Arpeggios practice

[Deliberate1]

Yesterday, for the first time, I cracked open a book I bought well more than a year ago - "120 Arpeggios for Fingerstyle Guitar," by Nicola Mandorino. Perhaps I am not the only one who sees a book, has to have it, buys it and then forgets about it. This was one of the forgotten. But, all things in their time. And it just seemed to me that it was time to incorporate some actual, structured material into my playday.

Just one day in, I see the value, and wish I had done this sooner. I am sure that more insights will be revealed. But right off the bat, the simplest arpeggios engage right fingers in the "correct" sequence of attack (p, i, m, a), with fingers of the left hand consistently assigned to their own frets. I can feel the difference. Where I would use whatever finger seemed to be the right one, now it just feels more "organized," for lack of a better term. I get the sense it will make my playing more efficient, in time.

I read music - not from my four years with a guitar in my lap, but from a lifetime of woodwinds work. The arpeggios book has twin staffs, with notes over tab. I am reading the notes, which will teach me how to read music for the guitar.

I have been learning bits a pieces of the fretboard and increasingly feel that my general unfamiliarity with the 2nd through 5th strings encumbers my ability to understand and reproduce chords. Frankly, I am weary of learning chord postions in the abstract - like put your fingers here to make this sound and don't ask questions.

Finally, I have really been trying to move my eyes away from the fretboard when I play. And I can do it with songs I have memorized. But that is just from muscle memory, not because I know the notes I am hitting. When I read the musical notation while playing arpeggios, I am not looking at my fingers (mostly), and that is helping me to make the unsighted connection between note and finger placement. I know what the feels like from playing sheet music with my horns (sax/clarinet), which are played "blind."

Beyond all that, arpeggios are cool. They sound like music to my classically trained ear. And it is a very enjoyable experience to play sheeted music than to learn by mimicing, or even by tabs, which only tell you the notes, but not their time value.

I would be obliged to receive suggestions on the most effective way to practice arpeggios. I do not try to bite off too much, and do not move on until I can play one three times without error. In the following session, I will go back to the last one I played to reintroduce my brain to the lesson. They are going to get progressively harder, which will slow my pace.

Take away: arpeggios are Old School and da' bomb.

David

[Gordon Currie]

It has been my experience that arpeggios are more effective in learning the fretboard than scales, although one needs both.

Being self-taught, I used to make up all kinds of patterns to make arpeggio practice more fun AND more musical.

For example:

1-3-5 can be permutated into
1-3-5-3-5-1*(octave)-5-1*-3*
1-5-3-1*5-3*

Later, combining arpeggios:
(I chord) 1-3-5 (ii chord) 1-m3-5 (V chord) 1-3-5

Bidirectional and note-skipping arpeggios are also fun.

For starting out, my #1 suggestion is to play to a metronome or a beat. Precision is way more important for arps than scales IME.

[Deliberate1]

Gordon, obliged for that. Adding octaves and additional notes from progressions seems a good practice for improvisation.
David

[min7b5]

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but I put this on Youtube about a decade ago, regarding how I use arpeggios https://youtu.be/aX22ROEklUc

[TBman]

I haven't done them in a few weeks, but rolling (front and back) arpeggios are interesting to fool around with.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by min7b5

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but I put this on Youtube about a decade ago, regarding how I use arpeggios https://youtu.be/aX22ROEklUc

Eric, very kind of you to respond. There is at least a year's worth of work for me in that video. And that was in the first 8 minutes.
Cheers
David

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by min7b5

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but I put this on Youtube about a decade ago, regarding how I use arpeggios https://youtu.be/aX22ROEklUc

Eric,

I know nothing about fingerstyle guitar. Using a guitar for instrumental pieces is just alien to me. I see a guitar as a box for bashing out a backing to sing across!!! But I just want to say that the timbre you coax from your guitar in that video is sublime. You made me listen to your arpeggios just because I was enjoying your touch and flow.

I could ask you what the guitar was in the video but there's no point, because I know that the timbre is actually in your hands. I felt like I was listening to someone who has spent years paying attention to the creation of every note. Even your self confessed errors sounded lush to me.

Just wonderful.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Eric,


I could ask you what the guitar was in the video but there's no point, because I know that the timbre is actually in your hands.

Just wonderful.

Robin, I believe that guitar is the eponymous Eric Skye model from Santa Cruz. I quite agree with your observation that Eric coaxes out the notes a remarkable delicacy. I wait in vain by the phone for that call from Santa Cruz. Or even Santa Claus. As the George Jones song says, "when your phone don't ring, it'll be me." Yep.
Hope all is well in the shadow of Snowdon.


David

[k_russell]

You can also work in dynamics and articulation with arpeggio practice.

Try crescendo and diminuendo patterns. Try rubato and rallentando. Accent one right hand finger. Play one finger staccato. And so on.

Have fun.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by k_russell

You can also work in dynamics and articulation with arpeggio practice.

Try crescendo and diminuendo patterns. Try rubato and rallentando. Accent one right hand finger. Play one finger staccato. And so on.

Have fun.

OP here. Good suggesstion.
David

[Merlemantel]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

Yesterday, for the first time, I cracked open a book I bought well more than a year ago - "120 Arpeggios for Fingerstyle Guitar," by Nicola Mandorino. Perhaps I am not the only one who sees a book, has to have it, buys it and then forgets about it. This was one of the forgotten. But, all things in their time. And it just seemed to me that it was time to incorporate some actual, structured material into my playday.

Just one day in, I see the value, and wish I had done this sooner. I am sure that more insights will be revealed. But right off the bat, the simplest arpeggios engage right fingers in the "correct" sequence of attack (p, i, m, a), with fingers of the left hand consistently assigned to their own frets. I can feel the difference. Where I would use whatever finger seemed to be the right one, now it just feels more "organized," for lack of a better term. I get the sense it will make my playing more efficient, in time.

I read music - not from my four years with a guitar in my lap, but from a lifetime of woodwinds work. The arpeggios book has twin staffs, with notes over tab. I am reading the notes, which will teach me how to read music for the guitar.

I have been learning bits a pieces of the fretboard and increasingly feel that my general unfamiliarity with the 2nd through 5th strings encumbers my ability to understand and reproduce chords. Frankly, I am weary of learning chord postions in the abstract - like put your fingers here to make this sound and don't ask questions.

Finally, I have really been trying to move my eyes away from the fretboard when I play. And I can do it with songs I have memorized. But that is just from muscle memory, not because I know the notes I am hitting. When I read the musical notation while playing arpeggios, I am not looking at my fingers (mostly), and that is helping me to make the unsighted connection between note and finger placement. I know what the feels like from playing sheet music with my horns (sax/clarinet), which are played "blind."

Beyond all that, arpeggios are cool. They sound like music to my classically trained ear. And it is a very enjoyable experience to play sheeted music than to learn by mimicing, or even by tabs, which only tell you the notes, but not their time value.

I would be obliged to receive suggestions on the most effective way to practice arpeggios. I do not try to bite off too much, and do not move on until I can play one three times without error. In the following session, I will go back to the last one I played to reintroduce my brain to the lesson. They are going to get progressively harder, which will slow my pace.

Take away: arpeggios are Old School and da' bomb.

David

oooh this is good. I am ordering the book and hopefully skipping the obligatory forgetting interval, and going right into the good stuff. Thanks David

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by Merlemantel

oooh this is good. I am ordering the book and hopefully skipping the obligatory forgetting interval, and going right into the good stuff. Thanks David

Best of luck with the work. I am still at it, and am enjoying the exercises.
David

[Bluenose]

Originally Posted by min7b5

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but I put this on Youtube about a decade ago, regarding how I use arpeggios https://youtu.be/aX22ROEklUc

Arpeggiating all the diatonic chords of the major scale is awesome and sounds pretty cool as well. A great thing to show and explain to someone learning theory.