Shufflin' Boogie

Kirk Lorange · #1 November 3rd, 2005

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Here's a familiar sounding 12 bar feel. It's a kind of shuffle feel that has been around for a long time and it has become the speciality of many bands, notably ZZ Top and Canned Heat. This particular progression introduces 'out-of-the-key' chords, as decoration almost, but at its core, it's a 12 bar blues progression.

The whole thing, rhythm wise, is built around a triplet feel. What does that mean? I means that instead of the usual dividing the beats into 2, they are divided into 3. Que?

The image above shows the difference. Time moves as per the arrow. the whole thing represents one bar (also called 'measure') of music. The first row shows how to count 4/4. Simple enough; the second row shows how to count eight notes. Logical enough, each beat is divided into two. The third row shows triplets: each beat is divided into three. Dividing each beat into three allows for the shuffle feel that this kind of music is made of.

I'm in the key of E, so the three chords of the 12 bar blues are: E, A and B. However, as I mentioned before, these three basic chords have been decorated with an extra tag on the end of the bar. It consists of two extra major chords, the first a minor third above the original, the next a fourth above the original. So, to put it plainly, the E chord gets a G to A tag; the A chord gets a C to D tag; the B does something different, it just goes back down to E through the A and G chords. The tab shows it graphically.

These extra chords are quite odd because not all of them belong to the key of E. The G and C and D chords are all unrelated, but somehow, in this boogie context, they make perfect sense to the ear. Theoretically, the piece changes key momentarily here and there, but it's probably silly to try and pick it all apart ... it's best just to remember the basic formula: 12 bar blues; each chord has an identical end tag which is two major chords, one up a minor third up (3 frets), the other up a perfect fourth (5 frets). There are, of course, all kinds of ways of voicing these extra chords, but I've kept it straight forward and basic for this lesson. You might want to look for other positions to play all the chords. There are many, many ways through them.

The right hand is doing a bunch of things: it plucks the off beat chords as a unit, all three fingers plucking the chord at once. The thumb does its bass thing, as always. I throw in a couple of compact strums too, one with my thumb, one with the back of my fingers. If you're used to a pick, you'll have to figure out your own way of expressing this feel.

There's a little slide up to a couple of bass notes, the G and C. The movie shows it well. Each measure becomes a pattern which is repeated, so take it slowly and build that pattern into your muscles. Once you get it, you'll be able to do it all day. It's an odd feel: the main chord plucks are on the off beat, the extra chord tags I was mentioning before are on the beat. You really have to let this settle in before it feels just right. I've done a couple of extra midi files for you with a click track to make it easier to see where exactly the off-beats are in the time-line.

I have dimmed down some of the notation in the tab to keep it clear. You can see the rests throughout the piece, showing where in the timeline each of the triplet beats are. They are, of course, the ones NOT being played. The little number 3 beneath each group of three indicates that each beat is divided into 3.

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