I am getting so frustrated because I have been trying for months to understand how arpeggios work. I know it's just notes from a chord. But does that mean I can just hold a chord and play the notes? If yes then I just play the notes I am fingering? Do I play every string I would play if I were to strum the chord? Do I play EVERY instance of these notes? So if the root note showed 3 times in that chord do I play it each instance?
I just got the book The Gig Bag Book of Guitar Complete and it has all the arpeggios in it for the chords. But to me they just look like chord fingerings? I just need some sort of visual explaining what they look like. I have seen tabbed arpeggios but they just look and sound like scales to me. I know I am supposed to start at the first note (usually the LOWEST note) in the chord but even that confuses me. I know that understanding the circle of 5ths would probably help but again I need a good visual. I ordered the HArmony Wheel from an eBay seller and that looks like it may be useful. I guess this is one instance when I need a teacher.
Thanks for your help!
There are all sorts of ways of using arpeggios and it's just a matter of getting used to them. As you've said, people tend to start on the root (the lowest root) and work their way up in tone, but what note you start on (and when) is often up to you as far as putting together an arrangement. It's usually a matter of how many notes you want to put in and how much space you have.
If you haven't tried it yet, take a look at the lesson on House of the Rising Sun on the Easy Songs for Beginners page. That gives you an easy (and fairly typical) practical use of arpeggios.
Hope this helps and hang in there...
Peace
Mike
What might be confusing you is the order arpeggios are played in. The notes can be played in any order whatsoever. So if you are holding a regular Em chord and picking single notes in any order, you are playing an Em arpeggio. What makes it an arpeggio is picking one note at a time versus strumming, and also only the notes that belong to that particular chord, in this case E, B, and G.
If you play E, B, and G anywhere on the fretboard in single notes, you are playing an Em arpeggio. But these notes can belong to other chords as well.
Now I've probably confused you.
But arpeggio studies usually have you play straight up from the 6th to 1st string and back down again.
And arpeggios are often played like a scale where you do not hold your fretting hand in a set form like the Em chord. But still you play one note at a time, and only the notes belonging to that chord.
Em chord played arpeggio style
e-----------------0-
b--------------0----
g-----------0-------
d--------2----------
a-----2-------------
e--0----------------
Em arpeggio played like a scale
e------------------------------3m-----
b--------------------------5p---------
g----------------------4r-------------
d--------------2i--5p-----------------
a---------2i--------------------------
e-—0-—3m------------------------------
The first example is not played in perfect order, because it goes from the bass E note to the B note on the 5th string, skipping over the G note on the 6th string. But it is still an Em arpeggio.
The second example is played more like a scale. It is played in order going from one note to the very next note that belongs to the chord in order.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Thanks David and Wes...I haven't been this frustrated with the guitar since the dredded D CHORD phase!! I just sat the guitar down and started surfing eBAy!! And Wes you are right...all the ways I read to play an arpeggio is from the 6th string to the 1st. I am sure once I learn to play them fast they'll probably sound like something more than a scale. But then seeing that you might have the same note in 3 octives really confused me. I understand that some chords have 3 notes in them...OK so I'll play the 3 notes...then I was like.."That's it?" Then I saw the "scale-like" arpeggio form and got more confused. I have been trying to understand these things for months! I have read countless internet lessons, books, etc and I still didn't get them. It was killing me because I know that arpeggios just might be the key for me to kick my soloing in the butt!
Thanks again!
Mike
It is because people speak of arpeggios in different ways. If you are holding any chord and picking the notes of that chord one at a time in any order, that is an arpeggio.
But these super-duper lead guitarists are usually playing arpeggios like a scale.
By the way, I had to correct that 2nd example. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I just thought of another question...SORRY :oops:
When does sweep picking come into play? If I remember correctly from what I read it's used on arpeggios and you go up and down the strings in order?
Thanks again for the help Wes!
You can use sweep picking for arpeggios... or for scales or anything else.
The way super-fast players use sweeps is in what I call 'hesitation picking' - your pick goes through a string and comes to rest on the next string (either up or down, depending on your stroke direction). While you're resting the pick against the string, you do whatever hammers/pulls are needed to get the notes on the string.
Then you play through the next string, and rest against the third string in your series while your fretting hand catches up.
Here's a Google video that illustrates - you can see the hesitation in some of the patterns.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Thanks Tom. I'll check it out if Google ever speeds up. Their site must be swamped tonight.
A nice little jewel of an explanation. I liked it and learned a bit more. It reminds me of why I browse along here, for the brain power hanging out in this forum. Wes and David rule.
Enjoy your karma, after all you earned it.
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hi mike
after having devoted myself to strumming, i've just started to play some arpeggios (with fingers not with the pick) and i love them sinnce I rate them as an excellent way to better your fretting abilities. I can tell you a few things that I think I have understood about them:
a) every finger is devoted to a different string ecxept for the thumb which is responsible for the EAD strings
b) arpeggios patterns are like strummin patterns so as long as you stick to the song resolution you could create your own one: by the way at the beginning it is better to re-arrange the songs a bit to play them with arpeggios
I mean if I play a 6/8 songs like "House of the rising sun", "Lucky Man", "Breaking the girl", "Everybody hurts", I stick to a simple pattern like this:
T (on the root), I, M, R, M, I for each measure. Every note is one eight long and the inerhent rhythm is 1,2,3-1,2,3 (like a faster waltz)
If I play a 4/4 song I stick to a straight eight note pattern that I play once for a measure. If the song is based on sixteen notes I played the eight note pattern twice for a measure (so I play it twice faster)
I tend to use two patterns
T,I,M,I, T,I,M,I (T on the root note of the chord)
or
TR,I,T,I, TR,I,T,I (TR means to play simultaneosuly root with Thumb and B string with Ring)
There are so many songs that I've rearrenged this way like "Sweet child o'mine", "Horse with no name", "feelin alright", "Imagine", "lady in black", "Rain", "eLEANOR RIGBY", "Wild world" etc.
What it is really important is to get started then you could develop your own ideas
Keep on trying mate
Matteo
I just thought of another question...SORRY :oops:
When does sweep picking come into play? If I remember correctly from what I read it's used on arpeggios and you go up and down the strings in order?
Thanks again for the help Wes!
When people in 'tabland' (not known for their accuracy in use of terminology) say sweeping, they generally mean that each note is silenced before the next one plays, normally done by lifting the fingers off the frets as each note is played with a rolling of the left hand. In contrast, in House of the Rising Sun, each note is left to ring out which makes it more strum-like.
(To be technically accurate, I'd say that that was just a plain ol' arpeggio, and that the type used in House of the Rising Sun was either the same but with the instruction 'let ring' applied, or just 'fingerpick'. Just my understanding, don't go placing any large wagers on it or anything :))
