Basic Left Hand Stride
Welcome to this module on mastering the technique for left hand stride piano. In this series of lessons you will learn the essential skills needed to play stride piano confidently and creatively.
Left Hand Stride Fundamentals
In this lesson we’ll start with the fundamentals of the stride style. You’ll learn to play both the root notes and simple 3-7 voicings in the left hand which then frees up the right hand for embellishments and decoration of the melody.
Stride With Roots, 3rds & 7ths
We start with playing the root on beats 1 and 3, and the 3rd and 7th of the chord on beats 2 and 4. It’s worth noting that in some contexts, we can simply play the 3rds and 7ths without playing the roots and we will explore this further in the upcoming lessons of this module.
In the upcoming lessons we will add more notes into our rootless voicings to create additional colours and textures in our left hand accompaniment.
Common Progressions & Cadences
In this lesson we isolate the common chord progressions such as the 251 and 36251. We cycle around these common progressions with a stride left hand style to strengthen your left-hand skills and enhance your ability to navigate these common progressions using just your left hand.
Lesson Downloads
-
Basic Stride Notation & Examples File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
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.
We build upon what we have covered in the previous tutorials by introducing upper structure triads, sus chords and a stride style.
Practice Tips
-
Start slowly and practice at a manageable tempo to ensure precision and control when playing left hand stride piano.
-
Break down the A section into smaller chunks. Isolate the bass and stride pattern over a single chord, and also cycle around the common progressions such as 251s, as demonstrated in the lesson.
-
Experiment with lower octave bass notes to practice expanding your field of vision when playing a left hand stride style.
-
In the upcoming lessons we will combine different accompaniment techniques to seamlessly integrate stride style, spread voicings, and shell voicings for a more creative left hand accompaniment.
