The term arpeggio (ar-peg-ee-oh) may look and sound like a foreign language yet arpeggios actually belong to one, universal language — music. Simply put, arpeggios are a reason that regardless of race, color, social class, etc we all have a common connection with music. Consequently, understanding arpeggios (and incorporating them into your learning experience) will make you that much better of a guitarist.
Arpeggios represent a challenge for some beginner guitarists. Fortunately, the guitar skill is very easy to understand, discover in popular music and therefore implement into your own practice routine. If you do struggle with arpeggios at first do not get frustrated. Stick with the basics outlined (below) and you’ll improve over time.
Before you can master arpeggios you must first understand arpeggios.
Cue the Music Theory:
Arpeggios are what some experts define as “broken down” chords. In order to understand a “broken down” chord you first must have a solid background with not only chords but chord structure. If you are clueless about the four basic triads of chord construction you need to take a step back and work on your theory before attempting arpeggios.
When you play an arpeggio you are NOT strumming the chord. Rather, you are playing every single note in a specific chord SEPERATELY. Make sense?
Example: C Major Chord is composed of the notes C, E, G (or first, third and fifth note of the major scale). Instead of playing C, E, G together for the chord you play each note individually in a sequence.
The four major triads are:
- Major (1st, 3rd, 5th)
- Minor (1st, b3, 5th)
- Augmented (1st, 3rd, #5)
- Diminished (1st, b3, b5)
If you have a decent understanding of scales, chords and triads then you know that triads are the notes that traditionally “stand out” in a given scale. Once you know the scale and you know the notes that compose a triad of that scale you will finally become aware of just how powerful arpeggios can impact a song.
If you want to use the above C Major example then you know that the notes C, E, G create the triad. With that knowledge you can literally create hundreds of different patterns utilizing only those three notes. Pretty cool, eh?
One of the first steps to mastering arpeggios is really getting down the music theory. If you have done your homework, you know that the Major scale produces a happy vibe while the Minor Scale is sad. What does the Augmented scale produce? If you said something like “exotic” you’re on the right track.
Arpeggios add a whole new arsenal of options to your guitar playing. Do your homework on music theory, learn about finding the different scales on the guitar neck and begin working on those arpeggios!
