Learn to Play the Guitar Part 19

ARPEGGIO
ar·peg·gi·o
/ärˈpejēˌō/
noun
the notes of a chord played in succession, either ascending or descending.

In the last lesson, we went over some exercises for your right hand. In this lesson, we’ll talk about arpeggios and take your right hand movement to a whole other level.

As the definition states, an arpeggio is when you play the individual notes of a chord in succession moving up or down the strings. A great example of this is in the song “Hallelujah” written by Leonard Cohen, performed here by Jeff Buckley.

If you were to take the definition completely literally, it is just moving from one string to the next up or down. This is certainly an arpeggio but there are ways to make an arpeggio even more interesting than just moving up or down the strings. For example, you can move up and back down the strings by skipping over every other string on the way up and vise verse on the way back down the strings.

Listen to the arpeggio played here in the Weezer song “My Name Is Jonas”.

This is an excellent example of how an arpeggio can become more interesting when you do something more than just moving up or down the strings in succession.

Experiment with making your own arpeggios. Start by moving up and down the strings in rhythm. After some time, try different combinations of strings going up and back down. There are so many different ways you can come up with. The trick is being consistent each time. Practice creating your own unique arpeggio sequences and keep at it until you can repeat the same sequence again and again while changing chords with your left hand.

If you need some help with what chords to play, try going back and forth between G and E Minor.

Good Luck!