Introduction to Arpeggios

Arpeggios are chords whose notes are played separately, in succession. The simplest arpeggios involve playing the notes in the chord one after another, in order. The steps outlined below will give you the tools to play an upward arpeggio, one that moves from lower-pitched notes to higher ones. You will need to prepare the notes of the chord that you want to play before trying to execute the arpeggio. The following are the instructions for a simple upward arpeggio, using open strings:

1. Prepare both hands as if you were going to play a chord

2. Play the sixth string with your thumb. Do not move your fingers. Play a rest stroke, leaving your thumb on the fifth string in order to better support your hand.

3. Play the third string with your index finger. Keep both your middle fingers and your ring fingers in place, then perform a free stroke.

4. Play the second string with your middle finger, but leave your ring finger where it is. This is difficult, because these two fingers lack the strength and control that the others naturally have. Guitarists must exercise these weaker fingers to help balance their strength.

5. Play the first string with your ring finger. .

6. Return to the original position and repeat as many times as you need. Quality, not quantity or speed, is the key to mastering arpeggios, or any other musical skill, for that matter.

Finger Notation

Like many musical terms, the notation for your right-hand fingers uses the Italian or Spanish names for the digits. Fortunately for English-speaking students, the names of the index and middle fingers begin with the same letters as they do in English. The letter 'p' is used to represent the thumb. It stands for the Spanish equivalent 'pulgar.' The ring finger is known as the 'annular,' hence its notation is the letter 'a.' The notation for the above arpeggio would therefore be written 'p' (thumb) - 'i' (index) - 'm' (middle) - 'a' (ring finger).

Now, practice the above arpeggio again, remembering the letter-names of the fingers as you do. Keep trying until you perform the arpeggio, called a 'p-i-m-a' arpeggio, smoothly. Next, try this fingering on the other chords. Be sure that you use your thumb on the proper strings. Choose the lowest one for the thumb and the top three for the fingers.

Reverse Arpeggios

To perform a reverse arpeggio, using the fingering 'p-a-m-i,' you do not need to prepare all of your fingers before you play this arpeggio, as you did in the previous one. Only the outer fingers, 'p' and 'a' will need to be placed in advance.

After you have laid the basic groundwork to get reasonably comfortable with the physical movements with which you play chords, arpeggios, and alternations, you should begin to play some actual music, both tunes and accompaniments. To play these, you need to learn how music is written. After you are relatively familiar with musical notation, you may move on to learning how to play simple melodies, as well as chords.