This week’s irocku lesson comes from the little known piano great, Huey ‘Piano” Smith and his backing band, The Clowns. Smith, who cut his teeth backing for the likes of, Guitar Slim, Lloyd Price, and Little Richard fell into relative obscurity by 1970; however, this week’s song is legendary.
Recorded in 1957, “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” reached the top five on the R&B charts and gained considerable notoriety over the years as a heavily covered staple of the ‘New Orleans sound.’ It is evident that Smith was a student of both the Fats Domino and Professor Longhair schools of music in that “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu’s” melody and groove embody the bounce that is synonymous with the ‘New Orleans sound’ they helped make famous. Firmly planted in the Rhythm and Blues sound that was exploding in the 1950’s, the song gains its originality by drawing directly from the culture of the Mississippi Delta and it’s incarnation of the boogie-woogie approach of Domino and Longhair. With a moderate tempo driving the song, Huey P. Smith is able to use the space provided by the melody to give the vocal a bouncy almost instrumental quality that enhances the overall sound and gives “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” its universal appeal over the past fifty years. When measuring the greatness of a song, it is often important to look at who has recorded the song over time. irocku was drawn to the song after hearing the record, The Very Best of Johnny Rivers. This version of the song smokes. Numerous other musicians have covered the song; including Edgar Winter, Dr. John, The Grateful Dead, Jerry Lee Lewis, Professor Longhair, John Scofield, Bill Wyman (of the Rolling Stones) and Aerosmith to name a few. If you want another way to measure the greatness of a song, play if for yourself and see how it makes you feel. In the case of “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”, it will have your toes tapping and your bottom bouncing, which is just what New Orleans music is all about!
“Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” is an 8 bar blues song and it only uses 2 chords; C and G. Sounds simple. This song didn’t make it onto the list of top rock piano songs of all time because of it’s simplicity. Like all the other songs coming out of New Orleans, “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” has syncopated bass line rhythm that drives the song. Plus, the intro lick is one that you will use over and over again.
Written by Huey Piano Smith
Administered by Warner/Chappell
All Rights Reserved Used by Permission
Learn how to play rock and blues piano from one of rock’s greatest. Chuck Leavell, legendary keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, The Allman Bros, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and more.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. “Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues” is based on an 8-bar blues progression, it uses a classic New Orleans bass line, and has one of the most recognizable right hand riffs in piano history. A must learn song.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Really enjoying the lessons.
Question: what is the bpm
for Rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie woogie blues ?
I’m working my speed up slowly and I’ve got lesson four
up to 75 bpm.
Just wondering what final tempo to shoot for.
This lesson sounds different to the Johnny Rivers version in 1972 in this clip:
Do you have the sheet music for this and could this be incorporated into the lesson ?
Thanks for the question. As you can see from the sidebar on this page there are so many cover versions of this song that it wasn’t possible for us to create a lesson for each cover. When we wrote this lesson we tried to take the best of them. You’ll see that the IROCKU lesson is closest to Professor Longhair’s version. His playing is technically challenging and it’s also the truest representation of a New Orleans groove. That said, the chords and riffs are very similar to Johnny Rivers’ version. Johnny River’s bass line is much simpler, though, alternating between C andG ( for the C chord) and G and D ( for the D chord). If you can play our level 7 version you should be able to adapt it to the Johnny Rivers’ version. In fact, we’d love that to happen. We’d prefer you making the song your own than playing our version note-for-note. Follow-up with us if you need additional assistance once you’ve mastered the level 7…Keep rockin!
Is the f# grace note wrong in bar 2 of th lesson. I see Collin playing a repeat of bar 1 an octave lower. Shouldn’t that be an Eb?
What level lesson are you referring to? In the level 7, there is no F# and you are correct Collin is playing a repeat of bar 1 one octave lower, which is how it is printed. Please check it out again and let us know. Keep rockin!
You can play it either way and it will work. This is a standard New Orleans riff and it’s played many different ways so there is no definitive answer which way is correct. “Rockin Pneumonia” is an 8 bar blues in the key of C. In C, the Eb and Gb ( ie F#) are commonly referred to as the ‘blues notes’. Many of the New Orleans keyboardists, such as Professor Longhair, would play both blues notes at the same time with either the 2 and 4 fingers, or the 3 and 5 fingers, or the 2 and 3 fingers, and then slide down to the E ( third of the chord) and the G (fifth of the chord). Classically trained players and studio players often play the grace notes ( or blues crunch) with one finger and then the chord tones with a separate finger making it more challenging to play both blues notes at the same time. Leon Russell often used this technique to accentuate the blues note. In the key of C, you can play it each of these ways. But as you move to a different key, such as A which is a common guitar key, you can’t slide down from the black keys to the white keys so you will need to use separate fingers to play the blues notes. Try practicing this riff first with just the flatted third ( Eb), then just the flatted fifth ( Gb), and then try playing both at the same time. Do this in the different keys and you will find that you have to modify how you play it for each key. It makes you appreciate the master’s, such as Dr. John or Billy Preston, who can play any rock, blues, or New Orleans technique in every key.
Incredible.
Please enjoy The Harvey School rock band perform with Taylor Robinson on vocals and bass, Nicole Goldstein on vocals, James Bendick on guitar, Tristan Watson on bass, Matt Tuckner on drums, and last but not least, myself, Jagger Clark on keyboard. Directed by Cary Brown. This performance was February 12, 2013.
Just joined the site and I`m feeling really up beat about progressing my playing which has stalled recently. I recognise there are no short cuts to learning to play and its only finger time that counts but being able to see and hear what the end result should be can only help. Took a chance and joined as an intermediate and so far its slow going but not impossible :)
We’re thrilled you joined. Welcome! You’re right on about time on the keys is what it’s all about. Even though most people go directly to the ‘Lesson’ video to master the song we’re finding that folks who are enjoying irocku the most begin with the “Groove Chart’ and get the groove down first. They then move on to the Lesson, Exercise, Improv. Have fun with it!
Hi It doesnt matter how much you know..there is always something new to learn…thanks….Doug