Thirds in the bass on unaccompanied piano work very well as Stride figures, if the hand can do the stretch of the "10th" -- if not, there are many Stride players who have mastered the art of ROLLING the LH from the bottom note to the third in the next octave and can imply the same thing.

For me, things really started to come together on that front when I started practicing harmonizing the Major Scale in all keys, :both: ways.

One way, we harmonize using the more or less standard jazz voicings, in C those would be:

C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bm7b5 - C

And adding the 7th extensions as well.

Then practice them out of serial order as well. I - vi - ii - V and I VI II V etc.

But there is the "other" way to voice the scale, that should also be practiced as well:

I - V - I - IV - V- IV - V - I

Here we are still moving up the Major Scale, but the harmonization is obviously much simpler in scope, the "gospel" style.

That gospel harmony is powerful and can be substituted for the jazz chordings in many an unaccompanied piano situation. Ray Charles was the Master at this, check him out for ideas.


--Mac

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