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- Week 85 -

Using Chord Straddles

For a Pro Sound

        Here is a technique that takes a little work to master, but is worth a lifetime of effort because it immediately separates the boys from the men and the girls from the women as far as a professional sound is concerned.

      Litterally not one pianist in a hundred -- no, make that a thousand -- uses this technique. Why not? Probably just because it hasn't been taught. I know only two other piano teachers besides myself that teach this technique. There may be others, but there's sure not many.

     So what is a straddle?

     I want you to visualize yourself walking down the center of a highway with your left foot on one side of the white line and your right foot on the other. You're straddling the line -- correct?

     That's exactly what you do with a chord straddle. You leave out the middle note of the chord and just play the outside notes.

      So if the chord is C, you would leave out the middle note -- E -- and just play C and G. Then you would invert the chord and do the same thing in the next inversion, so  you would have E on the bottom and C on the top, leaving out G. Then invert it again, and so on up the keyboard and back down.

     In a 4-note chord you do the same thing, except you play 2 notes of the chord while always leaving a middle note out, then play the other 2 notes, and so on.

     You'll understand it better by watching this short 3 minute video:

 

 

  

        If you like this technique, and like the sound it creates, but need some help on learning how to do it on lots of different chords, I have prepared a one-hour CD that drills you on chord after chord. We make straddles out of 3 note chords and drill on them, then we make straddles on 4 note chords and drill on them. It's hard work, but it's work that is worth it, because it produces a sound that is unique in piano playing. Check it out here -- it's called  Pro Secrets.

 

 

Copyright Shinn Trading 2005