Arpeggios Secrets

8/20/2019 Arpeggios Secrets

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What is an Arpeggio? 3Simple Major Arpeggio Pattern 3The Way to Play Arpeggios as Clean as Possible 5

Simple Minor Arpeggio Pattern 5Playing Arpeggios Over Chord Progressions 5Creative Uses for Arpeggios 9Progress Tracker 12

Table Of Contents

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Ex.1

Simple Major Arpeggio Pa�ern

What is an Arpeggio?

In this course, we will work on playing arpeggios on two strings, namely the 1st and 2nd strings. Before we move on,consider playing this arpeggio rst and take note of the pa ern:

An arpeggio is just a chord where each note of the chord is played sequen�ally (rather than simultaneously as instrumming chords). Because of this manner of playing, arpeggios are also known as broken chords.

The example above that we just learned how to play is an A major arpeggio. It is nothing more than an A chord playedacross two strings and contains all the notes found in the chord: a root, 3rd, and 5th.

As with anything we do on the guitar, what we learned is a movable pa ern: once you know the pa ern, just move itacross the fretboard to play it in several keys. In this instance, all we need to be aware of is that the root note is at the2nd string. If we start at the 2nd string and play the en�re pa ern, we always get a major chord arpeggio.

And so, if we want to play a G major arpeggio instead, we look for G at the 2nd string. We will nd this note at the 8thfret of the 2nd string, and so once we start playing that pa ern over there, we get a G major arpeggio:

Ex.2

2

Root

A

Major 3rd Perfect 5th

⁄

Root

G


⁄

˙

109 12

˙

87 10



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Ex.3

How about trying an E major arpeggio? We know that we have an E at the 5th fret 2nd string. Using the same simplearpeggio pa ern, we can now perform an E major arpeggio:

3

Ex.4

Arpeggia�ng a chord across its sequence is not really one of the most exci�ng things for a guitar player. To make thingsmore interes�ng, It's best to play the arpeggio as a lick. Here's one in A major that features a pull-off from E to C#:

4

™™™

Ex.5

From the descending por�on of the earlier lick, we can create a repe��ve or cyclical lick that u�lizes the pull-off por�onand then a single downstroke going from the at the 2nd string 10th fret and the E at the 1st fret 12th fret. This singledownpicking mo�on that pushes through two strings is the key to this lick. The big trick here is that in order to avoidmaking the lick sound "chordal", allow the pick to rest at the 1st string before plucking it a er playing the 2nd string.

™™™

5

4

4

4 4

Root

E


⁄

A ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ

⁄ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ

A

⁄

˙

54 7

˙10

9 12 910

12≥ 9

10

≥ 12≥ 910

≥ 12≥ 910

≥ 12≥ 910

≥

2




Ex.6

The Way to Play Arpeggios as Clean as Possible

Simple Minor Arpeggio Pa�ern

Playing Arpeggios Over Chord Progressions

When we talk about arpeggios on an electric guitar in a soloing context, they should sound uid and have the impressionof a monophonic instrument like a saxophone, each note being the only sound at a par�cular space without any othernote overlapping. Otherwise, playing that arpeggio will have that chordal sound. Therefore, care in playing arpeggios asclean as possible is a concern, especially when your guitar is running through distor�on. More than that, distor�on on anelectric guitar adds elimina�ng extraneous noise as part of the challenge of playing arpeggios. There are a number ofmethods by which we can keep all other strings from vibra�ng as we play our arpeggios.

1. When we're playing the 1st string during an arpeggio sequence, we can allow the �p of the fre ng hand's index nger to lightly touch the second string.

2. The pinkie side of the picking hand (the "karate chop" por�on) can be used to mute all other strings by lightly touchingthe strings near the pickups.

3. The picking hand's pinkie can be used to mute the 1st string.

4. The fre ng hand's thumb can be used to mute the 6th string, especially when playing the 1st and 2nd strings.

While all of theseare very good for mu�ng unwanted string vibra�ons, it is #1 that will be of most use in this course.

Now that we have established ngering and picking pa erns for both major and minor arpeggios, we can use thatknowledge to be able to play over chord progressions in very much the same way as playing rhythm guitar parts.

In the next example, we will use an Am-F-C-G chord progression and play some arpeggios over them.

If we recall our music theory regarding chords, a major chord has a root, major 3rd, and a perfect 5th while the minorchord has a minor 3rd instead. And so, if we are to play arpeggios over minor chords, all we have to do is shi that 3rd afret lower to go from major to minor. In Ex. 6 we have an Am arpeggio. To get that Am arpeggio, all we did was wea ened (lowered one fret) our C# (1st string 9th fre t) to a C natural (1st string 8th fret).

6

4Am

⁄

12 810

12 810

12 810

12 810

3




Ex.7

7

Remember that for this course we are using only one par�cular arpeggio shape, and so it's easy to nd what arpeggio touse over a chord. Here's how:

1. Find the root on the 2nd string.

2. Play a major or minor arpeggio pa ern depending on the chord progression.

We can also play these arpeggios in a variety of rhythms and pa erns. We can choose to play them fast, slow, etc. Hereare some examples:

9

Ex.8

11

Am F

⁄

C G

⁄

Am F

⁄

12 8

1012 8

1012 8 8 5

68 5

68 5

15 1213

15 1213

15 12 10 78

10 78

10 7

≈ ≈12 8

1012 8

1012 8

1012 8

1012 8

108 5

68 5

68 5

68 5

68 5

6

4




13

Ex.9

15

17

Ex.10

19

4

4

4

4

C G

⁄

Am F

⁄

C G

⁄

Am

F

⁄

≈

≈

15 1213

15 1213

15 1213

15 1213

15 1213

10 78

10 78

10 78

10 78

10 78

J ‰

J ‰

12 8 12 810

810

8 5 8 56

56

J ‰

J ‰

15 12 15 1213

1213

10 7 10 78

78

12 8

1012 8

108

108 5

68 5

65

6

5




You can always try to come up with pa�erns other than these using arpeggios. All that ma�ers is when you hear a chordprogression, you need to nd where the root is, listen for the chord whether it is major or minor, and then play theappropriate arpeggio (major arpeggio for a major chord, minor arpeggio for a minor chord) in whatever pa�ern you thinkwould suit the music well. We can start by learning the lick rst and then do all sorts of other things a erwards.

21

Ex.11

23

26

29

4

4

4

C G

⁄

Am F

⁄

C ”

⁄

G

⁄

15 12 13 15 12 13 12 13 10 7 8 10 7 8 7 8

‰

12 810

810

8 12 810

810

8 56

56

5

J‰

J‰8 5

65

615 12

1315

1312 15 12

1312

13

10 7

87 10 7

810 7 10 7

87

8

6




Ex.12

Crea�ve Uses for ArpeggiosAs many of us would no�ce, the arpeggio is only one means to an end. As with other techniques, it is always best toincorporate it into other techniques in order to create solos that sound musical. This is where we push our crea�vity tothe point of expressing what's really inside of us. One prac�cal way of doing this is blending arpeggios with the scale thatcorresponds to the key signature of th e song that we are playing. If you know your pentatonic and/or diatonic scales, thepossible combina�ons of scales and arpeggios seem limitless. Here's are tw examples:

31

34

37

4

4

⁄

⁄

Etc...

⁄

12 810

12 810

8 10 8 7 8 12 810

10 8 8 56

8 56

5 6

8 6 5

85

68 5 15 12

1315 12

1312

1313 12

1315

13 1512

13

10 7

810 7

88 7

107 8 7

10 8 7 8

7




Ex.13

39

42

The goal here is to have one idea that expands to mul�ple ideas. In this case, it's our major and minor arpeggio pa erns,know how to play them up and down, back and forth, etc., and then eventually start adding notes in between. Here wehave a third example of how to do it:

45

4

4

⁄

⁄

Etc...

⁄

12 8

1012 8

1012 8 10 8 12 8 10 8

128 8 5

68 5

68 5

7 5

65

8 6 57

15 1213

15 1213

15 12 13 1215

1215 13 12 13

10 7

810 7

810 7 8 7

107

10 8 7 8

8




Ex.14

47

50

53

55

4

⁄

⁄

⁄

Etc...

⁄

Etc...

10

8 12 8 1012 13 10

12 8 10 812

810

12 8 10 812

810 12

8

12 8 1012

810

8 8 56

5 78

56 8 5 6

5 8 5 78

5

6 8 515 12

1312 13 12

15 13 12 13 12 13 12 1314

Ó12 13 15 12

1212

1212 15 12 13 12

9



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Date

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What is an Arpeggio?

Simple Major Arpeggio Pattern

The Way to Play Arpeggios as Clean as Possible

Simple Minor Arpeggio Pattern

Playing Arpeggios Over Chord Progressions

Creative Uses for Arpeggios

Progress Tracker

Arpeggio Secrets


Arpeggios Secrets

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