Boogie

Encyclopedia : B : BO : BOO : Boogie

This article is about the musical technique or rhythm.
For the dance see Boogie-woogie (dance).
For the American slang term see Nasal mucus or Booger (word).

Boogie is swing blues rhythm (Burrows 1995, p.42) or technique originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music and adapted to guitar. As such it is often used in rock and roll and country musics.

A simple rhythm guitar or accompaniment boogie pattern, sometimes called country boogie, is as follows (ibid):

The Bs and Cs are played by stretching the fourth finger from the A two and three frets up to B and C respectively on the same string. This pattern is an elaboration or decoration of the chord or level and is the same on all the primary triads (I, IV, V), although the dominant chord may include the seventh on the third beat (see also, degree (music). ibid):

A simple lead guitar boogie pattern is as follows (ibid, p.43):

All boogie patterns are played with a swing or shuffle and generally follow the "one finger per fret" rule, where, as in the case directly above, if the third finger always covers the notes on the third fret, the second finger going only on the second fret, etc. (ibid)

Examples include Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode".

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