5 ways to improve your guitar arpeggios

Being an effective rhythm player is one of the most valuable skills a guitarist can have. Being able to accompany vocalists and lock in with a rhythm section in bands are must-have skills. 

Sure, playing solos and melodic lines can be fun, but this level of creativity can be applied to playing chords, too. Jimi Hendrix’s rhythm style is just as creative as his lead. And one way to achieve diversity and musicality with your rhythm playing is to incorporate arpeggios. 

Any chord shape can be turned into an arpeggio simply by picking individual notes within the chord rather than strumming them. This article takes the technique a step further by showing you how some of the best-known rhythm players come up with their own approaches by adding embellishments and nuances to often simple chord progressions in order to provide movement and excitement.

Take for example the godfather of neo-soul, Chalmers ‘Spanky’ Alford, who used flutter chords in his playing, inspiring countless other guitarists from the genre such as Jairus Mozee and Isaiah Sharkey. Then there are Brit-rock and indie players such as The Edge and Johnny Marr, who use syncopated arpeggios to create huge sonic soundscapes, shaping their own distinct sound in the process.

Session great John McCurry played arpeggios on the opening of Alice Cooper’s track Poison, helping make the song one of Cooper’s biggest hits. This list is far from exhaustive and there are many players from all genres and generations who have featured chord-based arpeggios as an integral part of their style. 

This month’s examples and study piece tackle a diverse range of styles to show you how arpeggios can be used to turn your rhythm playing into something more creative and fun; often bridging the gap between rhythm and lead playing. 

Sometimes taking a simple chord and adding or removing fingers can create interesting suspended or extended chords, which can add new dimensions to tired or overplayed progressions. You will see plenty of examples of this in our examples and study piece.

You can use a guitar pick, go fingerstyle or hybrid pick. Experiment with all methods and then choose which work best for you depending on the style. I decided to use a plectrum exclusively throughout this month’s musical content, but the ultimate choice is down to you. 

Get the tone

Amp settings: Gain 3, Bass 4, Middle 5, Treble 6 

Any basic clean tone will be a good starting place for this month’s examples. I went for a neck single-coil pickup for most of the licks, adding reverb and a simple delay set to 377ms with a couple of repeats. You’ll need to add some overdrive for the final two examples, otherwise take my basic sound and refine it to your particular preferences.

Examples

Example 1. Neo-soul

Flutter chords as illustrated here are an integral part of neo-soul guitar playing. Keep the barre chords held down so the notes ring into each other. 

Example 2. Pedal-tone arpeggios

It can be challenging to play across strings like this if using a plectrum. I have included suggested picking directions as a guide. 

Example 3. Syncopated triads

This example uses G Major triads to illustrate how they can be moved up the neck to create syncopated Afro-inspired indie ideas. Aim to make the position shifts smooth and fluid, and if you find playing them with a pick something of a struggle, try hybrid or even fingerstyle. 

Example 4. Indie rock with descending triads

Triads are used again for this example with a descending chord progression in the second bar. Add some overdrive to give this a suitable indie sound. 

Example 5. '80s rock style arpeggios 

This final example combines arpeggios with palm muting, resulting in a typical '80s approach to applying arpeggios in hard rock and hair metal styles. 

Arpeggio Study Piece

The opening triads set the scene for our study piece before the idea is developed as the drums kick in. I have included my approach to picking these as a guide. At bar 25 a melodic line follows the G Major triad, which is then repeated with an arpeggiated G6/9 chord. Use your fretting hand’s fourth finger to play the pull-offs. At bar 33 we have a repeated four-bar phrase using Gsus4 and G6/9 chords. 

Again, use your fourth finger to play the chord embellishments. The addition of extended chord tones works great on the guitar and experimentation will yield immediate results. The final section at bar 41 closes our piece with a simple quarter-note idea before we end on another colourful G6/9 chord. Now experiment with as many arpeggio ideas as you can.