Arpeggio on the guitar. Fingerings and tabs of chord arpeggios for all keys

Arpeggio on the guitar. General information and explanations to the article

Arpeggio on guitars – these are notes that are taken sequentially and separately, not in unison. If the sounds are played together, at the same time, then their combination will be called a chord. To diversify the accompaniment, as well as as a technical and artistic technique, alternate extraction of notes in a chord is used. The order may be different, but even here there are rules that are based on the laws of musical harmony. Of course, all this will be clear in practice.

The proposed article is divided into two parts. The first part will focus more on the theory and explanation of the different types of this technique. The second will show you the basic schemes, fingerings and patterns.

1 part of the article. What is arpeggio in theory and practice?

When we play arpeggios on the guitar, we play notes in ascending, descending, or broken positions. This will be discussed below. First you need to know the notes that make up the chord you are playing.

As an example, let’s take the familiar Gmajor in the third position (“star in third”). Its tonic triad consists of three sounds – G, B and D. For the tonic (the main stable sound), we take the 3rd fret on the 6th string. We look at each note and see the GDGBDG sequence.

In terms of chord tones, this is 1 (tonic) – 5 (fifth) – 1 – 3 (third) – 5 – 1. These are stable chord sounds. Most often, we iterate over each note of a chord in tonal order 1-3-5 1-3-5 (i.e. GBD GBD). When performing, they mainly rely on these sounds. But other unstable notes of the chord are also used.

Different understanding of the word arpeggio

In the “yard” practice of arpeggios on the guitar simply referred to as “overkill”. This is really a technique that is performed accompaniment. In classical education, this is not only song accompaniment, but also a method of performing special exercises, as well as entire etudes, plays and other works.

Types of arpeggios in classical guitar

ascendant

As you might guess from the name, the notes “ascend” from the bass sound to the top. If, as an example, scale C major, then it will look like “do-sol-do-mi”. That is a Cmajor chord played with pima fingers.

descending

By analogy with the previous “do (bass)-mi-do-sol”. pami fingers.

Full

Combines up and down movement. It will turn up “to (bass)-sol-do-mi” + down “to-sol”.

Lomanoe

This is a complete arpeggio of chords, which combines reference sounds of harmony played in a certain order. For example, “do(bass)-sol-do-sol-mi-sol-do-sol” with pimiaimi fingers.

12 popular finger techniques used in songs and etudes

To consolidate the information passed, we suggest playing common patterns. Please note that each of them uses a certain finger technique.

Rising patterns

Downward patterns

Full patterns

broken patterns

2 part of the article. Arpeggio chords on the guitar. Fingerings for all keys

The following are practical examples that explain the theoretical part.

What is an arpeggio made of?

As mentioned earlier, arpeggio chords on the guitar consists of the basic sounds of a chord. And they can be played in different order. The reliance goes on stable tones (tonic (bass), third, fifth – tonic (repetition in the upper register) – 1-3-5-7). Accordingly, in Cmin – 1-3b (in this case, E-flat) -5-7. That is, you build an arpeggio based on the sounds of a chord.

To some extent, arpeggio fingerings in their construction resemble pentatonic boxes. Unlike scales, which can contain an additional note (such as the “blue note” in blues scales), arpeggios contain only the sounds originally part of the chord. First, we recognize the tonic note on the 6th or 5th string, then we build up the harmony on the adjacent frets and strings so as not to make uncomfortable jumps along the fretboard.

Fingering designation

Now let’s look at the theoretical part in practice. Below you can get acquainted with the notation that is used in the fingerings.

What are they needed for? Applicability in practice

Knowing the arpeggio allows the player to better navigate the fretboard. Thanks to the study of this technique, you can learn not only the location of the notes, but also find out which steps to rely on when playing, and which ones to use as additional and transitional.

From this it follows that the guitarist begins to improvise. An important point that is used in jazz, classical and rock music is that arpeggios are a connecting element between the main improvisational parts. As with guitar scales, the Arpeggio has 5 main positions and 1 open position.

With this exercise, you can better understand the construction of the melody. Many guitar composers like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani often use arpeggios to build the main melody of their tracks.

In addition, it is an excellent simulator for the development of the fingers of the right hand. By playing a move at different speeds and at different tempos, one can train from simple moves like the hammer-on and pull-off to complex fluent techniques like the shred.

The main 6 mobile fingering positions that are used in all keys and are presented below

How to play arpeggios on guitar? Just like the pentatonic scale, the arpeggio has five main positions + 1 open. From the chord being played, its main sounds are taken (for Cmajor this is do-mi-sol) and cover the entire neck (up to the 15th fret is enough). If you visualize the location of the notes on the fretboard, you can rely on the basic sounds and build a chord in various positions. Therefore, chord arpeggios can also be played from different positions. This build is based on the CAGED system, which helps you see harmonies throughout the neck. To make this clearer, below is an example based on Cmajor.

Arpeggio of the chord in C major. Examples of fingerings with tabs and audio fragments

1 position

2 position

3 position

4 position

5 position

6 position

Fingerings for other major chords

D major — D

We are E major

F major — F

G major – G

A major — A

B major – B

Arpeggio Minor Chords

C minor – Cm

D minor – Dm

E minor — Em

F minor — Fm

G minor – Gm

A minor – Am

B minor – Bm

Conclusion

The study of arpeggiated chords implies the study of music theory. Knowledge of stable and unstable tones is necessary. Then it’s just a matter of practice. Thanks to the game, you can learn different types of enumeration, as well as start improvising within a given chord progression.