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Is there any effective way for practicing arpeggios?


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  • Members
Posted

I have problem of using arpeggios in my playing, especially for some progressions with altered chords. I know the key is to practice, but is there any effective way for practicing arpeggios, so that I can reach the goal quicker?

 

Or all I have to do is to memorize every forms of arpeggio and play?

 

Another question is......

I can plays scales, major, different minors, and modes of them in every key, and choose the notes to play against the progression, is the playing of arpeggio different to that?

  • Members
Posted

I think my problem is the fretboard patterns.For me the patterns of scales are much simpler.

I have some books for the subject, there are many patterns, and some books form the patterns in different ways.

 

Sometimes I think an arpeggio is just to help people's muscle memory for choosing notes to play, why not just play scales to choose notes rather than arpeggio-form-playing?

  • Members
Posted

For a lot of people it is muscle memory for sure -- but that's not ideal. So basically the challenge is to become more familiar with the fretboard -- a lot of people find the CAGED system handy in that regard, myself included. It's not the only system to learn but it is very good for certain things.

 

Within that you just need to work through and challenge yourself to pick out the arpeggios within, it will soon be quite easy -- or at least easier.

 

Doesn't matter if you play them diagonally, horizontally, vertically -- whatever. Main thing is to do it in your head at first in addition to memorizing patterns. So start on an A then ascend to C then E then G then A then C then E then G as high as you can go, then back down... Any tempo is fine. That will get your brain and fingers working together.

 

It's also very good to sight read arpeggios and/or memorize some of the tried and true patterns for arpeggio playing. I know some brilliant "master" players who still spend their days sight reading arpeggios from Coltrane books. :)

 

That all said, you will start to notice recurring patterns which make it all a lot easier -- for example in any major key (and all of its modes) you will learn to spot the tritone that occurs within and that can serve as a landmark.

 

I can remember reading Paul Gilbert once say that he figured arpeggios are one of the most important things to practice. It's not the funnest thing but it will definitely make your playing a whole lot sweeter and it will also get you playing new chord shapes, etc.

 

Don't be shy to memorize arpeggio shapes and just repeat them over and over, there are huge benefits to be had form that too. :)

  • Members
Posted

My pleasure.

 

I just recalled a DVD called Diatonic Theory & Harmony by a former student of Satriani's (named something like "Dave Dooley" or "Dean Donner", can't recall). It's not on arpeggios specifically, but it is an ideal video in terms of presenting a bunch of important (related) stuff without a ton of nonsense that can clear up a ton of the fretboard basics for you.

 

If you can find it check it out. :thu:

 

If the instructor seems a tad obnoxious just ignore that -- he's an extremely good guitar teacher and if you listen to him for just 2 hours you are going to walk away with a ton of excellent info. Honestly that may be the best DVD for that purpose that I have ever seen.

  • Moderators
Posted

I'm curious what problems you've had with arpeggios. I agree that arps can be a life-changing skill to master. Most of the focus of my daily practice is and has been arps for the past couple of years. There are a seemingly endless number of ways to practice and apply arps IMO.

 

cheers,

  • Moderators
Posted

One thing to remember about arpeggios is that they are just chords with the notes played sequencialy rather than all at the same time - but also arps are just a subset of one or more scales (since all scales can also be thought of as fully extended chords) - For example:

 

Am triad = A C E

 

To play an Am triad you can either play one of 30+ triad voicings or you can one of 30+ arpeggios - each will sound a little bit different - but each will sound like an A minor.

 

You could also play an A minor penta scale (A C E + D G) in various ways - because the A minor penta scale is just the A minor arpeggio with an added b7 and 11th (4).

 

The A Minor pentatonic scale is diatonic to three 7-note scales:

 

A minor = A B C D E F G - aka the A natural minor scale / Aeolian mode / C major

 

A minor = A B C D E F# G - aka the A dorian minor scale / Dorian mode / G major

 

A minor = A Bb C D E F G - aka the A phrygian minor scale / Phrygian mode / F major

  • Members
Posted

As far as memorization goes...it helps to make some sort of sense out of a given chord/arp shape as opposed to just memorizing the shape without any thought.

 

know the intervals being voiced and how these intervals are related on the fretboard

 

for example if an altered chord/arp has a b9, this is just one fret above an octave of the root. So learn where all the root notes (and octaves above) are on the fretboard in a given position. Even if a particular root is not contained in the chord/arp, the roots can give a frame of reference for the other notes.

 

Also learn relative intervals. For example, a major triad plus the octave gives you these relative intervals between the notes : M3 m3 4th. Don't just learn these "on paper" but learn graphically what intervals look like on the fretboard.

 

You can use this like stepping stones. For example...maybe you know in a particular shape where the major third is. From this note if you add a minor 3rd interval above it, you'll have the 5th. From the 5th add a 4th interval above that and you have the root. Or you could add a major 3rd interval above the 5th and come out with a major 7th arp.

 

basically come up with different approaches to learning this stuff.

  • Members
Posted

Also a quick study for arps is to just remember "every other note of the scale". Pretty much every arp you create is using every other note of your scale, or some subset of it. But by understanding this you can turn your scale into nothing but a handful of arps pretty easily. It's one quick idea that puts every arp in the scale right under your fingers...by using this simple idea you can use super-arpeggios that cover all of the arps in one scale pretty easily (I need to do a tutorial on the Super-Arpeggios).

 

Also learn inversions of triad and and some larger chords, triads are enough in most cases really.

 

I'm sure some of that stuff has been mentioned already.

 

I have and old book called Artful Arpeggio's that helped my A LOT back in the 70's and early 80's to get a feel for them. There's got to be a ton of info on arps these days since though.

 

Here's a tutorial I did using an exercise I found for getting more profisient at the arps within the Melodic Minor scale: http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/an-exercise-using-the-arpeggio-s-of-the-melodic-minor-scale-t12.html

 

Here's a tute I did for a maj7 and dom7 arps exercise: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1928079

 

Here's one about how every other note in the scale is every arpeggio in the scale: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1887147

 

Here's more of using every other notes, but displacing the order of the notes: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1857344

 

Here's one about finding and learning the inversions: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1887132

 

That's a lot of info there. Beyond that, while this is quite a bit of it in those lessons, the next part is application. In those lessons you'll see not only exercises but a lot of application too.

 

Start working on them today...I still remember the first couple major events of plowing through arps and the little bell going off (of course I still work on them hoping to keep hearing that bell). So stick with it and take it a day at a time.

  • Members
Posted

As far as memorization goes...it helps to make some sort of sense out of a given chord/arp shape as opposed to just memorizing the shape without any thought.


know the intervals being voiced and how these intervals are related on the fretboard

 

Arpeggios are one of those things which one can derive playing benefit form memorizing -- no guitarist is playing all their arpeggios "on the fly".

 

Obviously it's good to learn how to move around interval-wise but you have to walk before you can fly. One of the reasons a lot of students get a bit overwhelmed by arpeggios at first, as the OP, is because their fretboard knowledge isn't as broad as their ability to move around the fretboard with patterns.

 

Almost all guitarists go through that. Your fingers are eager but it takes time for the mental picture to fully catch up with them. It's better during this stage to memorize patterns and play as much as possible -- to get through to the next stage. AND THEN it's time to break them down and internalize the note relationships.

 

My opinion anyhow. Walk, then run. :)

  • Members
Posted

Hi all

 

This is my first reply to a thread here and I'm happy to have found somewhere to share with people passionate about music.

 

There is an exercise I've found really useful for helping both scales and arpeggios to fall more naturally from the fingers while staying in key and matching the backing chord. .. I hope this isn't repeating what's already been said.

 

The drill is to play seventh arpeggios up through all the degrees of a scale and link them by putting scale runs in between. Then you go back starting with the 8th scale degree back down to 1. You could adapt it in a lot of ways. If you didnt want to play 7ths you could do this using triads, for example.

 

I think it really helps if you know what the scale tone chords should sound like when played in sequence. For example in C major the chords are CMaj7, Dm7, Em7, FMaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5, CMaj7. That way you can know in advance if the arpeggio your about to play should be Major, Minor, Dominant, or m7b5.

 

So it starts with a C Major 7th arp: | C E G B |

 

Then you run down the scale to the second degree (D): |A G F E | D..

 

And that's the starting point for the second arpeggio (D Minor 7th):

| D F A C |

 

Then run down to the 3rd degree (E): | B A G F | E.. .. and so on

 

It's harder going the other way because you start the arpeggios with the 7th degree (e.g. for C Major 7th: | B G E C |) - then you would run up the scale..

 

I saw this on a site for sax players.

 

:)

  • Members
Posted

Hi all


This is my first reply to a thread here and I'm happy to have found somewhere to share with people passionate about music.


There is an exercise I've found really useful for helping both scales and arpeggios to fall more naturally from the fingers while staying in key and matching the backing chord. .. I hope this isn't repeating what's already been said.


The drill is to play seventh arpeggios up through all the degrees of a scale and link them by putting scale runs in between. Then you go back starting with the 8th scale degree back down to 1. You could adapt it in a lot of ways. If you didnt want to play 7ths you could do this using triads, for example.


I think it really helps if you know what the scale tone chords should sound like when played in sequence. For example in C major the chords are CMaj7, Dm7, Em7, FMaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5, CMaj7. That way you can know in advance if the arpeggio your about to play should be Major, Minor, Dominant, or m7b5.


So it starts with a C Major 7th arp: | C E G B |


Then you run down the scale to the second degree (D): |A G F E | D..


And that's the starting point for the second arpeggio (D Minor 7th):

| D F A C |


Then run down to the 3rd degree (E): | B A G F | E.. .. and so on


It's harder going the other way because you start the arpeggios with the 7th degree (e.g. for C Major 7th: | B G E C |) - then you would run up the scale..


I saw this on a site for sax players.


:)

 

That's a really neat exercise, thanks!

  • Members
Posted

 

Hi all


This is my first reply to a thread here and I'm happy to have found somewhere to share with people passionate about music.


There is an exercise I've found really useful for helping both scales and arpeggios to fall more naturally from the fingers while staying in key and matching the backing chord. .. I hope this isn't repeating what's already been said.


The drill is to play seventh arpeggios up through all the degrees of a scale and link them by putting scale runs in between. Then you go back starting with the 8th scale degree back down to 1. You could adapt it in a lot of ways. If you didnt want to play 7ths you could do this using triads, for example.


I think it really helps if you know what the scale tone chords should sound like when played in sequence. For example in C major the chords are CMaj7, Dm7, Em7, FMaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5, CMaj7. That way you can know in advance if the arpeggio your about to play should be Major, Minor, Dominant, or m7b5.


So it starts with a C Major 7th arp: | C E G B |


Then you run down the scale to the second degree (D): |A G F E | D..


And that's the starting point for the second arpeggio (D Minor 7th):

| D F A C |


Then run down to the 3rd degree (E): | B A G F | E.. .. and so on


It's harder going the other way because you start the arpeggios with the 7th degree (e.g. for C Major 7th: | B G E C |) - then you would run up the scale..


I saw this on a site for sax players.

 

 

Sounds like a good idea and I would apply this to Maj7, min7, dom7 and min7b5 arpeggios with 3 forms for each (E, A and C forms). Hopefully this would effectively help.

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