Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a Boogie Woogie style lead composition that doesn’t require a jam track. You’ll be learning how to play through the chord changes while improving your alternate picking skills.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walkthrough
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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First to comment :-)…… This as become my Saturday morning routine.. as the new lessons come out Sat morning (Australian Time).
This one looks like a challenge Brian………. let’s go!
Your lessons are a revelation. Been at it for just a few weeks. At age 77, I’ve been an advanced beginner since childhood. I’m a musician (classical voice), but the fretboard has always been a mystery. This boogie-woogie lesson helps me visualize the chord progressions and positions. I will keep at it. (As a voice teacher, I really appreciate your patience, friendliness and clarity.) Thanks so much.
Bravo!
Can’t wait to get started on this boogie Brian! Will start slow and work up. This one is a winner!
Agree.
Brian,
You always amaze me with these wonderful compositions.
Good concept👍👍👍
I can’t wait to learn this one! Thanks Brian
Great lesson. This will be a bit hard for me rhythmically but I will give it a go.
Brendan
Brian, how do you do it? You keep coming up with totally different , fun useful stuff that increases my knowledge and skills. Kudos!🎸🎶
Beautiful, this is going to be fun.
Thanks Brian
Thank you ! This is going to be so much fun !
Brian, I know you have probably always played your fast alternating strokes with a closed right hand . I’m just learning alternating picking. I tend to keep my middle, ring and pinky out on the strumming and picking. Could you talk about how you structure your hand and the position of the pick. Thanks
Same tempo as last week. It’s just a little outside of my comfort zone but I do appreciate the challenge. Keep pushing us, Brian.
John
Again 👍
Is that B9 or Badd9?
Not a theory expert by any means.
The first chord in Bar 12 has an A in the base then C#, then D# then B. While you can call this chord an A9b5 (R-3-b5-9), you can also call it a B9 (b7-9-3-R). If there was no b7, and with or without a 5th, it would be a BAdd9.
The second chord in the progression can be called an AAdd9 (R-3-5-9) or a Bsus9 (b7-9-4-R, the 3rd is raised but below the octave).
Whenever I see a type of music on AM I’m not really interested in I’ve learned to watch the lesson anyway knowing I’ll learn something from it. Not a great fan of Boogie Woogie but this made me smile and want to learn to play it. THE best guitar tutor on the Internet!
Great lesson, keep this sort of lessons coming, keep explaining why notes are picked. Like you said, do not memorize frets !!
This lesson I can learn on my “slow” pace, hoping to speed up in the future 😉
Another beauty Brian! Awesome!
I really like boogie woogie This will be fun to learn.
Awesome alternate picking lesson, Brian, and on acoustic guitar as well! This gives me more incentive to just grab the guitar and practice it any time. I think I may give this one a shot. Has to help for all guitar picking!! Oh, yeah, and it sounds tremendous!!!
Larry
Very cool. With a few modifications, I could play that on my baritone uke.
Hey Brian.
The only bit I’m struggling with is how to count measure 13. Any suggestions? ( I’m thinking in terms of 16th notes counting 1 e and a ).
I would count that as 8th notes – 1, and, 2, and 3, and 4, and …..
1e+r 2r+r 3r+a e+a
Note:
1. r = 1/16 note rest
2. The a of 3 is an 1/8th note so it rings until the e of 4.
3. Everything is a 1/16 note except for the a of 3 which is an 1/8th note
I love how this composition can be broken into licks that carryover into many different styles and leads. Thanks.
Great lesson Brian
The B9 is by far the hardest part of this. As I’m trying to learn that anybody got a cheat for that so I can presently play it?
So Brian, when will you turn the camera and show us the studio?
Yes! These lessons go by, and they’re fun, but it also looks like you sit in a treasure trove of fun stuff! Maybe there should be a link on the site where you take us on a tour of your musical funhouse.
Great lesson! Thanks Brian.
Love the emphasis on not learning “fret positions”, but relating to the chord shapes. I know you do this throughout your lessons all of the time–but this was a great lesson to reinforce yet again. I too easily get lost in just learning the tab and missing the good stuff to build the tool box of licks!
Great lesson again Brian!
This one will be a challenge based on the speed. It will provide a good reminder to learn it slowly and build up.
Great lesson !
It reminds me of Hot Rod Lincoln.
Love the Commander Cody stuff – old school boogie-woogie makes up probably 50% their catalog. Hot Rod Lincoln, House of Blue Lights, Rock That Boogie, Truck Stop Rock, The Boogie Man, Sister Sue, Don’t Let Go – just for a start. Thanks to Brian I understand a bit of the structure and can play along a bit…
A few weeks ago i searched for a lesson to work on my alternate picking and only 4 lessons were the search result. I decided to go with Ep186 Boogie Woogie Rhythms. But i thought, it could be a few mor3 lessons. Can you read my mind , Brian? This is the perfect addition to Ep186, but far more challenging. I will go with these two lessons for this month‘s challenge.
Now we will have to call you “Slow hand Sherrill” !
Rod In Ottawa
This is an important lesson. I’ve added it to three of my custom Favorite categories, viz. Technique, Acoustic, and Top Hits. I found the pacing of the lesson to be perfect.
I play that style, but one of my weaknesses is having the patience to perfect the boogie woogie piano style bass and lead runs, riffs and vamps, and to join them all together seamlessly. This lesson puts all that under the microscope, with the theory to back it up fully explored and explained.
Terrific work Brian, sincere thanks.
Your lessons are a revelation. Been at it for just a few weeks. At age 77, I’ve been an advanced beginner since childhood. I’m a musician (classical voice), but the fretboard has always been a mystery. This boogie-woogie lesson helps me visualize the chord progressions and positions. I will keep at it. (As a voice teacher, I really appreciate your patience, friendliness and clarity.) Thanks so much.
This lesson is a great 16th note counting exercise.
THANK YOU Brian.
Taken me about 3 hours so far but I’ve funnily got part one under my belt at 105 on the metronome. Really concentrating hard on seeing the chord shapes and scales underneath. Slowly getting there but I can see the logic of this in the lesson AND….realised like an idiot after many years of playing that with your index finger on the first fret G string just strumming the top 3 strings is also a full E chord it’s own. Who knew? haha. Great stuff as always
Some how I Will Work this into electric blues 🇬🇧
Got it sweet grove in E quíst
Brian, you struck a CHORD on this one , exactly what I was looking for, awesome lesson.
Thank You
I must have missed something. What is the relationship of the notes to the chord. Some type of scale?
real fun, going slow and steady, great for fingers moving around the fret as well. Thanks Brian, great lessons as usual!
the syncopation is really cool with the 16th notes – I was having trouble with the last beat of bar 13 then noticed that Brian doesn’t play the first downstroke.
Hi Brian,
ep531 is an excellent lesson. I am also very grateful for your cross-reference to ml068. ml068 has opened my eyes another bit more. A real lightbulb moment!
Many THANKS,
Georg
Excellent!!
I am amazed at the magic that is happening on Active Melody every week. Thanks Brian
I am struggling to understand when “phrases” start and why. Sometimes like in bar 6, the sentence starts on beat 4+1/16. It sounds great but why? is there any logic, theory around this?
Apologizes if it does not make sense.
Always love your honesty, creativity and general ability to explain concepts and put the pieces together. Top marks again.
Love your teaching style. I can match your tempo if I record it and play it back 5 times faster. As far as I can tell, the chord progression starts with an E-demented, followed by A-major severed and turns around on the B-speckled 9th. I will master this and make it mine. Many smiles from the Hoosier State.
One of my favorite lessons to date! So many great licks and take-aways for playing a blues boogie!
This has been a tough one but getting there. Reall yfinding out the value of the slow walkthrough on this one. You have to crawl before you can walk has become my motto after this one.
Many thanks Brian. Great lessson as always.