Guitar Arpeggios

Guitar Arpeggios:

One common fingerstyle approach you should learn is called the arpeggio. That is just a fancy word for playing chords in a rolling pattern and individually rather than a strum.

This method of playing chords often involves both the thumb and fingers of the right hand, with the thumb playing a bass note and then 2 or 3 of the right hand fingers sequentially playing the remainder of the chord.

Next, let’s look at some examples to more easily illustrate this.

In our first example we will look at a simple arpeggio, transitioning from a G chord to a C chord. Both of these chords will use an alternating bass, played with the thumb.

The first thing that you should note is that even though the right hand thumb changes strings to play the alternate bass notes, the right hand fingers play exactly the same strings.

The second thing to note is that it is very important to play each and every note very smooth and consistent. This is especially true when you change chords.

Also, while playing arpeggios, you should delay movement of fingers until absolutely necessary to get the chord the longest sustain.

This will avoid any silence and provide a very full sound.

Guitar Arpeggio Chords

Now we will examine how we can make use of common notes or common tones to more greatly enhance chord changes.

In this exercise you will play a simple C chord with a variation. Finger the C major and add your 4th finger to the 3rd fret of the 1st string. Now play the C arpeggio. Now switch to the G Major chord, and this time hold your left hand 4th finger in place (rather than using the typical 3rd finger). This will save wasted motion and make your transition much smoother between the chords.

It is important that prior to playing the chords, you examine the piece to find common notes to simplify your chore.

If you exercise this additional step prior to playing your chords, your guitar playing will improve significantly.

In our next example we will discover how to intermix “Pinch” chords in the arpeggios.

A “Pinch” is performed by playing 3 or 4 notes, with the right hand all at one time. The term pinch is derived from the appearance of the thumb and fingers “Pinching” the strings.

Now we will learn how to integrate a pinch chord into and alongside of an arpeggio type arrangement.

Let’s begin by looking at a 3-chord change in this exercise by playing a G chord to a C chord to a D7 chord and finally back to the G chord.

Each measure is divided in half, with the first half of the measure played with an alternating bass and a pinch chord, and the second half of the measure being played with an arpeggio type style.

Guitar Arpeggios and Pinch Chords