Estimated reading time 2 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Are you clueless about arpeggios? An arpeggio, or broken chord, is a basic musical figuration that’s used in multiple musical genres and playing styles. It adds grace and elegance to your music, allowing you to achieve a lighter and more sophisticated sound. Keep reading Basic Arpeggios Explained in Less Than 3 Minutes to learn what they are and how they work.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Basic Arpeggios Explained #1: What Is an Arpeggio?
Understanding how basic arpeggios work starts with understanding triads. The prefix Tri- means three, so a triad is a three-note chord.
The three notes of a triad are:
- The root (for which the triad is named)
- The third (three notes above the root)
- The fifth (five notes above the root)
An arpeggio is a broken chord:
- In other words, in a basic arpeggio the notes of a triad are played melodically, one after another, rather than all at the same time.
- Therefore, if you play the notes of a C triad (C E G) one after another, you’ll have played a C major arpeggio.
- However, you can mix things up by inverting your arpeggios as shown in the example below.
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Inversions:
Basic Arpeggios Explained #2: What Are Some Common Patterns?
The notes of a broken chord can be played in any order. However, these are some of the most common eighth-note broken-chord figurations used for the left hand on the piano:
- Alberti Bass Pattern: C G E G C G E G
- Ascending and Descending Pattern: C E G E C E G E
- 3-4 Time Signature Pattern: C E G E G E or C E G E C E
Try out different note combinations and rhythmic patterns to make your broken chords and basslines even more interesting.
Here is a more complex pattern for the right hand with a left hand bassline:
Keyboard Arrangement:
Basic Arpeggios Explained #3: Understanding Triads and Keys
As you can see from the last example above, broken chords don’t have to be restricted to just the C major triad:
- They can use the notes from any diatonic chord.
- Diatonic what? Diatonic chords are the triads that have their notes come from only one scale.
- For example, the triads in the key of C major only use the notes from the C major scale.
Therefore, arpeggios from the key of C major will be:
- C Major: C E G
- D Minor: D F A
- E Minor: E G B
- F Major: F A C
- G Major: G B D
- A Minor: A C E
- B Diminished: B D F
In addition, you can see from the keyboard arrangement that you aren’t limited to only one key.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Understanding basic arpeggios starts with understanding triads.
- Broken chords can be built from any triad of the diatonic scale.
- You can mix things up by inverting your broken chords and trying out different rhythms.
Have fun writing!
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