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Graceful 3 String One Octave Arpeggio Workout

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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.

Here are some tips:Continue Reading

Playing 2 String Triad Arpeggios All Over The Neck

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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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Musically Gorgeous One Octave Arpeggio Pattern

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one octave guitar arpeggio

There are some exercises, licks or riffs you have learned early on in your life that you will never forget.

For me this gorgeous one octave arpeggio pattern over Cmaj7 is one of them.

When I first learned it I just thought it was beautiful. I would memorize it and try to play it as fast as I could.

Later on I figured out how to incorporate these arpeggios in my playing and they’re still part of my guitar improvisation vocabulary today.

It’s nice to practice this pattern over a Cmaj7 chord progression.
Spotify has great guitar backingtracks you can use for this.

You can try the sweep picking technique to make the pattern sound more fluent.
For the first bar (arpeggios 1 till 4) pick the first note with a downstroke and the next three with an upstroke. For the second bar (arpeggios 5 till 8) pick the first three notes with a downstroke and the fourth note with an upstroke.

Take the time you need to memorize the whole pattern. First learn to play it slow, clear and accurately. Speed comes second.

Enjoy the ride and have a wonderful day!Continue Reading

The 23 Essential Guitar Arpeggios to Get Smooth

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Photo by Benjamin Deutsch
Arpeggios are often used for sweep picking also referred as economy picking (different from alternate picking).

It is a technique that creates a fast and fluid sound.

Frank Gambale, Yngwie Malmsteen among others are experts in this field. So if you like to show off or just create incredible sounds on your guitar try arpeggio sweep picking.

Besides using it for fast playing, I really like to use it as a handy tool for improvisation.

If you don’t want to sound like you are playing scales all the time then you can use arpeggios as an extra ingredient to spice things up with a really nice flavor.

When using arpeggios in improvisation play them occasionally, try to play parts and pieces or play random notes of an arpeggio to create cool sounding licks. Use your creativity.

Tip1: Not only play arpeggios but use them in your improvisation.
If you don’t do this it’s like you are learning new words but don’t apply them in your language.

Tip2: Learn every arpeggio in different positions on the neck so you become familiar with the shape of the arpeggio rather than concentrating on which frets you put your fingers in one particular postion.

Here are the 23 essentials that can really open up your playing and improvisation skills.

Have fun and work hard.
You’ll benefit from it!



#1 D Major Arpeggio
e:--------------2h5p2----------------------------------------|
B:-----------3---------3-------------------------------------|
G:--------2---------------2----------------------------------|
D:-----4---------------------4-------------------------------|
A:--5--------------------------5-----------------------------|
E:-----------------------------------------------------------|

 

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