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  • #22708
    Guitar Expert
    Keymaster

    by Dirk Hagemann
    http://www.blueslessons.net

    The word Arpeggio means “broken chord”. Because if you play an
    Arpeggio, you don´t strum all strings when you play a chord, you pick
    each one individually. One note after the other. Advanced Arpeggios
    are like “Sweep-picking”, a technique used by many fast Heavy Metal
    guitar players. But we start with more simple Arpeggios.

    Lets start with the C-Major chord shown below.

    
    e||--0---||
    B||--1---||
    G||--0---||
    D||--2---||
    A||--3---||
    E||------||
    
    

    Hold the chord the whole time and then start to pick each note (include
    the emtpy strings too!). Play every note, use the picking hand in a
    smooth movement, in single up- or down-strokes.

    Start with downstrokes (d or v), then use upstrokes (d or ^).

    
        d  d  d  d  d  d  u  u  u  u  u
    ||-----------------0-----------------||
    ||--------------1-----1--------------||
    ||-----------0-----------0-----------||
    ||--------2-----------------2--------||
    ||-----3-----------------------3-----||
    ||--0-----------------------------0--||
    
    

    Now, lets play a 2 chord arpeggio using C and D chords.

    
        d  d  d  d  d  d  u  u  u  u  u     d  d  d  d  d  u  u  u  u
    ||-----------------0-----------------|--------------2--------------------||
    ||--------------1-----1--------------|-----------3-----3-----------------||
    ||-----------0-----------0-----------|--------2-----------2--------------||
    ||--------2-----------------2--------|-----0-----------------0-----------||
    ||-----3-----------------------3-----|--0-----------------------0--------||
    ||--0-----------------------------0--|-----------------------------------||
    
    

    In the next lesson we have several Arpeggios so you can practice this
    technique until you can play it smooth and fast. But don´t rush, start
    slow at first and keep attention to your up- and downstrokes while you
    play your Arpeggios!

    For more exercises and GuitarPro files for this lesson visit:
    http://www.blueslessons.net

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    ——-
    You might also like to read our roundup of Blues Amplifiers

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    • #65799
      Gibbergeist
      Participant

      Arpeggio is from a Italian word that means ‘to play on the harp’ and dates from the 18th Century. If you think about melodies typically played on a harp it makes sense.

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