| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: which tenths can you play? | |
| ayolt -- 01/08/2007, 14:54:03 -- #32249 | |
| I find this very frustrating, not being able those great stride 10ths... i can play c major and f major d minor e minor etc... but Bb major and Db major so on, are impossible for me!! Do you the top note with the right hand when playing a walking bass in 10ths?? I know it's possible to roll down or up when you play stride, but this seems not to feet when playing walking bass... | |
| jaledin -- 01/08/2007, 16:20:47 -- #32249 | |
| You can probably learn to play the larger tenths if you practice. I don't have huge hands, but I can hit a D maj or an A maj tenth easily after much practice. Also the Bb and such -- but those aren't always as clean. Inversions are your friend -- you can always substitute a larger tenth for a smaller inversion. One relatively fun way to stretch is to start a little "walking" pattern -- for example, in D maj, hit the octave, then the ninth, then the minor third, then the major third, while keeping your pinky on the root. You can make little rhythmic patterns while keeping the idea of *gently* extending your reach. I've no doubt you can learn to do it -- not all of the stride players had gigantic hands, but they could *all* play tenths, pretty much. | |
| Scot -- 01/11/2007, 09:45:47 -- #32249 | |
| I can hit small 10ths, C-Eb, C-E. But nothing in between, I can't hit the 7th with them. I can not possibly hit D-F#, though I've been stretching my hands since the mid 80's. It doesn't matter, what I do play in my left hand is pretty cool and makes up for my lack of reach. | |
| ronald1 -- 01/11/2007, 10:15:43 -- #32249 | |
| I can play C - F# pretty easily, but C - G is uncomfortable (thats just for L.H. which plays a semitone more than R.H. due to being stretched over the years). Being able to play big 10ths isn't really as good as people think however. Whatever shape/size your hand makes you better suited to playing certain things naturally; I think that having long fingers can contribute sometimes to having difficulty playing certain types of runs (although it can obviously be worked past). Sometimes I really wish I had a stumpy hand! :( | |
| DoubleZ -- 01/11/2007, 11:20:37 -- #32249 | |
| I have big hands; I can stretch to all of the 11ths except F#-B for some awkward reason. Although I never really use that, it makes 10ths seem perfectly comfortable. That's my left hand though, I probably have to strecth my right to hit the harder 10ths. | |
| jaledin -- 01/11/2007, 14:47:25 -- #32249 | |
| Wow, some of you have some incredible stretches. I'm with Scot, though -- I don't think the reach is all that important unless you're going to specialize in playing pre-war jazz. If you can hit a minor third above, you can already cover most of the exact, note-for-note things bop players might play. | |
| Barry -- 01/12/2007, 06:00:51 -- #32249 | |
| I can just about manage C#-E and that's about it! My left hand span is much bigger than my right as well. To be honest, it's never really bothered me - you do what you can with what you've got. When you think about the stuff that guys like Django Rheinhardt and the South African pianist Bheki Mseleku can manage without the full compliment of fingers, it's hard to get worked up about hand span! | |
| 7 -- 01/12/2007, 19:07:00 -- #32249 | |
| Repost of article on tenths: http://www.Jeff-Brent.com/Lessons/lh10ths.html Left Hand Stride Piano Tenths An article dealing with 10ths in the left hand and their use in Jazz.Complete with MIDI audio examples. Instructions on how to lengthen your hand span. | |
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