Piano Chord Straddles – What Are They?

A triad is a 3-note chord – everyone know that. If you omit the middle note and only play the outside notes, that is called a piano chord straddle. It’s like you were standing in the middle of a highway (don’t do it!) and your right foot is on one side of the white line and your left foot on the other side – you are straddling the white line. It’s the same here. You are leaving out the center note of the 3-note chord, giving it a “hollow” sound.

Now invert the chord upward or downward one inversion and do the same. Now another inversion – and so on across the keyboard. You have a wonderful sound called a piano chord straddle.

You can do the same with a 4-note chord. Play two of the four notes, but always leave a space between any two chord notes. That’s a 4-note chord straddle.

Watch this short video and you’ll understand:

For a ton of techniques like this, consider getting ahold of “How To Dress Up Naked Music On The Piano”. It shows 101 different ways to add interest to your piano playing:
Click on the picture below:

You can also view this video (and hundreds of others) on my YouTube Channel at www.YouTube.com/chordsgalore

For more information on piano chords and triads, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_(music)
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