Arpeggio Theory for Guitar

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Considering
the many tools available formusicians arpeggios are among the
strongest, most creative, difficult, and the most fun to play. They are
also one of the most misunderstood in purpose and application.
Characteristics of Arpeggios

In
general, arpeggios outline the scale-wisecomponents of a specific chord
structure. This is true for simple triads, the1st - 3rd - 5th degrees
of a major or minor scale and for the most complicatedchord forms.
Adding additional scale tones (say the 6th degree) changes theoutline to
a Major 6th or Minor 6th chord outline.


To
complicate matters, one of the most effective techniques associated
with arpeggios is to play the arpeggio over alike but not exact chord
structure. For example, playing a Dm7 arpeggio over a G7 chord is very
effective. So, understanding the concepts of substitution is also a very
important requirement to effective utilization of arpeggios.


Let’s
take this train of thought a little bit further. Traditional techniques
(such as Lower Neighbors) can effectively be utilized with arpeggios.
Indeed, almost every accomplished musician utilizes this technique.
Remember that we are discussing the theory of arpeggios. This theory is
as valid for piano players, sax players, and what have you as it is for
guitar and bass players. We all follow the same logic and theory. The
material we are covering here is a form of music theory
<blockquote><blockquote>Basic Logic and Construction of Arpeggios

</blockquote></blockquote>Arpeggios
are a sequential array ofscale-wise components that outline a given
chord structure. Although arpeggios can, and do, start on any given note
of the sequence they usually begin and endon the tonic (1st degree of
the scale). What happens in-between the start andend can vary
significantly, as you will see.



The diagram below illustrates a two octave C Major arpeggio. It is built
on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th tones of the C Major scale (C, E, and G).
Together they would produce a C Major chord. But arpeggios are played
one note at a time

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	D	E	F	G	A	B	C	- Notes of a C Major scale
1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	- Degrees of the scale

Notice
that the notes (C E G) were selected sequentially from the C major
scale. The first C Major arpeggio starts and ends with the note C. The
second C Major arpeggio starts with the note G. G is the 5th degree of
the C Major scale. Arpeggios seldom start with the 3rd degree of the
scale. Both the root (C) and the 5th (G) tone provide a strong start to
arpeggios.





A basis two octave C Major arpeggio was illustrated on the previous page. The notes were all listed sequentially
(C E G C E G C). The diagram below illustrates two variations on the basic C Major arpeggio













Both
examples only contain the notes (C E G). The arrangement of the notes
however, is significantly different. In the first variation the notes do
not go in the traditional sequence. In fact, the sequence rather
involved.

Original C Major arpeggio: Variation One: Variation Two:

C E G C E G C E C G E C G E C G E C G C C E G E G C G C E C E G C

Both Variation One and Variation Two are standard substitutions for the basic Major arpeggio.
First
we analyzed two variations of a C Major arpeggio. The first two-octave
arpeggio started and ended with the root note "C". The other arpeggio
started with the 5th degree of the C Major scale "G" and ended with the
root note "C". Thus we were introduced to a small amount of variation in
the construction of arpeggios.

Then
we reviewed two additional variations of the basic arpeggio. They were
much more complex but utilized only the C E G framework for a C Major
arpeggio. We can then conclude that a given arpeggio must contain a
specific set of scale tones, but the sequence of playing these selective
tones does not necessarily have to be consecutive.

The specific tones for C Major are: But they can be played:

C E G C E G C E G C E C G E C G E C G C

credit to:
©2009 Fred Russell Publishing, All Rights Reserved. This article can
not be used without permission from the Author. To Contact the Author
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