Left-hand pattern · Blues & boogie
Boogie walker
A walking line that climbs and falls through the chord. Musicians call it boogie-woogie line.
Want to mix it with other hands?
How Boogie walker goes
One bar over a C chord: a row for each key, a column for each step, the finger on each note. Over another chord, move the same shape to its root.
Boogie & shuffle: Rock’n’roll: the left hand rocks between two shapes.
Songs with Boogie walker
Each one opens with this pattern in its player.
Often comes next
The patterns songs move to after Boogie walker, from verse to chorus.
More rock & boogie
All patternsQuestions about Boogie walker
What is Boogie walker on piano?
A walking line that climbs and falls through the chord. Musicians call it boogie-woogie line, one of the boogie & shuffle patterns: rock’n’roll: the left hand rocks between two shapes.
How do I play boogie-woogie line with the left hand?
Over C major it is C3 (5), then G3 (3), then Bb3 (1), then G3 (3), then A3 (2), then G3 (3), and so on; the number after each note is the finger (1 is the thumb). Over any other chord, move the same shape to that chord's root.
What songs use Boogie walker?
It is heard in 807 songs of the library, as the main groove of 56 songs, such as Blue Christmas, Bennie And The Jets, It's Impossible (Somos Novios), Mary Had A Little Lamb.
Is Boogie walker easy?
It is a medium pattern, in 4/4, usually around 100 beats a minute.