FretSpider!

Arpeggios are simply the notes within a chord. They are a commonly used technique often heard in rock songs. For example you will often hear say a C chord being strummed and then some complimentary notes following it. See below for an example of a riff containing arpeggios.

Once you have gone through and thoroughly understand this lesson you will be able to apply your knowledge of arpeggios to your own improvisation and song-writing. Arpeggios are great for this as the notes can be improvised within chord patterns of a song. For example while a bar of a song is playing in C, you can improvise over it with the C arpeggio.

Arpeggios are simply the notes within a chord. They are a commonly used technique often heard in rock songs. For example you will often hear say a C chord being strummed and then some complimentary notes following it. See below for an example of a riff containing arpeggios.

Once you have gone through and thoroughly understand this lesson you will be able to apply your knowledge of arpeggios to your own improvisation and song-writing. Arpeggios are great for this as the notes can be improvised within chord patterns of a song. For example while a bar of a song is playing in C, you can improvise over it with the C arpeggio.

Here is an example of some common chords and some of their arpeggio notes cycled up and down. – The red notes are the chords, The black notes are the arpeggio notes.

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

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Pretty straightforward but effective concept right?

Of course, the notes are often substituted and swapped around (you do not need to just play the notes that your fingers are on for the chord). For example, look at the first bar, it is an arpeggio from the C Major chord. If you work it out, the C Major chords contain these notes:

C, F, G, and E.

This is where these notes occur on your fretboard..

See how the notes of the normal open C chord are displayed above? They are also repeated in different octaves all over the neck. I have shown all these notes to the 7th fret as an example, they do continue all the way up the neck. You can easily work out where the notes from any chord occur by using the following method:

(Link to notes method)

So this ultimately means that when you hear a song with a C Major pattern in it, you can improvise your own melodies using these above notes and it will sound great!

e|-------3-------|-----------|-----6---0-|-----3-----|
B|---------0-----|-----------|-------2---|---0-------|
G|-------------5-|-2---------|-----------|-------4-0-|
D|-----------5---|-----------|---5-------|-5---------|
A|-----4---------|-------3-0-|-5---------|-----------|
E|---------------|---0-5-----|-----------|-----------|
-------C---------- Am--------- D---------- G----------

This is an example of an arpeggio improvisation over the C, Am, D, and G chords by using the above formula for each chord. Once you know the common notes in your head you will actually start to visualize where your fingers should go without constantly thinking about it. This will allow for some fluent and professional playing.