Arpeggios
In music theory, an Arpeggio are the notes of a chord played one at a time. The word arpeggio comes from the Italian word arpeggiare, which means "to play a harp." If you can visualize harpists, they often articulate notes by plucking the strings one at a time. It is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played in an ascending or descending order. An arpeggio may also span more than one octave. Executing an arpeggio requires you to play the sounds of a chord individually to differentiate the notes. The notes all belong to one chord.
When we learn scales we learn a couple of notes that fit over the chords in a certain key. When we learn an arpeggio we learn a couple of notes that fit over a particular chord. When you practice an arpeggio you would usually start with playing the notes in order. Arpeggios can rise or fall for more than one octave. The chord may be a simple chord with the root note, the 3rd note and the 5th note of the scale in it, this is called a tonic triad. There are many arpeggios out there worth checking out. Below are a few examples of some arpeggios.
The Major Arpeggio consists of the root note, the 3rd note and the 5th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of C Major going up two octaves would be the notes: C,E,G,C,E,G,C.
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The Minor Arpeggio consists of the root note, a flat 3rd note and the 5th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of A Minor going up two octaves would be the notes: A,C,E,A,C,E,A.
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The Major 7th Arpeggio consists of the root note, the 3rd note, the 5th note and the 7th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of C Major 7th going up two octaves would be the notes: C,E,G,B,C,E,G,B,C.
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The Minor 7th Arpeggio consists of the root note, a flat 3rd note, the 5th note and a flat 7th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of A Minor 7th going up two octaves would be the notes: A,C,E,G,A,C,E,G,A.
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The Dominant 7th Arpeggio consists of the root note, the 3rd note, the 5th note and a flat 7th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of G Dominant 7th going up two octaves would be the notes: G,B,D,F,G,B,D,F,G.
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The Diminished Arpeggio consists of the root note, a flat 3rd note and a flat 5th note of the Major scale plus the octave of it. An arpeggio for the chord of B Diminished going up two octaves would be the notes: B,D,F,B,D,F,B.
Arpeggio Patterns And Intervals On The Fretboard
C Major Arpeggio
A Minor Arpeggio
C Major 7th Arpeggio
A Minor 7th Arpeggio
G Dominant 7th Arpeggio
B Diminished Arpeggio
Understanding How To Use Arpeggios
Learning arpeggios is a great way of enhancing your dexterity and technique. If you want to move around the fretboard more faster, learn some arpeggios and practice. There are two musical situations when you can use guitar arpeggios, over a musical key and over a specific chord.
If you want to use arpeggios over a musical key, you must know what the key is in. The music tells you what arpeggio you can use. For example, if something is in the key of C major, you can use a C Major arpeggio, or if something is in the key of A Minor, you can use an A Minor arpeggio.
For every Major arpeggio, you can play a Minor equivalent 3 frets down. For example, if you were playing a C Major arpeggio on the 8th fret, you can also play an A Minor arpeggio, 3 frets down, on the 5th fret. This means that if something is in the key of Major, you can either play a Major arpeggio in that key or you can play a Minor arpeggio as long as the notes are relative to the music. This is known as ‘relative major and minor keys’. Understanding how the Circle of Fifths work helps.
Often when talking about an arpeggio on the guitar, there is more involved than just taking a basic chord form and picking out the individual notes. A guitar arpeggio is all of the note possibilities of a chord played individually in a particular area of the neck. Here you are thinking melodically rather than just thinking about arpeggiating the notes in a chord form. Arpeggios can definitely span multiple positions, but you are still playing the notes of a chord in order. They are very important for improvisation.
If you are improvising over a chord, knowing where all of the chord tone possibilities are in a particular position is going to come in handy. This helps you create a melody that will sound like a specific chord. You may still play other notes, but emphasizing the notes in the arpeggio will help your melody have a strong chord sound. Once you feel comfortable with some arpeggios, try playing each arpeggio in every key. You can do this by moving each arpeggio shape up and down the fretboard. Make sure that you play each note individually. Don’t try and play an arpeggio like a chord. Play each note separately.