How to Play Stride Piano

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LESSON SUMMARY

Do you want to learn how to play stride piano like Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum? If so, then you came to the right place. Stride piano is one of the most fun jazz styles in the world! Therefore, if you want to play jazz piano and create exciting improvisations, then it is essential that you learn the building blocks of the stride style. In today’s jazz piano lesson, you’re going to how to develop a lead sheet into the stride piano style. Specifically, you will learn:

- A lead sheet melody inspired by Ain’t Misbehavin’
- Basic jazz chords
- The stride piano jumping left hand
- Right hand embellishments

Happy practicing!
Jonny May

[PianoWithJonny]

00:00 Intro
00:44 Lead sheet - Ain't Misbehavin'
02:26 Play at tempo
03:02 Chord review
05:17 Stride left hand
07:52 Play with backing track
09:33 Right hand embellishments
12:45 Medium tempo
13:19 Play with backing track
13:40 Hands together
14:44 Play with backing track
15:16 Conclusion

[XplusX]

I wish someone would create a video about the later stride sound late 30s to 40s. The left hand technique moved away from the ragtime-ish umpah to the legato tenth walks pioneered by tatum and earl hines. It’s a real beautiful sound.

[lawrencetaylor]

Merci for this. I'll be breaking this down and using building blocks.

[jahleda]

lol this video one is seriously one of the greatest piano lessons on the internet 🤯 God bless u

[thomasstambaugh]

Very nice, I can't believe this was three years old before YouTube sent it my way.

I am fortunate enough to be blessed with hands that easily stretch a tenth, so I'll be starting with this and then adding some left-hand walk-ups and walk-downs.

One of my lifelong inspirations has been the late Dr. John. This video seems to provide a solid foundation upon which to build some of Dr. John's famous New Orleans left-hand and right-hand riffs.

[trueself]

This is why you are a great teacher. I was lucky to find you playing Happy Birthday to You, which was the best of best versions online. Thank you!

[Arivakrish]

Lots of effort put in to make it looks easy and understandable. A Good Teacher...AWESOME!

[craigmetcalfe]

Hey Jonny! I first played this on the trombone and am now returning (many years later) to my first instrument, the piano. As the son of two talented amateur musicians with a piano in their bedroom, you can guess what I was doing at 5:00am every morning as the oldest of three. Cheers!

[Gustavo_Weckesser]

As a big fan of Fats Waller, I send you a great thank you and greetings from Argentina.

[margueritechippendale]

I would subscribe with Jonny anytime regardless of age ! As they say “ Life without music is a mistake “. Jonny gave me all the necessary tools to correct that mistake.

[scenesfromamemory]

You have a really good taste for phrasing

[markbogacki]

I’ve been waiting for a stride lesson for some time now!

[Aaron-mdeo]

Very nice lesson! I love stride so this was super helpful, keep up the amazing work.

[kenadams]

Thank you Jonny for this amazing tutorial🙌, I really learned a lot from this. This is especially great, because the left hand can be combined with basic right hands. Therefore you can play this song endlessly👏. It is just so much fun, so thanks again!

[crashnburnking]

Your a great inspiration! Learning a lot from you thank you.

[skrie]

I also got the CP4... but it's nice to see someone who actually knows how to play, play it.

[tomgiles]

As I'm sure you're aware, Jonny, and for anyone interested, instead of playing G min. --> C 7 in the third measure, it's traditionally C Maj./E ---> C Aug./E.

[djoulsdrummer]

I always love this kind of piano style, thanks fats weller should be proud of u 😎👍🏼

[aydencurry]

Hello Jonny, I know I'm about 7 months too late, however I cannot to express how much this lesson helped me, Ain't Misbehavin' is one of my favorite songs from Fats! I also wanted to ask about that bit you were playing at 0:14, is that improv or is it a piece. If it's a piece, I'd really like to learn it.

[Jay-vrit]

These videos would get more views but we're all busy on the website watching ALL the videos!!!