The boogie shuffle is one of those riffs that shows up everywhere. Blues, rock, country — you name it. It’s two notes working together to create that driving, bouncing sound you’ve heard a thousand times. And the good news? It’s not that hard to play.
Colin walks you through the whole thing in this lesson:
The Three Notes You Need
The boogie shuffle starts with a power chord. That’s your root note and its perfect fifth. Your first finger holds down the fifth on the next string over.
Then you’ve got two more notes to add: the major sixth (ring finger, one fret up from the fifth) and the flat seventh (pinky, one more fret up). That gives you three combinations to work with.
You can mix and match those any way you like. That’s where the fun starts.
Starting on the E String
Colin shows this first on the low E string. Your open E is the root. First finger plays the 2nd fret on the A string (the fifth), ring finger hits the 4th fret (the sixth), and pinky reaches to the 5th fret (the flat seventh).
For the basic shuffle rhythm, you’re alternating between the fifth and the sixth. Down strokes work great here, but you can also pick down-up for a different feel. Try both and see which one clicks for you.
Moving to A and D
The same pattern works on the A string (fifth string) and the D string (fourth string). Just shift everything over one string pair.
On the A string, your open A is the root, and you play the fifth and sixth on the D string. On the D string, your open D is the root, and the harmony notes sit on the G string.
Once you’ve got all three positions down, you can play this riff through a whole 12-bar blues. In the key of A, that means A (the one chord), D (the four chord), and E (the five chord). Colin puts them all together at the end of the lesson so you can hear how it sounds.
A Movable Pattern
Here’s where it gets really useful. These patterns aren’t stuck in open position. You can slide the whole shape up the neck to play in any key. Whatever fret your root note is on, the fifth and sixth are always the same relative distance away.
If you’re new to blues rhythm guitar, the boogie shuffle is one of the best places to start. It shows up in so many songs that once you learn it, you’ll hear it everywhere.
For more on the boogie riff, check out the open position boogie riff lesson where Colin covers the basics, or try the movable boogie pattern to play it in any key.
Have fun with it, and get creative with those three notes. There’s more combinations in there than you might think.