Arpeggiated Guitar Chords Overview
Arpeggios are broken chords or notes of a chord played separately. Chords when arpeggiated and used as a rhythm structure can create a beautiful heavenly effect. It is heard in slow songs, ballads and a lot of acoustic guitar oriented songs as well. Here are a few songs that will help you hear arpeggiated chords & give you a better understanding of this technique.
a) Holiday - Scorpions
b) Everbody hurts - R.E.M
c) Dont Cry - Guns n Roses
d) Hotel California - Eagles
a) Holiday - Scorpions
b) Everbody hurts - R.E.M
c) Dont Cry - Guns n Roses
d) Hotel California - Eagles
How to Arpeggiate Chords
It is as simple as holding the shape of any chord and playing individual notes and allowing them to ring over each other to get a cascading effect. However do ensure that you don't choke the strings and choose chord progressions that are easy to begin with, especially if you haven't ever arpeggiated a chord at all. It is quite common to follow a certain pattern, especially the order in which you would choose to play the strings.
For eg; if you held a C major chord and played string no. 5-4-3-4-1-2-3-2, you would pick the same order of strings with an Am chord. However, it isn't a rule and do not have to strictly follow it.
Also remember, when you are just learning how to arpeggiate, its better to start off each chord with its root note, especially since it helps you hear the chord change in the bass.
For eg; if you held a C major chord and played string no. 5-4-3-4-1-2-3-2, you would pick the same order of strings with an Am chord. However, it isn't a rule and do not have to strictly follow it.
Also remember, when you are just learning how to arpeggiate, its better to start off each chord with its root note, especially since it helps you hear the chord change in the bass.
Passing Tones
Notes that are not part of a chord that is being played and which lead you to the destination chord are called Passing tones. A passing tone is generally a half step or whole step above or below the chord that is about to be played.
Passing tones help you connect two chords and can be incorporated well with arpeggiated chords.
For eg; If you were to play a G-Em progression, you could connect the two with the F# note (since it is a whole step above E) or with the D note (since D is a whole step below E). Adding a passing tone in the bass (string no.4, 5, 6) also helps you create a bass line. You can even choose to have more than one passing tone. Guitar lessons no. 10 & 11 in the free tablature below are good examples of how you can incorporate a passing note on the bass strings.
Passing tones help you connect two chords and can be incorporated well with arpeggiated chords.
For eg; If you were to play a G-Em progression, you could connect the two with the F# note (since it is a whole step above E) or with the D note (since D is a whole step below E). Adding a passing tone in the bass (string no.4, 5, 6) also helps you create a bass line. You can even choose to have more than one passing tone. Guitar lessons no. 10 & 11 in the free tablature below are good examples of how you can incorporate a passing note on the bass strings.
Arpeggiated Guitar Chords - Exercises
Guitar lessons in the free tablature provided below will help you get started with arpeggiating chords. Remember to play slowly and let notes ring over one another as much as possible.