Simple Arpeggio Playing Over Open Chords
Arpeggios often cause a lot of confusion because I think most people believe they can’t be that simple. In reality, an arpeggio is nothing more than breaking the notes of a chord up and playing them one at a time instead of all together (and as my kids like to tell me, Arpeggio was NOT Pinocchio’s father.)
So in this example taken from a common lesson I do with my private students, you’ll get to practice your right hand picking while your left hand really doesn’t do anything but hold a chord shape.
This is a great way to get a nice sound without a lot of work. It’s common in many different styles of music. Hope you like it.
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The TAB for the example.This is the TAB for the example in the middle of the video
Griff,
Short and sweet, You continue to break it down to manageable info bites. Excellent intro to alternate picking techniques. A complex subject to be sure, yet you make it so approachable. Thanks, Griff. You’ve done it again.
Clif
DEJAVU. YOU ALREADY DID THIS LAST YEAR.THANKS FOR THE REDUE!
hi griff thanks alot i really like this especially when i`m a beginner,i`ve been playing for about 9 mo now and i want 2 thank u very much.do u have any blues dvds for lead guitar,sound tracks?thanks ken
Hi Ken,
Check Griff’s BGU wed site. It’s all there and you’ll not find a better course anywhere. I’ve been playing a lot longer than you (I’m 70) but get Blues Guitar Unleashed and your be giging in no time. Take Care. T.
Griff,
Well done. I appreciate all of your video lessons. thanks. Matt.
A nice lesson about things we may tend to forget—
Great quick lesson. Stresses timing which is key. Thanks.
great lesson thanking you DAR
Geppetto would be honored~!
Griff, a fine video~! Thanks for sharing so much. I appreciate you.
JimJ
7/26/2014
Another great lesson, Griff. Keep up the good work. You’re nurturing the next generation of great blues and rock guitarists! Well done.
Hi Griff
I’m trying to put my limited knowledge of theory to the test here.
I understand the I, IV, V VI and the II i.e. G, C, D Em Am…but the D7, does this just mean that the V can be interchanged?
A simple pretty piece though and an enjoyable lesson.
Regards
Johnno
Hi Johnno! Before any chord, you may insert its V7, it is called tonicizing the chord, i.e. introducing it with some emphasize. The song ends with a G, so before it you may insert its V7, the D7. You will often meet that in songs. In France, we have a superb book explaining harmony. It was written by Jo Anger-Weller (a French woman, despite of her foreign sounding name). She wrote that book (Clés pour l’harmonie) shortly after having studied at the Berklee college of music in Boston so I guess that you will easily find an equivalent book in your country. But watch out, it may take a whole life to understand it all! Regards. Jean-Pierre
Great information as always love the videos
Great lesson, Griff! Once again, thanks again!
Nice change of pace, Griff. Simple yet important. As always, thank you.
Thanks Griff this can bring alot of depth to your acoustic playing as well I remember sitting on my deck up in the mtns practicing over and over to get these right try adding some gain and palm muting these for a cool electric sound now I’m trying to learn some arppegiated scale patterns to spice up leads
You should combine this with the Gary Moore thang . still got the blues. Its cool to see the same vids more than once to refresh .
Hi Griff – Yep, it sure is a music thing!!!
It comes from the Italian language, derivation of their word “arpeggiare”, (to play the harp), viz, the sounding of the tones of a chord in sweeping succession rather than in a simultaneous manner.
Keep up the good work.
I can’t help but think of The Animals’ version of “House of the rising Sun” and the Stones’ version of “Love in Vain”, the 2 songs I most associate with Pinnochio’s father. 😉
sublime. thanks again, Griff.
One of my favorites in this genre is the way Keith Richards did the old Robert Johnson song, Love In Vain, on the Stones album Get Yer Ya Yas Out from 1969 MSG concert. Keith does it in G in the concert but for the original on Let It Bleed he has a capo at third fret, starting off with a D shape. Fun stuff.
I love getting these at work before any one is here! This is a nice soft melody and I’ll try this tonight between commercials like you recommend! No, not my show’s…the misses after 32 years….yes dear! ( Men do learn )
Wonderful – another little gem!
Thanks Griff, learning this will be an invaluable aid in my quest to play nice melodic music on my Guitar.
Thanks griff I’m looking for more rhythm work I seem to be spending most of my practice time working on lead
great lesson and it sounds beautiful
I never under estimate the importance of arpeggio practice. This lesson is super simple but at the end of the lesson I have the foundation of a beautiful sounding and easy to play song. Another bullseye, Griff.
Nice. Technique used by Lynrd Skinner on Simple Man with Aminor.
Wonderful Tonight by Clapton was my favorite arpeggiated song to learn. It even has a few lead fills mixed in to keep it interesting.
Thanks Griff,This adds lots.
This is a great technique on the acoustic 12 string as well. Gives a great sound
Reminds me alot of my folk song days when I played with my fingers.
pretty neat stuff. I like it!!!
About 6 min. Of this with the band would be a great backing track. Maybe no horns on this one. Thanks for the lesson Griff
Hey Griff,
A great Arpeggio to practice and with that great picking style makes the difference.
I have often done this type of arpeggio at the end of your courses just a refresher and then to some fun before closing off.
Great lesson and you are simply the magical blues guitar teacher as always.
Thanks
Michael- Sydney -Australia.
I like Arpeggios a lot and try to use them frequently. I have a tendency to either invert chords in different areas of the guitar or use jazz chord configurations and some of these arpeggios are so sweet. I practice them a lot. A very good lesson for sure.
Great video, George Harrison & Mark Knopfler are Kings of this also, & would be proud.
Great for getting clean chord sounds & adding to an overall sound, electric or acoustic!
Best regards,
John.
Nice lesson. A little different than the usual but a nice thing to learn. Thanks Griff.
This is great! Always wanted to improve on the sound of chords besides using Travis picking.
Great little lesson, I could use that as a warm up too! Thank you!!
This is a great activity for warm up. I think I will try to add 2 min of this to the beginning of my practice sessions.
Thanks Griff. Good to hear from you again
Hi Griff. I’m really sorry. I have been playing for years. I never could seem to get it right. So, I started watching you and thought I’d give it another try. It’s still not sinking in. I recently ordered your beginners lessons. They haven’t arrived yet, but I wont open them, instead I’ll just return everything. Thank you for trying. You’re a very good teacher. I’m one stupid person.
Thanks again griff
I think this is a great exercise for plucking the strings In-between strums I’m a beginner and I will enjoy using this pattern thanks for your videos griff they helped me to progress
To me it was agreat way to give a lesson in small open chords . It is nice oiece of soft and rhythmic playing . Loved it . Thanks to you Grif . Your technique is unique ..
What a lovely little exercise and very melodious too. I’ve never done this before.
Excellent exercise and very melodic.
I love it and I know where it would work…how about a wedding
Thanks Griff, an excellent piece for practice (and perfection!) Thansk
I’ve heard arpeggios described as liquid chords. Nice lesson.
This is another great lesson by Griff. It brings up a point of confusion my brain has always had with guitars and that is “up” & “down”. The up & down of the picking hand seems correct to me but, the “up & down” of the fretting hand does not. The pick follows the laws of physics (down being toward the ground) while the fretting hand must follow the laws of tonality which is in-opposition to the law of gravity (on guitars, mandos, banjos, etc.,) which makes up on the fretboard down in tonality and down on the fretboard up in tonality. It has always confused my brain… sort of like saying, “don’t say don’t” or “never say never” or “don’t imagine a yellow Volkswagon”. Intelectually, I understand it but I have to fight my brain and fingers reflexes to make them ignore the contradiction in terms. BAD fingers… BAD brain!
Also, this makes you more accurate with each string of your chords, where I tend to be “lazy” at on a string or two.
That’s Griff. After years of struggling to get control over my picking hand it just struck me that playing arpeggios would be a great exercise for me to get control over my picking hand. I have always admired classical players even though I am not into classical music. Thanks again for a great lesson.
This is simple ,but brilliant. I’ve been playing the guitar a long time,in several bands and I play a lot of arpeggios and it truth be told I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the picking pattern.I will certainly amend that as from now .great video .thanks Griff 😊
And… did you know that if your nose was 12 inches long it would be a foot.