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 Three 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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