How To Create Walkups and Walkdowns on the Piano & Use Them In Your Songs

Here is a transcript of the video if you want to follow along:

Hi. This is Duane and today I would like to quickly cover walkups and walkdowns on the piano.

There’s a walkdown.

Here’s a walkup.

Walk back down. Now, let me define a walkup and a walkdown. A walkup and a walkdown is where you’re moving up a fourth, one-two-three-four scale notes, or down a fourth, one-two-three-four. A half is when you move to the four-chord. Say you’re on the key as C. The four-chord is one-two-three-four. It’s the F chord, isn’t it? The five-chord is the G chord, one-two-three-four-five, but if you go down four notes, you get to the G chord, so you can either get to the : See, the three primary chords in any key are one, four, and five and so I can get from one to four by walking up and I can get from one to five by walking down. You see that? Okay.

Now, when I walk down, I generally do it in tenths because it sounds full. You can do it full chords by the way. That’s fine, too, and you can get a good sound, big sound that way, but to make it simple I’ll make it in tenths. You know what my left hand is doing. I’m playing : walking down to the next root – C down to a G, right? A tenth above that I’m putting an E. An E is like the third. I mean, a tenth is like a third, but an octave higher, but it has a more secure sound.

Let me move down here so you can hear it. Notice I did the : I slowed up the tenth there. When I got here, I went : I did a turn. That’s why it’s so important to use all the tools in your toolbox. This is a walkdown, but I used a half-step slide and a turn. See that? When you combine those three techniques, you get a pretty good sound. Now, you can walk up.

You see it? Just walk up or walk down. That’s all there is to it, up a fourth by tenths or down a fourth by tenths. Okay? That’s it. Thanks. See you next time.

Here’s the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsiHm4-u_nE
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