Stride piano is a unique and challenging style of piano playing that requires a great deal of skill and practice to master. In this exercise, I’ll be showing you a basic, but essential left-hand stride piano exercise that will get you started on your stride piano practice.
Basic Stride Pattern
When playing stride piano, your left hand usually alternates the bass note with the chords. Here’s a simple example in C major:
Note how the root of the chord (C) is alternating with the fifth (G), a very common approach. Think of a bass player playing in a 2-feel.
Bass note variation
We can add different bass notes in there too, such as the third (E):
Left hand intervals
In stride piano, many times you’ll add another chord tone on top of the bass note. Often this is a 10th interval, but it could also be a 5th, 7th, octave, or third. These are some common chord tones on top of the bass notes that we just used:
Small hands?
If these intervals are too wide for you, try to play it as a broken chord, “rolling” the notes in your left hand. If this is still too tricky, the following is a useful variation to practice, with smaller intervals like octaves and sixth on top of the bass notes:
Right Hand Rhythms
Next, lets add in a voicing in the right hand, and try to play different rhythmic patterns:
How To Cheat
Sometimes, it’s ok to cheat a bit, and rather than fully jump up in your left hand, play voicings that are already in your left hand positions. This is especially useful when you’re playing a difficult melody, voicings, or rhythms in your right hand:
Swing!
Remember: the most important thing is to keep it swinging! Rhythm is crucial. Often it’s better to play a few wrong notes, but keep the groove going, than to lose the groove because you’re trying to play the right notes.
The next step is to practice this in all keys. Can you work this exercise through the circle of fifths?
Apply it to a song!
Lastly, let’s see if we can apply this principle to a song, for example Billy Strayhorn’s “Take The A-Train”:
Stride Piano Exercise - Video
In this video, I’m showing you how to play the full exercise:
Stride Piano Arrangements
Below are a few of my stride piano arrangements that use some of these techniques:
Listen!
Finally, make sure to check out the stride piano greats, such as Art Tatum, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Duke Ellington, and many more. To get you started, I’ve made short playlist of some of my favorite stride piano tracks. Feel free to follow, and reply with your favorite stride piano tracks in the comment section below!
