Straddles Made Of Piano Chords – in Slow Motion

Good morning. This is Duane and this morning I’d like to do some super slow motion of straddles. As you know, a straddle is where you take a piano chord and leave out the middle note. Let’s just review straddles but then we’ll get on to the super slow motion version of them.

Let’s take the C chord. That would be a straddle because I’m leaving out the middle note. That’s a C chord, too, except I’m leaving out the middle note of C. That’s a straddle, too, because I’m leaving out the middle note of G. Anytime you leave out the middle note of a chord that’s called a straddle. There’s an F straddle because I’m leaving out 1 note. Here’s A-flat. I was playing an A-flat straddle because I’m leaving out the middle note. Anytime you leave out the middle note it’s a straddle and you can invert them up and down as I just showed you.

A 4-note straddle is the same idea, but you just leave out every other note like you play 2 notes and then leave 1 out and then you play 2 notes so leave 1 out. It’s a good idea to take a 4-note chord like that. I’m playing A minor here, A, C, E, G and then play the top note G and C, and then with your maybe index finger and then with your fourth and thumb or third and thumb, whatever feels more natural to you. Play A and E, see that? You just do that for a while to get the feeling of the straddle. If you knew this : It’s going to take a while to get the feel of it. Just take a variety of chords and do that. Once you get it, it’s not hard.

Let’s the do the super slow version. What I’m going to do is take F, A, C, E. That’s it, FACE, so remember that one. I’m playing a FACE, but I’m going to start a little higher so I can straddle down. I’m taking that F, A, C, E and I’m playing the top note in E and A, and then I’m straddling down to C and F. I have a G in the left hand. Super slow motion here. I’m going to come down to D minor 7th and do the same thing, D, F, A, C. Now down F, A, C, E again : I’m sorry, A minor and then F, A, C, E again.

Again, from the top. Then I did this run-up the keyboard F, A, C, E. Again F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E. Let’s do it slowly now. I have G in the left hand sustained as an octave and I’m playing F, A, C, E. I quickly move down to A minor, G and C combined with A and E, then come back down to F, A, C, E again. Believe it or not, it’s very difficult for me to play it slowly after playing it rapidly for so many years. Then A minor again and then I can finish it off with an F minor, F, A, C, E : Not F minor but F, A, C, E which is F minor 7th. Then a rapid run-up F, A, C, E. Tuck this thumb under F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E and on up the keyboard.

F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E. F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E. Slowly F, A, C, E. Tuck this thumb under F, A, C, E thumb under F, A, C, E, F, A, C, E. That’s it. Super slow version of a straddle, descending straddle and a fairly rapid run going up on the same 4 notes. That will work on any chord of course. That’s G 9th that I’m playing up to the key up. F, A, B, D, F, A, B, D, F, A, B, D [then 06:41] B flat 7th. F, B, A flat, B flat, D. Didn’t matter what the chord is, so nice it’s more awkward because of your fingering but the principle is actually the same.

That’s it for today. If you enjoy this sort of thing, come on over to PlayPiano.com and sign up for a free newsletter on chords and chord progressions and hope to see you there. Bye-bye for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy-2yviqIEw&feature=youtu.be
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