How to play Summertime in a Jazzy Stride Piano Style
In this piano lesson, we cover the Jazz standard: Summertime by George Gershwin. As usual I show you the final version first and then slowly break it down. STEP 1: DOWNLOAD the sheet music (fake book style) before watching the video. Then use it to follow along with the video lesson. Click here for the music chart: SUMMERTIME CHORD CHART
STRIDE PATTERNS:
Stride patterns are when your left hand plays just the root down and then jumps up an octave to play the missing notes from the chord. (2:19) The left hand is going to play the low single bass note on beats one and three. On beats two and four it will jump an octave up to play the chord. There are of course lots of different variations! In the video, I’ve slowed the left hand down half as fast. I’m only playing the root on beat one and the chord on beat 3.
GETTING STARTED WITH STRIDE: (Start Simple) 2:45
To get the hang of playing stride piano you want to first start out by practicing just with your left hand.
With your pinky, practice jumping from notes in different octaves. For example, play a low C (single note) then moving an octave up to play another C (single note). Keep working on this until you can do it in a steady rhythm without dropping a beat. Start off as slowly as you need to then gradually speed up!
The next step is to add the chords into the left hand on beats 2 and 4.
IMPROVISING:
To improvise on summertime, you want to use the Dmin blues scale. The notes for the D minor blues scale are [D F G G# A C D].
The Chords in Summertime:
Dmin7 can be played with the notes DFAC.
Gmin7 can be played with the notes G Bb D F. On Gmin7. In the video (:10 & :57), I’m playing an inversion of the chord (F Bb D) and leaving out the root because I played it earlier on beat 1.
Emin7(b5) can be played with the notes E G Bb D.
To add more walking bassline motion, I lead into A by playing Bb right before that. (:13)
A7 can be played with the notes A C# E G, however in the video I’m playing the root on beat one and then playing the chord without the root on beat 2
Fmaj7 can be played with the notes FACE. In the video (:24) I only play F & C to keep the chord from sounding muddy. Its a fast passage and a lot of notes are tricky!
Bb7 can be played with the notes [Bb D F Ab] but in the video (:25) I only play a shell voicing: Bb and Ab.
A7 can be played with the ntoes A C# E G and in the video I only play another shell voicing: A and G
When you’re playing chords in a low range on the piano, use only the outside notes of the chords (shell voicings) to keep it from sounding muddy. It also makes it easier to play 2 notes from a chord rather than all 4.
hi chris,
thats a good idea to show the music charts.
greetings from germany
Thanks,
I think its legal?
Does anyone actually know the legality of posting a chart for a song?
Hello
You are the best !
Thank you for this new lesson
This pleases me a lot
I would like to have an example of improvisation played at the same time as the melody. Is this possible.
Other examples: Georgia on my mind and autumn leaves.
Thank you very mutch
Best regards.
Gerard MEUNIER
Chris, really enjoying the lessons. My understanding on the legality is that as long as that material is being used for educational purposes and you’re not making a profit, you’re fine.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks Seth!
Thats great… because so far, I’ve just been spending money on this site to make the best lessons possible!
Thanks Chris. This really helps. talk to me sometime.
Hello and thank you for this very good lesson. it is really helpful for us beginners but i have one question to ask: how come you made this lesson with summertime on a d-scale rather the original Bb ? the Bb is very hard to do but still, it’s the original.
anyway, keep up the very good work and best regards,
Horace
oh my God this is a great creative ability. God Almighty bless you the more
Only one word describes this… AWESOME..!!
VERY GOOD JOB !!
Thanks