What Are Guitar Arpeggios?

On the guitar arpeggios are often seen as these really complicated theoretical things, and I've discovered there's actually quite a bit of confusion as to what guitar arpeggios actually are. In its simplest form, an arpeggio is simply notes from the scale or chord, played in sequence or some sort of pattern. Typically the notes are allowed to ring out over each other, but not always. You'll find that on the guitar arpeggios are used in many different types of music. From metal with the fast rake picking to country or blues with a slower, more melodic sound, and everywhere in between. If you're into finger picking, then you're probably using guitar arpeggios all the time, and possibly didn't even know it! Anyways, due to the confusion out there as to what an arpeggio actually is, and how it can be applied to the guitar, I'm posting this video from my friend Colin from RiffNinja.com. (I highly recommend checking out his site by the way!) The video is short - only 4 minutes, but he covers a bunch of different ways you can use arpeggios on the guitar.

Watch the Guitar Arpeggios Lesson on Youtube.

Triads on the Top Strings (A Shapes)

Today we’ve got another guitar lesson on triads – those super-handy three note chords that you can find all over the fretboard! Previously, we looked at Root 1 or E Shaped Triads, as well as Root 2 or D Shaped Triads, and today we’re looking at Root 3, or A Shaped Triads. This means that our

Rock This Muted Stroke Strum

Today I’ve got a cool little trick to share with you – the “muted stroke strum.” This isn’t something I use all the time, but when it fits, it really shines. If you like listening to Jack Johnson, you’ll hear him using his kind of technique all the time. We’ll start off with a simple

Triads on the Top Strings: D Shapes

Today, we’re diving into D-shaped triads on the first, second, and third strings. Building on my previous video about triads related to root 6 bar chords, we’ll focus on moving these D-shaped chords around the fretboard, sticking to the key of D. We’ll start with the familiar D major chord, and the most important thing

How To Create Musical Storylines

Today, I want to look at some ideas for creating a musical storyline in your guitar playing. The goal here is to create a sense of movement in your chord progressions. It’s about feeling like you’ve started at one point and ended somewhere different, essentially crafting a journey within your music. To illustrate this, let’s consider

A Hybrid Picking Pattern For Beginners

This is a great hybrid picking pattern to get started with, if you’ve never tried hybrid picking before. One of the biggest benefits of hybrid picking, in my mind at least, is that you gain the ability to pick multiple places at once – something you simply cannot do with just a pick. Your pick is

The Ping Pong Picking Pattern

I’ve called this the Ping Pong picking pattern, because it has a lot of bouncing back and forth, and because it sounds cool! Whenever you’re picking, it’s really important to know where the root notes are for the chords you’re playing. Root notes set the character and direction for the rest of the chord, and

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Box 1 Blues Soloing

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Slow Blues Solo in A

Following The Chords

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Rhythm Player’s Guide to Picking

Rhythm Player’s Toolbox for D

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What Are Guitar Arpeggios?

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