Stride Single Note Melody
Welcome to this lesson where we will explore various approaches to playing the melody of a jazz standard over a stride left hand style.
The lesson consists of three main practice exercises: playing the melody in the central register, moving it one octave higher, and playing the melody in octaves in the higher registers.
Changing The Register Of The Melody
We’ll start by playing the melody in the central register of the piano as it is shown on the lead sheet. This is the easiest form of stride because we are playing the bass, rootless voicings, and melody in a limited range of the piano:
Next we move the melody up the piano by playing it one octave higher. This introduces an additional layer of complexity as it requires us to expand our field of vision to accommodate for the bigger distance between our left hand part and the right hand melody line.
Finally we play the melody with right hand octaves which provides a thicker melody and forms the foundation of Beegie Adair style ‘chord melodies’ that we will cover in the final lesson of this module.
Building On Strong Foundations
It’s important to ensure that we can play the left-hand pattern with comfortably and in control. This helps us to shift our focus to our right hand.
The key to mastering left hand stride is repetition and consistent daily practice. Also break down the form into smaller chunks as we highlighted in the previous lesson.
Lesson Downloads
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Options For The Melody File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
We play the original melody of the tune in octaves to command a bigger range of the piano and add interest to repeating sections.
The stride left hand style drives forward the pulse of the tune and frees up our right hand for melodic embellishment and decoration.
We create a stride left hand style for “Georgia” and we explore some useful beginner stride piano drills using the harmony of the tune.
Practice Tips
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Start by playing the melody in the central register where it's written on the lead sheet.
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Once comfortable with the left hand stride and central register melody, repeat the same process but moving the melody one octave higher.
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Finally play the melody in octaves which is a bit more challenging but it's a very useful technique to command a bigger register of the piano.
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Begin by practicing smaller chunks of the A section such as 2 or 3 bars. Once you can play these smaller fragments in control you can then cycle around the entirety of A section.
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In the next lesson we introduce extensions and alterations into our left hand rootless voicings. Consistent practice and gradual progression remain key as we continue to refine our stride piano skills.
