Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Boogie Woogie Style Blues Guitar Lesson – Play it By Yourself – EP284

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a really fun Boogie Woogie style blues composition that doesn’t require any accompaniment. You can jam on this one all by yourself on acoustic or electric guitar. I’ll also walk through several useful takeaways that you can apply when playing rhythm or lead.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walk-Through

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  7. jimbostrat says

    In my humble opinion we can never get enough ‘throwback’ early R&R concepts and Brian’s certainly captured this feel good jive here with his boogie rendition that would have made Bill Haley and the Comets proud!! No special electronics or synthesized anything……..just follow Brian’s lead and take the hour or so to get this all down and it become a great fun notch on all our guitar journeys!! Jim C.

  9. Tremelow says

    Looks like I‘ll be having hours and hours of fun Boogie Woogying! I know, it will take a while before I get it up to speed, but this is a must have in my repatoire. As always, great how you explain everything.

  11. JohnStrat says

    Hi Brian,
    It seems like you’ve read my thoughts or perhaps search info this week as I had been thinking I will try and get all the boogie woogie lessons up and running so for me this is ‘just the ticket’!

  20. Lights says

    Great lesson, Christmas time is coming soon and this lesson is perfect to mix with EP-079 (Jingle bell). I hope I got plenty of time to do it and perform some day. Lot of exiting work again, Thanks!

  23. Mark M says

    Hey Brian…. EP 284 was a super lesson. I am a big fan of blues boogie, and some of the rhythm stuff in this lesson I guess I have been doing in some ways for years…but EP284 really brought it home to me ” where this stuff comes from”. I look at your lessons every week and have improved my playing a lot in the time I spend with you. Thanks.

  25. Andy N says

    What are you doing to me Brian!

    I’d secretly hoped I could open this weeks lessons and say ‘Nah! not for me’. Then I could work on my getting through my backlog (currently EP281, EP282 and a promise to go back to EP277) and seeing more of my wife! (ok maybe the wrong order there)

    But no, you’ve produced yet another stomper and I’ve had to get stuck in right away!
    At least I can justify to myself that it fits nicely with my crusade to improve my rhythm playing, and there are plenty of takeaways in there.

    Nice work!

  27. Donald F says

    Brian , Really great work , Thank you for helping me find my way back to the guitar , I’m a senior guy and travel around the world , and find myself glued to your superb teachings on my down time …Thank you again you are answering a lot of my long time questions . Please keep it up . ( In Kinshasa DRC )

  35. Steven L says

    And they say there’s no new music. Well Brian, you amaze with the way you always seem to come up with something “new”. New wrinkles on an old theme perhaps. but inspiring all the same. Thanks!

  36. T. Frolicker says

    Once again, you awake the latent excitement that I have always had for music; with your great teaching, I can enjoy learning a good piece and improvising off it.
    Thanks so much !

  37. Jon M says

    Great lesson – not terribly difficult to play, but very cool… This one is also great for developing the ‘soul’ aspects of rhythm, phrasing, dead-string technique, muting, etc. – which is one area where I struggle. Many thanks Brian!

  40. mike jams says

    Great Stuff ,
    I don’t see how you can do this week in and week out, but we are all glad that you do.
    I love these great upbeat solo songs ,
    This is a great addition to my song list.
    If you are looking for any other ideas for new songs , how about something from “Roomful of Blues”
    Have a great weekend.

  43. Ray B says

    Brian, I am curious why the long bass run climbs up the hill to the E note and then descends down a different set of similar, but different, notes. Is there any logic or theory behind that? I would have guessed that it would retrace the path up.
    Thanks for another great lesson.

  44. FRANCIS C says

    OH my, Brian, loved those moves around 12:40 , gave me goose bumps, I’m gonna get those down pat and look for more videos on that sort of stuff. Can you lead me to any of your like videos? Thanks, I’m a devoted fan forever…:)

  47. Conroy G says

    I retired 3 years ago and found your site and bought in 2 years ago. Can’t tell how many times I’ve celebrated having joined up to Active Melody. After 50 years of being able to only strum a few chords and play a few tunes I now actually can say “yes” when people ask if i can play a guitar. Well worth the investment. Thanks Brian.

  48. Cliff Carbaugh says

    Watched Brian play this for the first time and instantly become an Active Melody Member and devotee! Since I’m an old-man beginner, I’ve been working on it for a week and hope to be better at it in a month or 2! Thank you Brian – your explanations are clear and thorough and the Slow Walkthrough and the OnScreen Tab are priceless!

    • Rüdiger L says

      ja , vorausgesetzt du bist eine sog Übungssau.das merkst du wenn du 2-3 Std geübt hast u. das Gefühl hast gerade angefangen zu haben( wie im Zeitraffer )

      u. wichtig , ” niemals aufgeben “. wichtig ist also mal 2-3 Tage sacken lassen . dann kommts oft wie der Blitz u. du weisst nicht wieso ??? vermutlich brainstorming ???

      Niemals aufgeben Ray dann klappt es glaub es mir

      Gruß Rüdiger aus germany Koblenz am Rhein River

  52. Michael G says

    With a metronome I clocked your sample mp3’s at 105 slow and 154bpm regular(which for me is a
    a bit brisk) A very playable speed is more like 115 as i was able to adjust on the tab player. Is there any program that i can use to adjust the file to around 115 and save it at that speed. I use the mp3’s as a jam track off my cell phone file player. Keep up the good work.

    • Peter C says

      Aussie Pete

      The boogy woogy is great, i am throwing it around and have kept up to speed, and it easy to loop and ad additional chords, it keeps resonating in my head all day, love the boogy beat. So hello Brian from down under been with you for awhile now your a great tutor to.

      YOURS KINDLY
      Peter c

  53. Brad F. says

    Really love this boogie woogie!! This is my 1st attempt at AM lessons as I’m a new member and have committed to be able to play it start to finish at a reasonable speed. Hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can handle. Brian, you are the Greatest teacher I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, straight forward instruction and explanations. Love this kind of music and having lots of fun. Nice to be able to play a complete piece instead of random licks or covers offered on other sites.
    Thanks sooooo much.

  54. Brad F. says

    Just thought I’d add, I love Blues, Rock and Country too and there are so many good compositions here I’m having a hard time not jumping all over the place. Have plenty of lessons on my Favorites list so I’ll be busy till the end of time.

  56. Mark E says

    Hi Brian–Thanks so much for the lessons! Is there any way you can post the full-speed tempo you play at on each of the compositions? When I print the tablature, I there is a temp indication, but I think it is the slower walk-through played in the tab viewer. I’d love to have an easy way to tell what the full tempo is without trying to clock each lesson.

  57. James M says

    Great lesson. Not to difficult at first and great explanation of the shuffle timing. Just wish there was some way we could get more of the tab in the window at once. I keep looking ahead for what comes next and its not there yet.

  61. Michael D says

    Clearly, measure 7 in the tab, which is the second iteration of the “boogie woogie blues” notes shown in measure 6, is supposed to be played differently compared to that shown in measure 6. My question is that Brian plays it a different way in the video around 10:27 and, then, plays it as shown here when he plays it at 11:40 in the video. Playing it as written seem to require moving the barre up to fret 5 early. Is my observation correct? And is it preferred to play it as written in the tab or as played in the video around 10:27? I am usually not this anal, but I have had to approach this piece note by note and noticed the discrepancy when doing so. Thanks

  64. Paul W says

    Hi Brian,
    I have been enjoy and using the free lessons for several years now but joined as a 2022 Christmas present from my kids.
    Working on the this lesson at 75% so far. Great for timing and accuracy. There seems to bit a slight difference in end of bar 7 of what is taught and what is tabbed.
    At about 10:17 Brian says to play 4 and 2 on D string but later on when he plays it he actually plays 4 and 2 on the A string (which is tabbed).
    Anyway both sound ok.
    Brian, you are a great teacher. Straight forward instruction and explanations. Love this kind of music and having lots of fun. Keep up the good work. Would love you to explain and play a few songs as well

  66. Darryl M says

    I love this boogie woogie. I have to admit, it took a while to get it into my thick skull, but once there, it rocks. So many cool licks I have learned from this and others of your lessons. Keep it up Brian. Thanks!

    Confession: I took a few one on one lessons locally and never got as far as I have with your teaching style.

  67. John D says

    Thank you, Brian! You have demystified boogie-woogie in a way that no-one else ever has done for me. I love that I now have a few techniques that I can swap around and mix with stuff I’ve learned already. After a couple of weeks I’ve got all the way through the piece and am now trying to speed it up while retaining the rhythm. Enough from me … thank you so much!

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