This is a lesson I just uploaded to my site at
http://chrisbrooks.net , after a few people gave me requests for which material to cover in the lessons there.
This one's about making arpeggios work with scale lines instead of just running sweeping patterns up and down without much direction in the solo. Hopefully the examples illustrate some ways to get in and out of the arpeggios.
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Filling In The Blanks:
Connecting scales and arpeggios while soloing
by Chris Brooks
Whether you play Fusion, Metal, Jazz, Blues or whatever else, arpeggios are a great way to play wide intervals, traverse the neck in a hurry or to outline a chord or chords in the key you may be playing in. A very common way to do this is with sweep-picking patterns that use one note per string for the most part.
One problem that arises among some apprentice arpeggio-meisters that I've heard or taught is that playing arpeggios in solos can often sound disjointed or unrelated to the licks that precede or follow the arpeggio lick, or at worst, they can sound unsuited to the music being played over at all. I'm not here to preach about what constitutes good taste but, to me, it's more interesting to hear someone getting in and out of arpeggios smoothly and with some direction, than sweeping the floor but getting stuck at the the door without any sense of direction. Learning to play phrases with arpeggios and avoid segregating them from your other ideas is a good way of exploring their potential outside of up and down patterns.
There are ten examples to accompany this lesson, which you can view here or download for future reference (in Powertab format). Keep reading to get a better understanding of the ideas behind the licks.
View Examples
Download Examples in Powertab format
Examples A - G use the common 5 string arpeggios in the key of D major, as well as their related modes. The first part of each exercise starts with an ascending arpeggio (to be executed with sweep-picking), from the 5th string up to the 1st string, at which point we return to our root note by following the scale downwards (to be executed with
alternate picking). The second part of Examples A-G start with a descending arpeggio and an ascending scale.
Running through each of those exercises will prepare your hands and ears for the scale notes that surround each arpeggio in the key. When you're done with these, take any arpeggios you normally play, whether smaller or larger than the examples given, and get familiar with the notes that lie around them.
While the examples given so far are useful for learning your way around, they sound a little stiff as licks per se. Applying phrasing devices like syncopation, sequence, dynamics etc can get it out of the realm of the ordinary. Examples H, I and J illustrate practical uses of the ideas that are common to my playing.
Example H, "Taking Notes", is a longer figure made up of the phrasing devices mentioned a second ago. It occurs over Em7 and DMaj7 chords (both from the key of D major), and starts with a syncopated phrase, moving onto an E minor arpeggio which is broken by a couple of scale notes mid way and by a change of phrasing. It continues with two measures consisting of 16th note triplets which mix up the D and Em arpeggios and scale notes quite nicely. Try it slowly and make sure you're nailing that phrasing before speeding it up. The picking strokes I generally use are included, but try whatever seems logical to you. Often, changing between sweeping and alternate picking can feel awkward, and you may find that economy picking on a couple of strokes keeps things moving.
Example I, "B Sting" uses the concept in a larger arpeggio (Bm11) with the B Minor scale. Alternating between 16 notes and 16th note triplets, as done in this phrase, is another easy way to stop the lick from sounding like an exercise.
So far we've looked at arpeggios and modes derived from the Major scale, but you're certainly not limited to that. Try out some other scales and arpeggios, for example, the Melodic and Harmonic minor scales, or anything else you're familiar with. Example I, "Minor Concern", occurs over an AmMaj7 chord, and uses said arpeggio along with the notes of the A Melodic (Jazz) Minor scale.
Spend some time on these ideas and transpose them to different keys. I'd also advise practicing with both clean and
distorted tones to check your clarity and control of the strings not being played. Most importantly, adapt the ideas to create your own licks. Whether it's a small triad or an extended 6 sting arpeggio, the more possibilities you're hands (and ears more importantly) are used to, the more options you have when soloing.
Copyright ©2002
Chris Brooks
