Arpeggio Exercise 01

Here’s a set of arpeggio exercises which you can use in a variety of ‘depths’.

1. Purely as a technique exercise.

This has some nice shapes that require some finger independance and a little bit of stretching, so you can work on keeping the hand relaxed and fluid while you play.

2. Learning arpeggio shapes

Each exercise contains a set of shapes for quite commonly found chords.If you can memorise the shape and sound of these, you can put them to great use when you are improvising or writing.

3. Learning note names, scale degrees and singing the intervals.

  • If you can play through the exercises naming each of the notes, it will help you with fingerboard recognition.
  • If you can name the scale degrees, it will help with your understanding of harmony and music theory.
  • Being able to sing what you play is a great help for improvisors and will help you to really connect with the music that you make on your instrument.

Ex. 01

Make sure to keep your hand relaxed and strive for fluid and controlled playing. This does not mean that you have to play fast. Rather, aim to play smoothly and really pay attention to the quality of the notes. Do they all sound like rich, full bass notes? If there are some notes that are getting choked or your hand is slipping off, slow down until you find a tempo where they all sound good.

Ex. 02

This exercise uses the same idea, but this time, we’re using minor chords. This means we have to adapt the shape somewhat. It can be a great way to get more mileage out of an exercise by changing just one thing, but trying to maintain all of the other elemnts and still keep your hands relaxed and controlled.

Ex. 03

This last exercise is based around the augmented arpeggio shape. This chord is made of ‘stacked Major thirds’. This means that each note is a Major third up from the previous. Shapes like this can be played in a variety of ways, depending on which finger you start with. This is a great exercise for people who have tension in the fretting hand – it’s very difficult to play this exercise if your hand is locked in place. Try to think instead of your fingers rolling in a fluid motion across the neck.