Members PRSnotPOS Posted December 20, 2005 Members Posted December 20, 2005 I know I've probably been told before but I think I need a better explanation. What exactly are arpeggios and what are their purpose. Like sometimes I see people coming on these forums asking how to solo and people will tell them to "Play your arpeggios." Why not just play a scale??? Do arpeggios create a certain sound like modes do?? I'm a little confused.
Members kunos Posted December 20, 2005 Members Posted December 20, 2005 An arpeggio is a chord played in sequence, one note at the time. So, to play an Em chord you play E,G,B at the same time, to play an Em arpeggio you play E,G,B on after the other separating them. Finally an Em scale is E,F#,G,A,B,C,D. The obvious (and most deadly boring IMO) way to use this in solos is to arpeggiate the chord that is playing below you.. but it's a good start. Essentially they sound very different from scales because intervals are wider.
Members PRSnotPOS Posted December 21, 2005 Author Members Posted December 21, 2005 Originally posted by kunos An arpeggio is a chord played in sequence, one note at the time.So, to play an Em chord you play E,G,B at the same time, to play an Em arpeggio you play E,G,B on after the other separating them. Finally an Em scale is E,F#,G,A,B,C,D.The obvious (and most deadly boring IMO) way to use this in solos is to arpeggiate the chord that is playing below you.. but it's a good start. Essentially they sound very different from scales because intervals are wider. Ok, I got ya. But I have a question... if I play (lets use your example) the E,G,B in the order of, lets say, G,E,B, is it still an Em arpeggio or is it something else? What I'm pretty much trying to say is do you have to play those notes in that SPECIFIC order (E,G,B) for it to be Em or can I mix them around??
Members Virgman Posted December 21, 2005 Members Posted December 21, 2005 Originally posted by PRSnotPOS Ok, I got ya. But I have a question... if I play (lets use your example) the E,G,B in the order of, lets say, G,E,B, is it still an Em arpeggio or is it something else? What I'm pretty much trying to say is do you have to play those notes in that SPECIFIC order (E,G,B) for it to be Em or can I mix them around?? Lots of folks play the arpeggios backwards like that. Playing chord notes over the chord is one of the secrets to the guitar universe.Great players use the correct modes, scales, and arps, plus intervals and more at will.It takes awhile to get there.So get crackin'!
Members red|dragon Posted December 21, 2005 Members Posted December 21, 2005 An arpeggio is playing only the chord tones of a chord. As you said, an Eminor arpeggio would be E G B. You are only playing chord tones. No other tones. Arpeggios are usually played E G B or any order G B E, B G E in order and create the "arpeggio sound". Arpeggios are used in a lot of sweep picking because of the way the notes of the chord line up on the strings, it makes it easy to sweep and sound good. I hate to bring him up but Yngwie Malmsteen uses arpeggios ALL THE TIME. In his melodies and his solos. Sometimes thats pretty much all they are. Just arpeggios. As for the picture...The red circle is the starting note, root, thus being E in this case. The blue is the E minor scale. The green is the E minor arpeggio. The yellow is the E minor7 arpeggio. Each have a different effect, sound and are used for different reasons. Each of the 5 positions of the major scale on the neck, has an arpeggios for EACH position. Major, minor, diminished...etc. So practice your arpeggios. Be able to play them fast. Then start sweep picking. Then listen to some of Yngwie's music to see how they are used. Rock players mostly use just plain old Emin arpeggios, not Emin7 arpeggios. When someone refers to an arpeggio though, they are most likely refering to just E min, not the Emin7. Then listen to some of Yngwie's music to see how arpeggios can be used. There are many players that use them, hell ALL players use them, I'm just using Yngiwe as an example.
Members kunos Posted December 21, 2005 Members Posted December 21, 2005 Originally posted by PRSnotPOS Ok, I got ya. But I have a question... if I play (lets use your example) the E,G,B in the order of, lets say, G,E,B, is it still an Em arpeggio or is it something else? What I'm pretty much trying to say is do you have to play those notes in that SPECIFIC order (E,G,B) for it to be Em or can I mix them around?? The order doesn't matter. Whatever the order you play those notes there are good chances your bass player is holding an E there... making it a Em anyway.What's important is what's in your head.. just as you would say "now I use E minor pentatonic" and the notes E,G,A,B,D will "appear" on your fretboard so you should be able to think "E minor arpeggio" and E,G,B should "appear" on your fretboard.. then you use them at any speed you want to build your improvisation.Thinking in arpeggio gives you the possibility to "aim" for a note you know it's going to sound spot on in that context. For example, if the song has G chord playing you know you can "aim" ur phrasing or run to either G,B or D (the G arpeggio)... IMO tho, this isn't a good approach to build melodies, expecially in rock/pop.. it makes everything sound very naive, it's much better to train your ear/finger connection than keep thiking "D is coming I need to start aiming for D,F#,A" all the time.It is a good thing to do tho when the song has a jazzy feeling with lots of modulations and you don't want to "loose" the listener.. so you just follow the chords.In a rock context, usually the word "arpeggio" means "FAST SWEEP PICKED arpeggio".. when played fast arpeggios are really cool and sound very different from a scale and they sound really tight with the underlying chord structure.. and they can be used in a great variety of ways.. from the simple "Em playing under, I play Em arpeggio at light speed" to more involved mental processes "Em playing under, I play G arpeggio at light speed and everything will sound like Em7".As usual there is no simple answer in music theory
Members bardsley Posted December 21, 2005 Members Posted December 21, 2005 It's not going to sound like an arpeggio if you go from G up to E and down to B though: it will sound like you're playing three chord tones of e minor. If you play G up to E then UP to B (above the E) then it will sound like an arpeggio. However, even then it's a little iffy. Basically, even if this isn't the strict definition, this is the generally understood one: an arpeggio consists of at least three notes (if it's just two it's simply an interval) based off a chord (not necessarily the one being played by other musicians, but simply one that you have in your head) and played as a succession of chord tones. That might be the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th of a chord, or the 5th, 9th and 13th, or whatever. But you have to be going in the same direction for at least three successive notes. In my opinion anyway.
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