Photo by Ethan Prater
I like to incorporate one octave arpeggios into my improvisation solos, because of the way they sound and feel. I prefer them over 2 octave arpeggios.

When I play an occasional one octave arpeggio in my improvisation it just sounds nice and fresh and could be something I made up on the spot.

But when I play a 2 octave arpeggio (without reorganizing it in anyway) you can really hear that I copied that straight away. It sounds too pre manufactured. It’s like playing a complete major scale or blues scale in your solo. You don’t wanna hear that.

Don’t get me wrong there are guitar players who play amazingly beautiful solos with 2 or 3 octave arpeggios but they are often extended arpeggios with extra notes or re-organized arpeggios.

So I do recommend to practice 2 octave arpeggios to expand your guitar vocabulary, knowledge of music theory, improve your dexterity and gain new ideas.

But today is all about 3 string one octave arpeggios. These are my favorites. I already wrote a post on one octave arpeggios which is a much bigger workout, but I always practice and memorize things in different ways. And I really love this workout.

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When I started learning to solo and improvise I began with the pentatonic / blues scale.

Somewhere along the way I got into arpeggios, intervals, patterns, improvising and making melody with the major scale. I accumulated all these ideas over time and incorporated it into my playing.

Learning all of these things takes time and effort, but the important thing is to have fun and experiment.

Bit by bit you will connect the dots and bring everything together and you’ll get a better overview of how guitar playing really works.

Learning to make melodies and creating ideas from the major scale, blues scale, modes, triads, intervals, patterns, arpeggios, etc, makes improvising and soloing exciting and more interesting to listen to. Expanding your vocabulary will expand your possibilities to make even more beautiful music.

TRIAD ARPEGGIO
A triad arpeggio is a three note chord where the notes are played one after another. There are four basic triads: Major (1-3-5) , Minor (1-b3-5), Augmented (1-3-#5) and Diminished (1-b3-b5).

In the examples below the triads are played within the key of G. (diatonic triads) There are 7 triads that can be derived from the major scale. One triad built on each scale degree. For the G major scale those are: G Am Bm C D Em F#dim

Take your time and practice these triad arpeggios all the way up the neck and back down again.

Have fun!
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