* way to go if you want to start a little record collection and get some of those great sides in great sound.

loveforJAZZ -- 01/07/2007, 12:39:48 -- #32220

This is a site for all you boogie woogie fans: http://www.boogiewoogiepiano.net/piano-jukebox/myjukebox.html Thanks to Eeco, the best boogie woogie player on the internet that I know. Without him I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have now. Peace out!

ayolt -- 01/07/2007, 13:44:59 -- #32220

should boogie-woogie always be played right ON the beat, like not swing?

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