Erroll Garner Piano Licks Compilation

Erroll Garner's piano style was characterized by his syncopated, percussive approach to melody, his robust and rhythmic left-hand accompaniments often delivering a steady four-to-the-bar pulse, and his creative improvisations. He often played behind the beat, creating a laid-back feel that was at once relaxed and full of forward momentum. This collection of Garner-style licks gives a flavour of his harmonic and melodic language.

1. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Stride Piano Lick

Garner often used stride piano style left hand, with fully voiced chords outlining the melody above.

Erroll Garner-style Stride Piano Lick

2. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Right-hand Chord-Melody Technique

This example highlights the way Garner would mix octave melodic lines with filled in chords for added emphasis.

Erroll Garner-style Right-hand Chord-Melody Technique

3. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner style Melody Arrangement

This example gives a sense of how Garner fills out the right hand melody with full voiced chords. Compare the bare tune and accompaniment to the chordal version that follows.

Erroll Garner style Melody Arrangement

4. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner style Modulation

Here's a typical Erroll Garner-style modulation, using a held 5th in the bass that builds the dramatic tension before modulating up a half-step.

Erroll Garner style Modulation

5. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Bluesy Chromaticism

Garner's harmonies are often infused with bluesy chromaticism, as in this example.

Erroll Garner-style Bluesy Chromaticism

6. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Impressionist Textures (after Debus...

But he also takes influence from further afield, some times using impressionist-style harmonies that could have been written by Claude Debussy

Erroll Garner-style Impressionist Textures (after Debus...

7. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner style Chromatic Lick

Sometimes, Garner harmonizes every note of a chromatic scale, it's a powerful and rich effect.

Erroll Garner style Chromatic Lick

8. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Chord Substitution

This example amalgamates several of the earlier examples into one very Garnerian riff!

Erroll Garner-style Chord Substitution

9. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner-style Tritone Chord-substitution

Tritone substitution is where you swap out one chord for another a tritone (augmented fourth away). In this example the opening chords of A7 and G13 become Ebdim7 and Db7 respectively.

Erroll Garner-style Tritone Chord-substitution