Stride and Oom-Pah Bass on Piano
The left hand plays a low bass note on the beat, then jumps up to a chord on the next beat: oom, pah. When the jump is an octave or more it is called stride, the left hand of ragtime and old-time piano. Start with the small oom-pah jump, then make it wider.
Start with Oom-pah, the one most songs use.
Patterns
Songs that use stride and oom-pah
- Purple RainPrince
- Count On MeBruno Mars
- Time To Say GoodbyeSarah Brightman with Andrea Bocelli
- Mad WorldGary Jules
- Ho HeyThe Lumineers
- Off To MassachusettsMindi Dickstein
- Murder By NumbersThe Police
- Fix YouColdplay
- FadedAlan Walker
- You Raise Me UpJosh Groban
- The Night BeforeThe Beatles
- What A Day That Will BeJim Hill
- LovebugJonas Brothers
- Turtle BluesJanis Joplin
- Never Ever Getting Rid Of MeSara Bareilles
- SilhouettesHerman's Hermits
- In Spite Of OurselvesJohn Prine
- All I Want Is YouBarry Louis Polisar
- More Than WordsExtreme
- Making Love Out Of Nothing At AllAir Supply
Questions
What is stride piano?
A left hand that leaps between a low bass note on beats 1 and 3 and a chord near the middle of the keyboard on beats 2 and 4. It comes from ragtime and early jazz.
What is the difference between oom-pah and stride?
Both play a bass note, then a chord. In oom-pah the hand hardly moves; in stride the bass note is an octave or more lower, so the hand leaps.
Which songs use stride and oom-pah?
Purple Rain by Prince, Count On Me by Bruno Mars and Time To Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman with Andrea Bocelli use stride and oom-pah. The songs on this page all use it, the most played first.