Left-hand pattern · Slow dance ’50s
Rocking chair
Low, high, low, high, slow and swaying, like a rocking chair. Musicians call it rocking octaves (12/8).
Want to mix it with other hands?
How Rocking chair goes
One bar over a C chord: a row for each key, a column for each step, the finger on each note. Over another chord, move the same shape to its root.
Rocking octaves: The same note jumping low and high, like a heartbeat.
Songs with Rocking chair
Each one opens with this pattern in its player.
Often comes next
The patterns songs move to after Rocking chair, from verse to chorus.
More rock & boogie
All patternsQuestions about Rocking chair
What is Rocking chair on piano?
Low, high, low, high, slow and swaying, like a rocking chair. Musicians call it rocking octaves (12/8), one of the rocking octaves patterns: the same note jumping low and high, like a heartbeat.
How do I play rocking octaves (12/8) with the left hand?
Over C major it is C3 (5), then C4 (1), then C3 (5), then C4 (1); the number after each note is the finger (1 is the thumb). Over any other chord, move the same shape to that chord's root.
What songs use Rocking chair?
It is heard in 29 songs of the library, as the main groove of 9 songs, such as Baby Grand, Can’t Be Tamed, Christmas Tears, Christmas Without You.
Is Rocking chair easy?
It is an easy pattern, in 12/8, usually around 120 beats a minute.