Technique Lab Program – Module 6/8

Fingerstyle Arpeggios in C major

Hey guys, I just uploaded a new lesson from the Technique lab Program.

In this lesson we are borrowing an awesome concept from classical guitar called “Arpeggios”. The arpeggio is a chord broken down into single notes.

As we are progressing with the technique lab program we definitely have to introduce this beautiful concept in our playing.

Arpeggios are a great way to add complexity, musicality and color in your playing. Rock guitar players use arpeggios in their solos, Jazz guitar player also use them in their improvisations but in this lesson we will use arpeggios for a technical purpose.

Below there are few things that you should know about the arpeggios:

01. Arpeggios are chords broken down into single notes. The C major arpeggio will have the notes C E G, which are the same note of the C major chord (or triad).
02. You can use arpeggios for different purposes. Improvisation or technique. You can easily improvise over a chord progression with arpeggios as they share the same notes of the chords so they sound pretty cool and smooth.
03. The arpeggios will have different shapes depending on where you play the on the fretboard. The arpeggios we are learning in this lesson are pretty simple as they only contain the three notes of the chord. There are also more complex arpeggios of 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th.
04. We can consider the arpeggio to be a section of a scale. If we play arpeggios with 4 notes they can be pretty close to scale as the scale is only 7 notes.
05. One of the easiest arpeggios to learn are the major and minor triads (also called chords). Those two arpeggios only have three notes, the I III V therefore they are easy to memorize.
06. Almost all the arpeggios used in this lessons starts with the root note (the note upon which a chord is built). This should help you with memorizing and playing the arpeggios easily. The only exception will be on the last chord F which will have the F arpeggio played in different inversions (starting on the III and V of the chord).
07. Don’t worry about speed! Practice slowly so that you can get the most out of each arpeggio you learn.

About this Lesson

Key: C major

Technique: Learn how to play C Am G and F arpeggios.

Fingerstyle pattern: The entire exercise is played using alternate fingering i-m-i-m.

How to Practice: Each arpeggio has only three notes plus its octave. Learn one arpeggio at a time before moving on to the next arpeggio. Form over speed.

Good luck with this super exercise guys!

More coming soon.