Arpeggios

[kats45]

Greetings,

Do I finish an arpeggio when there's a chord change? What I mean is if I'm playing the C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3, if I switch to a G or C on beat 3 do I start from the beginning of that pattern again or do I finish it? I'm leaning toward starting the arpeggio over from the beginning of the pattern. I tried just picking it up, but it doesn't sound right when I change the chord.

Playing arpeggios is something I'm just starting to learn, so I'm not sure.

Thanks

[Archtop Guy]

Your question is not clear to me but I'll try...

Every arpeggio note you play should line up with the the chord of the song. If the chord changes, you need to change your arpeggio on the same beat, but you don't always need to start the arpeggio on the root.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by kats45

Greetings,

Do I finish an arpeggio when there's a chord change? What I mean is if I'm playing the C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3, if I switch to a G or C on beat 3 do I start from the beginning of that pattern again or do I finish it? I'm leaning toward starting the arpeggio over from the beginning of the pattern. I tried just picking it up, but it doesn't sound right when I change the chord.

Playing arpeggios is something I'm just starting to learn, so I'm not sure.

Thanks

Try it in some music familiar to you and it will make more sense to you. A good one for that arpeggio pattern (change string numbers of course to fit the chord) would be Pachelbel's Canon.
Chord sequence is
C - G - Am - Em - F - C - F - G

Naturally you can use any variety of pattern you wish. A simple alternate for the above would be to play the first seven notes only (say for 4/4 time the first six notes are eighth notes and the seventh note is a quarter note)

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by kats45

Greetings,

Do I finish an arpeggio when there's a chord change? What I mean is if I'm playing the C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3, if I switch to a G or C on beat 3 do I start from the beginning of that pattern again or do I finish it? I'm leaning toward starting the arpeggio over from the beginning of the pattern. I tried just picking it up, but it doesn't sound right when I change the chord.

Playing arpeggios is something I'm just starting to learn, so I'm not sure.

Thanks

HI kats...

Arpeggios are great filler, and if there is another guitarist strumming, they make a great contrast to the second guitarist's playing.

Sometimes it's key to finish the arpeggio and at other times, just leave the last note out while the other person chords, and pick it up on the new chord.

I'm not sure there are any hard-n-fast rules. If you are playing by yourself, then try it both ways.

[stanron]

Rules are for fools.
Steer by your ear.

[Fliss]

I love arpeggiated patterns and use them more than anything else!

As has been said, it's about trying different things to see what sounds good to you. I'm writing this whilst on my lunch break at work so don't have a guitar with me to try it out and see what sounds good, but here's my idea.

In the pattern you give, I'm assuming that's 4/4 time, so your third beat is the fifth "pick" within that pattern, so you're changing chord half way through the bar. In this example, if just continuing with the same pattern isn't working, I'd probably replace the second part of your pattern with the first part again, but starting on the 6th string (the g note) because of the change of chord, then on the next bar, just start the pattern again. So, in the bar where you have the chord change, the pattern would become 5 4 3 4 6 4 3 4 OR just change that one note and keep the pattern otherwise the same, i.e. 5 4 3 4 6 3 4 3. Either way, introducing that G bass note when the chord changes willl, I think, help.

Other options you could consider include: breaking up the pattern a bit perhaps with a bass run; or mixing with a different arpeggiated pattern that might work better for that chord; or use a brief strum; or a pause where you either mute the last note played or leave it ringing out (all depending on the feel of where the chord change fits within the song and in relation to the vocals etc)

Fliss

[Hotspur]

Originally Posted by kats45

Greetings,

Do I finish an arpeggio when there's a chord change? What I mean is if I'm playing the C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3, if I switch to a G or C on beat 3 do I start from the beginning of that pattern again or do I finish it? I'm leaning toward starting the arpeggio over from the beginning of the pattern. I tried just picking it up, but it doesn't sound right when I change the chord.

Playing arpeggios is something I'm just starting to learn, so I'm not sure.

The short answer is that there's not one hard-and-fast rule here. You want to be flexible and do what sounds right. It's going to depend on the specifics of the pattern.

Generally - although not always - you want to hit a root on the "1" of a new chord. Sometimes you get there by using a passing note which isn't part of your arpeggio (although that passing note usually goes in the FIRST chord's measure so you're hitting the root of the new chord on the 1). Other times the new chord's root is part of the old chord (eg, if you're going form a C major to G major) so you have more flexibility.

With most fingerpicking patterns you keep the pattern going - but this is where the passing note stuff comes in really handy. But lots of songs don't keep a consistent arpeggio pattern, so, again, you have lots of flexibility to do what sounds right to you.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by kats45

C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3

i can't quite wrap my head around this.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by mc1

i can't quite wrap my head around this.

C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3

those are string numbers, eg

---------------------------------
-----------------0---------------
-----------0--------0-----0-----
-------0------0--------0--------
---0-----------------------------
---------------------------------

[mc1]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

C chord, and arpeggio goes 5 4 3 4 2 3 4 3

those are string numbers, eg

---------------------------------
-----------------0---------------
-----------0--------0-----0-----
-------0------0--------0--------
---0-----------------------------
---------------------------------

ah, thanks, that makes sense. i was thinking of arpeggios running up or down in pitch, and was trying to relate them to frets, which made no sense.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

The short answer is that there's not one hard-and-fast rule here. You want to be flexible and do what sounds right. It's going to depend on the specifics of the pattern.

Hi Hs...

Sure it's going to depend on the pattern. It's also going to depend on the rhythm of the piece, and the speed and length of the chords being arpeggiated.

[mr. beaumont]

An arpeggio is simply the notes of a chord played individually instead of together...it's funny, on an acoustic forum most folks will think of holding down a chord and plucking out individual strings, and on a heavy metal forum folks will think of sweeping arpeggios with multiple notes on each string, but they're both right...

So there's no "end." When the chord changes, you change.

If you're coming up with a set part for a song, play around with different ideas...try starting low on every chord...try ascending for the first chord, descending for the second, etc.

[kats45]

It's helpful to know there's not just one "right" way, and to rely on my ear. I just wasn't sure if there was some hard and fast rule I needed to know about.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by kats45

It's helpful to know there's not just one "right" way, and to rely on my ear. I just wasn't sure if there was some hard and fast rule I needed to know about.

Hi kats...

When I find people claiming hard-n-fast rules, I want to know who appointed them the music-police.

There are set principles, but many are not in reality set in concrete...more like set in pudding.