Boogie-Woogie Piano Course

If you are here looking at this course, there is a good chance it’s because you have heard boogie-woogie piano, and it immediately lit up something inside you.

You started to smile and nod your head, and maybe kind of shake your shoulders a little. Then the feeling moved down into your hips and legs, and you found yourself dancing. And maybe you thought, this feels really good! I want to play music that sounds like this, makes me feel like this.

The Rhythm & Syncopation Of Boogie-Woogie

There is something about the rhythm, the syncopation of boogie-woogie that just makes us feel good. It may be that this rhythm is hard-coded into our DNA, an evolutionary safeguard to give us a path to feel good when we’re down, or to wake up to the joy in our bodies and our hearts when we’re too immersed in less-than-joyful thoughts in our heads.

The Fundamentals Of Boogie-Woogie – In 7 Lessons!

This course covers the fundamentals of boogie-woogie piano. It has been carefully planned and designed for students who are completely new to the style and we give you all the tools you need to play some rockin’ boogie-woogie piano.

Lesson 1 – The History Of Boogie-Woogie Piano

We start with an overview of the history of the music and its development throughout the 20th century. Steve quotes some of the most influential musicians and recordings that helped shape boogie-woogie the sound into what it is today.

Lesson 2 – Boogie-Woogie Style & Techniques

In lesson 2, Steve introduces the core elements of boogie-woogie and how these elements work together to create the groove. When listening to boogie-woogie recordings, it sometimes sounds like the player has 4 hands… steve shows you how this is achieved and sets the foundations for the next lessons in the course.

Lesson 3 – Basslines & Left Hand Patterns

An essential ingredient of boogie-woogie is the left-hand basslines. The bassline plays the role of both the drummer and the bass player, rolled into 1 to create the driving force which propels the music forward.

Lesson 4 – Chords, Rhythms, & Comping Patterns

We start by taking one of the basslines we learned in the last lesson, and lay down a right-hand chord on top, adding some rhythm and syncopation. Syncopation is changing the normally accented beats to unexpected places. This tutorial teaches you everything you need to know for right-hand comping patterns.

Lesson 5 – Riffs, Licks, Slurs, Slides, & Trills

In this lesson, we will examine the right-hand riffs and licks that make the boogie-woogie style so infectious. One stylistic device that gets used a lot is a quick slur through a number of notes, often outlining the shape of an arpeggio.

The slide-off is a similar concept to the slur, and the demonstrations in this lesson will help you to understand this concept and its use in boogie-woogie music.

Lesson 6 – "Boogie-Woogie Prayer" Arrangement

Now that we have covered the stylistic elements of boogie-woogie, we are going to put all of these together: the basslines, licks, slurs, trills, slide-offs, and turnarounds. We will apply all of these ideas and concepts to the tune "Boogie Woogie Prayer" by Meade Lux Lewis.

Lesson 7 – “The Duwamish River Boogie” Arrangement

One of Steve’s own compositions, this is a brilliant boogie-woogie number for any occasion.