Article: In boogie-woogie piano playing, when the right hand is not playing chords to accompany vocals or another soloist, it usually plays licks. According to Arthur Migliazza’s book “How To Play Boogie Woogie Piano," there are only 8 primary licks, from which infinite variations and combinations are possible. Lick #1 is the most basic, and consists of keeping the right hand in the basic position of a C major triad. The next step is to introduce your right hand licks to your left hand boogie-woogie bass pattern. Practice in C, F and G separately. [Note: you can transpose these licks to F and G, or just play them in C while the left hand changes! It still works!]

What is a summary?
Learn a right hand lick. Practice the lick and variations while playing the left hand bass pattern. When you are comfortable playing the licks in all three keys, put them in the context of a 12-bar blues.