Mark Cohn's Walking in Memphis is one of the most instantly recognisable piano intros there is. And yet
how simple it is! It's based on a very standard chord progression: IV - V - I - VI
In the key of C that translates to F - G - C - A minor.
Try playing these triads as an arpeggio, missing out the middle note of each triad as follows:
The more observant among you may find the rhythm of the original opening puzzling.
The answer is that each phrase of the arpeggio starts on the up-beat, making the second note
of each 4-note pattern the down beat. The exception to this is the very first arpeggio, which does not have an upbeat
and consists of only three notes (F - C -F). What that does is to throw your expectations of what's going to happen and makes the whole of this otherwise simply intro more interesting.
