# Boogie

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boogie
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boogie.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie
> Source revision: 1327379486
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Musical style

This article is about the musical technique or rhythm. For the genre, see [Boogie (genre)](/source/Boogie_(genre)). For other uses, see [Boogie (disambiguation)](/source/Boogie_(disambiguation)).

Not to be confused with [Bogie](/source/Bogie) or [Bogey](/source/Bogey_(disambiguation)).

Blues shuffle or boogie played on guitar in E major[1] ([Play](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/Blues_shuffle_in_E.mid/Blues_shuffle_in_E.mid.mp3)[ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blues_shuffle_in_E.mid)).

**Boogie** is a [repetitive](/source/Repetition_(music)), [swung note or shuffle rhythm](/source/Swung_note),[2] ["groove"](/source/Groove_(music)) or pattern used in [blues](/source/Blues) which was originally played on the [piano](/source/Piano) in [boogie-woogie music](/source/Boogie-woogie_(music)). The characteristic [rhythm](/source/Rhythm) and feel of the boogie was then adapted to [guitar](/source/Guitar), [double bass](/source/Double_bass), and other instruments. The earliest recorded boogie-woogie song was in 1916.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] By the 1930s, [swing](/source/Swing_music) bands such as [Benny Goodman](/source/Benny_Goodman), [Glenn Miller](/source/Glenn_Miller), [Tommy Dorsey](/source/Tommy_Dorsey) and [Louis Jordan](/source/Louis_Jordan) all had boogie hits. By the 1950s, boogie became incorporated into the emerging [rockabilly](/source/Rockabilly) and [rock and roll](/source/Rock_and_roll) styles. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, country bands released country boogies. Today, the term "boogie" usually refers to dancing to pop, disco, or rock music.

## History

The boogie was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music and adapted to [guitar](/source/Guitar). Boogie-woogie is a style of blues piano playing characterized by an up-tempo rhythm, a repeated melodic pattern in the bass, and a series of improvised variations in the treble.[3] Boogie woogie developed from a piano style that developed in the rough [barrelhouse](/source/Juke_joint) bars in the Southern states, where a piano player performed for the hard-drinking patrons.

The origin of the term *boogie-woogie* is unknown, according to *[Webster's Third New International Dictionary](/source/Webster's_Dictionary)*. The *[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)* states that the word is a redoubling of *boogie*, which was used for [rent parties](/source/Rent_party) as early as 1913.[4] The term may be derived from Black West African English, from the Sierra Leone term "bogi", which means "to dance"; as well, it may be akin to the phrase "hausa buga", which means "to beat drums".[3][4] In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the term "could mean anything from a racy style of dance to a raucous party or to a sexually transmitted disease."[5][4] In Peter Silvester's book on boogie woogie, *Left Hand Like God – the Story of Boogie Woogie* he states that, in 1929, "boogie-woogie is used to mean either dancing or music in the city of Detroit".[6]

Boogie hit the charts with [Pine Top Smith](/source/Pine_Top_Smith)'s *Pine Top's Boogie* in 1929, which garnered the number 20 spot. In the late 1930s, boogie became part of the then popular Swing style, as big bands such as "Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Jordan...all had boogie hits." Swing big band audiences expected to hear boogie tunes, because the beat could be used for the then-popular dances such as the [jitterbug](/source/Jitterbug) and the [Lindy Hop](/source/Lindy_Hop). As well, country artists began playing boogie woogie in the late 1930s, when [Johnny Barfield](/source/Johnny_Barfield) recorded "Boogie Woogie". The [Delmore Brothers](/source/Delmore_Brothers) "Freight Train Boogie" shows how country music and blues were being blended to form the genre which would become known as [rockabilly](/source/Rockabilly). The [Sun Records](/source/Sun_Records)-era [rockabilly](/source/Rockabilly) sound used "wild country boogie piano" as part of its sound.[7]

By the early 1950s, boogie became less popular, but the new rock and roll sometimes incorporated its patterns.[8] In the 1960s, a new form, [boogie rock](/source/Boogie_rock), emerged.[8] However, it did not rely on the same patterns as the earlier styles.[8] By the mid-1970s, the meaning of the term returned to its roots, in a certain sense, as during the [disco](/source/Disco) era, "to boogie" meant "to dance in a disco style" with one hit song in particular sung by the Euro disco group [Silver Convention](/source/Silver_Convention), "[Get Up and Boogie](/source/Get_Up_and_Boogie_(song))".[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Usage

The boogie groove is often used in [rock and roll](/source/Rock_and_roll) and [country music](/source/Country_music). A simple [rhythm guitar](/source/Rhythm_guitar) or [accompaniment](/source/Accompaniment) boogie pattern, sometimes called **country boogie**, is as follows:[2]

The "B" and "C" notes are played by stretching the fourth finger from the "A" two and three [frets](/source/Fret) up to "B" and "C" respectively on the same string. This pattern is an elaboration or [decoration](/source/Ornament_(music)) of the chord or [level](/source/Level_(music)) and is the same on all the [primary triads](/source/Primary_triad) (I, IV, V), although the [dominant](/source/Dominant_(music)), or any chord, may include the [seventh](/source/Minor_seventh) on the third [beat](/source/Beat_(music))[2] (see also, [degree (music)](/source/Degree_(music))).

["Rhythm Boogie"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boogie_riff_1.ogg)

A basic boogie rhythm riff (0:19; Ogg Vorbis, 154 KB)

*Problems playing this file? See [media help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Media).*

A simple [lead guitar](/source/Lead_guitar) boogie pattern is as follows:[9]

["Lead Boogie"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boogie_lead_riff.ogg)

A basic boogie lead riff (0:15; Ogg Vorbis, 134 KB)

*Problems playing this file? See [media help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Media).*

Boogie patterns are played with a [swing](/source/Swung_note) or [shuffle](/source/Shuffle_note) rhythm 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.[9]

The swung notes or shuffle note are a [rhythmic](/source/Rhythm) device in which the duration of the initial [note](/source/Musical_note) in a pair is [augmented](/source/Augmentation_(music)) and that of the second is [diminished](/source/Diminution). Also known as "[notes inégales](/source/Notes_in%C3%A9gales)", swung notes are widely used in [jazz](/source/Jazz) music and other jazz-influenced music such as [blues](/source/Blues) and [Western swing](/source/Western_swing). A swing or shuffle rhythm is the [rhythm](/source/Rhythm) produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way.

## See also

- [Boogie-woogie](/source/Boogie-woogie)

- [Boogie rock](/source/Boogie_rock)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Wilbur M. Savidge, Randy L. Vradenburg, *Everything About Playing the Blues*, 2002, Music Sales Distributed, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-884848-09-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-884848-09-5), pg. 35

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Burrows_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Burrows_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Burrows_2-2) Burrows, Terry (1995). *Play Country Guitar*, p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7894-0190-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7894-0190-8).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Free_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Free_3-1) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Updated in 2009, and Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 CITED IN ["Boogie-Woogie"](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boogie-woogie), *FreeDictionary.com*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Gale_Academic_OneFile_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Gale_Academic_OneFile_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Gale_Academic_OneFile_4-2) Mathews, Burgin (Fall 2009). [""'When I say get it': a brief history of the boogie.""](https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A207350475/AONE?u=mlin_b_bumml&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=f16fe02a). *Southern Cultures*. **15** (3): 24. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1353/scu.0.0073](https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fscu.0.0073). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [159659886](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:159659886). Retrieved 3 October 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Cavalieri, Nate. ["Boogie Knight"](http://www.boogiebob.com/Articles/metrotimesstory.asp.htm), *Metro Times Detroit*. 18 December 2002 8:00:00 AM.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Silvester, Peter (1989). *A Left Hand Like God: A History of Boogie-Woogie Piano*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-306-80359-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-306-80359-3).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Hoffmann, Frank. ["Rockabilly"](http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/classic_rock_n_roll/Rockabilly2.htm), *Survey of American Popular Music*, modified for the web by Robert Birkline.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Birnbaum_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Birnbaum_8-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Birnbaum_8-2) Birnbaum, Larry (2012). *Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll*. Lanham, Massachusetts: [Scarecrow Press](/source/Scarecrow_Press). pp. 120–121. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8108-8629-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8108-8629-2).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Burrows43_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Burrows43_9-1) Burrows (1995), p.43.

## External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to ***[Boogie](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Boogie)***.

v t e Street dance Hip-hop 2 step Breakdancing Toprock Downrock Freezes Power moves Boogaloo Bird Walk Cabbage Patch Cat Daddy Chicken Noodle Soup Crank That Crip Walk Cupid Shuffle Dab Dougie Electric boogaloo Gangsta Walking Harlem shake John Wall Jerkin' Krumping Laffy Taffy Lean wit It, Rock wit It Locking Popping Robot Running man Shoulder Lean Stanky Legg Twerking Turfing Uprock Wop House dance Footwork Hustle Jacking Vogue Rave dance Electro dance Hakken Hard dance Industrial Jumpstyle Liquid and digits Melbourne shuffle Para Para Rebolation Wu-tang X-Outing Jazz dance Cakewalk Charleston Lindy Hop Swing Tap dance Other Air guitar Azonto Budots Capoeira Dancehall dances Flexing Flossing Folk dance Clogging Headbanging Grinding Moshing Moonwalk Novelty and fad dances Pantsula Pogo Salsa Gwoka Tango Waacking

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Boogie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.