7 Secrets of Stride Piano

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Jeremy Siskind, author of "Playing Solo Jazz Piano" shares 7 tips "the man" doesn't want you to know about stride piano.
00:27 - What is Stride Piano?
1:07 - 1st secret: take breaks
(1:31 - LH will pause and RH will cascade)
2:19 - Walking 10ths
3:12 - What if I can’t reach a 10th
4:14 - Practice Recommendation: Whole tune in 10ths
5:19 - 2nd secret: adding variety
5:49 - Low - high - high low or Peace peace
6:47 - 3 + 3 + 2
7:31 - add variety in the rhythm
7:49 - Ain’t Misbehavin’ demonstration - putting the chord earlier
8:16 - Anticipate the bass
8:57 - anticipate both bass and chord
9:41 One of Jeremy’s favorite tricks: stride in 3 against 4
10:31 - Stride in 5 against 4
10:54 - 3rd secret: pedaling
11:08 - no pedal
11:31 - pedal all 4 beats
11:53 - pedal from downbeat to offbeat
12:07 - pedal from the offbeat to the downbeat
13:00 - 4th secret: stride as ballad
14:38 - fast tempos
16:27 - 5th secret:
16:31 - Solo jazz piano book
16:41 - Feel rather than sight
16:51 - Blindfold
18:18 - Trade between thumb and pinky
16:58 - 6th secret: arm placement
20:56 - 7th Secret: RH chord melody
22:49 Rag time configurations
23:49 - slower tempo: RH completes the LH chords

[@PabloCardonaMusic]

I feel like stride piano is using all the potential of the instrument

[@JeremySiskind]

Definitely! It makes the piano into an entire ensemble!

[@greatjazz2167]

Excellent secrets, Jeremy-many thanks! Inspired by Willie the Lion Smith’s 1964 memoir, “Music on My Mind“ and recently posted KZbin recordings of his contemporary, the amazing Donald Lambert, I’ve been exploring up-tempo stride. One obvious secret is playing left hand chords that are ergonomic. Not just fewer notes, but, for example, shapes that don’t require finger placement between or alongside black keys. Bb7 is much easier to grab in second inversion than root position or first inversion, for example. I’m making a small catalog of these voicings for all the seventh chords, and have started striding with a metronome. Next step is to add the blindfold. I know this will take years…. Thanks for all that you do! Adam Paley

[@retrocool]

Definitely more than seven secrets here, but I'm not complaining, it was all great stuff, much appreciated.

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks so much for watching, Retro Cool!

[@stephanosioannou1825]

I must have watched this 20 times now, really shows how useful your knowledge is

[@JeremySiskind]

I’m honored!!!

[@UltraLeetJ]

This makes my confidence grow a bit. We all can and should, play stride regularly. I would hire someone else when playing fast too! lol . Colombian music sort of has that in some styles so it gets me used to jumps at times. But I love the ideas here. It makes stride finally sound more authentic for me. thanks a lot for the technical stuff! its just never talked about often either. As a blind pianist I feel for keys not that often, but it truly does happen when i do stride. Something else that really helped me too, was practicing block chords (even triads in several inversions) crossing hands, so say Bb on the low octave, then the same triad with the right hand an octave up, then you cross the left over and the right under and play the Bb triad again and so on, all the way up and down the instrument. Its just the way classical arpeggios are practiced by crossing hands, but with chords, and preferably with some rhythm you set, it could be dotted eight and 16th to a pulse of about 80. Then you will later find jumps become magically much more manageable.

[@JeremySiskind]

Wow, thanks for the great comments, Juan! It’s great to hear from a blind pianist. I’m so interested in pianists who play without sight. I’m glad you found some of the ideas helpful and I’m so grateful for the tips you shared!

[@joetheouf]

Thank you so much for all your incredible work, Jeremy. I've been diggin KZbin for years to find a clear and comprehensive piano master, and finally stumbled upon your channel. Your videos are always a blessing, full of detailed explanations, great playing, and positive energy. Thank you so much! Cheers from France.

[@JeremySiskind]

Wow, this is so lovely to hear. Thanks so much - I’m beaming!

[@Marco-bh9im]

Love the ballad stride, sounds so rich, beautiful extensions. Would love to see more of that

[@scottev954]

Thanks for making this style more accessible! I really appreciate your help.

[@matthewgriffiths9642]

Love that you have Sebastian Junger's book in the background too... But seriously thank you so much here for this video, so great to have it accompanying a phenomenal book

[@JeremySiskind]

Lol, I love my books!

[@1712Alfred]

This is like “Decoding Art Tatum”. You’re awesome as always, Jeremy! 🙏👏👏🎹

[@JeremySiskind]

Thank you, my friend!

[@bobmacleod5527]

Love the syncopation, I have this feeling that notes played off the beat make the listener's body move. I will incorporate these ideas into my amateur ragtime life. Playing ragtime for about 50 years. Greetings from Vancouver Island and thanks very much for sharing your innovative skill.

[@JeremySiskind]

AH, I love Vancouver Island! As a ragtime player, please don't judge my stride playing too harshly! I'm sure you're the real master!

[@michaelshark1]

I bought your book on Amazon its been a Great help to me learning Jazz coming from a traditional classical background. Enjoy your tutorials look forward to future ones. Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🙏

[@JeremySiskind]

So happy to hear that, Michael! I love when the things I put out into the world are actually being enjoyed. Thanks for letting me know!

[@milesstover3724]

youre incredible. How many years/hours have gone into your tremendous skill? what is the tune you keep sampling throughout the video?

[@JeremySiskind]

Thank you, Miles! I believe I was playing "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller. I've been playing piano for, yikes, more than 30 years....

[@Clara-hn4jj]

Another very useful video, thank you so much Jeremy! I am a classical pianist at first but I have been learning jazz on my own for a few years and I had trouble finding a youtube channel that suited me. Your videos are always clear with lots of very good advice. I would be interested to know your favorites jazz recordings :) Keep up this great work! Greetings from France.

[@jacobkuhlmann1616]

Dude, you have no idea how helpful this is... Thank you so much! I've been wanting to play in the stride style but struggling...

[@JeremySiskind]

Nice! I’m so happy it helps, Jacob!

[@spencersworldofmusic9686]

This is the best stride secret piano explination sir. Now i know what to practice . God bless sir

[@JeremySiskind]

I appreciate it a lot! Thanks!

[@hypecleffon2655]

Very nice left hand work and solid advice for those new to the idiom or general approach. I must, however point out how your right hand for most of this video was doing different stuff. Were you intentionally going for the juxtaposition of the earlier left hand styles and modern and post-bop, horn-like right hand? Thought the distinction could be made that stride jazz piano right hand, while having a single-note approach of its own, is really a different world than later jazz right hand techniques, etc...

[@JeremySiskind]

I like to think that stride piano is not something "stuck in the 1920s/30s," but a style that can be modernized and adapted to lots of contexts.

[@hypecleffon2655]

@@JeremySiskind Yeah agreed, I hear you. The right hand techniques of stride itself, whether of James P, Fats Waller, Tatum, and so on, could then conversely be paired to more modern left hand styles perhaps.

[@kenzeller6518]

Comprehensive stride ideas (secrets) ...all fabulous. Thanks for the share, Mr. S!

[@JeremySiskind]

Any time, Ken!

[@p1anosteve]

This is great.! As someone who has always regarded stride as the very foundation of solo jazz piano I can say I've not not heard anyone give a more comprehensive explanation or exhibition of it.

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks, Steve! Yes, you can certainly argue that most other solo piano styles are derived from stride. I feel like even if you don’t play stride yourself, understanding it is important to understanding piano styles.

[@ericsutz8026]

Great stuff Jeremy! Love it!

[@ts8538]

This is really helpful. Thank you. I'll get the book.

[@JeremySiskind]

Awesome! Glad you liked it!

[@fredericdesalpes5824]

Excellent, amazing , big big technique...Fred/France

[@JeremySiskind]

Yay - thanks so much for checking this out, Fred!

[@facumartig995]

Thanks Jeremy! You are always so clear in your explanations. Thanks for everything man, really! The thing I didn't found in any video (in all KZbin) is how are these jumps really executed from a technique point of view. I don't know if because I have to search it outside the "stride" concept, or because it's not a problem for the mayority of the pianists who start learning stride. But I would really love to know the details of the forces and movement involved in doing the jumps, specifically in Stride piano. To understand what's going on when we see the fast Stride (Is the force/push being executed from the fingers or from the arm? Is the movement really curved or "flater"? Like, is it better to do a curve with more height or the shorter possible? Etc.). And ideally see it from a side view (not from above). Thanks again Jeremy!

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for asking this! I’ll add it to the list for a future video. I think my best advice would be to practice moving an extra octave (or two) in order to have your body show you how it wants to make the most streamlined motion. That will show you more than any words I can write.

[@magc3520]

Thank you for this video!! It's a great complementary to your book which I just got last month. Very funtastic attending your YT sessions, they're sort of combination of lectures and live music concert. Awesome ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@arielhungary9327]

Great! Really useful. I will study this one many times. Thanks a lot.

[@JeremySiskind]

You're very welcome! I'm glad I didn't mess up my blindfolded stride too badly. 😂

[@arielhungary9327]

@@JeremySiskind You did a very good job. I practice it every day but it is really hard and the improvement is very slow. And my time is short :)

[@lanceregan2571]

Wonderful thank you . OS member . watch your lessons from there as well.

[@theoooms7277]

great, I just ordered your book, finally😊

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for the support, Theo! It's appreciated!

[@hernannieto1]

Man... this is very, very, very good. Thanks ! your playing is fire btw

[@JeremySiskind]

Thank you very, very, very much Hernan!

[@danielvazqueiroz]

Owww amazing Jeremy! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for checking it out, Daniel!

[@JoeLinux2000]

Very helpful suggestions. However it still takes a great deal of facility.

[@JeremySiskind]

No doubt! I can only play my mediocre version of stride after working on it for well over 20 years!

[@calvinjosephalex7403]

Hey i play stride but my hands hurt while playing fast, i wonder how people used to do it. Also how can you play accurately fast?

[@JeremySiskind]

Oof, those are big questions. Hands hurting hasn't ever been a problem for me. Arms getting tight/tired? Yes, but hands hurting, no. Make sure you're not going in and out of the key so vertically. How can you play accurately fast? Unfortunately, the answer is at least somewhat... "play accurately slow" and then plays accurately slightly less slow and slightly less slow, etc. But also practice fast leaving out some chords to give yourself a better chance. Wishing you good luck!!!! It's suhc a wonderful style!!!

[@jaseyn]

6:15 That very moment. “If I want a little variety from this..” Why!? :-) Why are you even thinking about this? “This” sounds so amazing. If I could, I would play "this" forever. Thanks for the video. Very informative. UPD. Could you pliase name the tune at 22:32. I like it but i dont know the name.

[@fredrickmendelsohn606]

You are amazing!

[@JeremySiskind]

You’re very kind. Thank you, Fredrick!

[@daffyduck4195]

Kindle prices are usually 1/2 of paperback book prices, as there are no physical products.

[@MasterRancisis]

Gold.

[@JeremySiskind]

I’m glad you dug it, Ben!

[@daffyduck4195]

Which book of yours teachs stride?

[@JeremySiskind]

There are four chapters on stride piano in “Playing Solo Jazz Piano”

[@stephanosioannou1825]

do you use the pedal when walking the tenths like that?

[@JeremySiskind]

I think you have options. If you’re rolling the 10ths, usually you want to pedal that because otherwise you won’t really hear the two notes together.

[@stephanosioannou1825]

@@JeremySiskind haha i mean i'm not oscar where i can walk tenths using my fourth finger

[@UkuleleAversion]

14:40 That's something I've heard OP do.

[@GruntDestroyarChannel]

Ha, he did it all

[@JamesHurt369]

❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🎵🎶

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks for checking it out, James! Great emojis too 😉

[@ericharding92]

Fantastic

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks, Eric! Have a great weekend!

[@brendaboykin3281]

🌹🌹🌹🔥

[@JeremySiskind]

🙌

[@UkuleleAversion]

Emmet Cohen is really good at stride piano.

[@ranblake3165]

Audio

[@JeremySiskind]

Thanks, Ran! I'm trying to get better all the time!

[@disneybudgetinn3752]

poor audio

[@JeremySiskind]

Agreed, Disney Budget Inn.