STRIDE PIANO STYLE

The common feature found in the stride piano style is the left hand pattern of a consistent bass single note or octave followed by a left hand chord.  This left hand pattern supports the right hand melody.  The right hand melody may be single notes or stacked notes.  A lot of styles implement the stride technique which include gospel, country, boogie woogie, jazz, and ragtime.  Actually ragtime came first, then the STRIDE technique came afterwards which borrowed heavily from stride.

The stride is difficult for beginners because it requires your left hand to travel long distances along the piano keyboard.  However, with practice you can acquire this skill and use it effortlessly.

The first thing to learn is to simply get your left hand moving.  Take a C major chord in the left hand, and we will start with a left hand octave C.  Next, jump your left hand up to C major chord.  Then use your left index finger to play the single note G which is the 5th note of a C major scale.  Finally, jump your left hand back up to the C major chord.  Just do this over and over until you can do it with your EYES CLOSED.

1.  Stride Piano Exercise # 1:  PDF File   MIDI File

2.  Stride Piano Exercise # 2:  PDF File   MIDI File

3.  Stride Piano Exercise # 3: PDF File   MIDI File

4.  Stride Piano Exercise # 4: PDF File   MIDI File

5.  Stride Piano Exercise # 5: PDF File   MIDI File

6.  Stride Piano Exercise # 6: PDF File   MIDI File

7.  Stride Piano Exercise # 7: PDF File   MIDI File

8.  Stride Piano Exercise # 8: PDF File   MIDI File