An arpeggio is a musical technique where the notes of a chord are played in succession, rather than simultaneously.
Instead of playing all the notes of a chord at once, you play them one after the other, usually from the lowest to the highest or vice versa.
Arpeggios are widely used by many guitarists in all styles of music to build clear, fluid and effective lines.
The main types of arpeggios are built with four notes :
✔︎ Root (1).
✔︎ Third, wich can be minor (b3) or major (3).
✔︎ Perfect fifth (5), diminished (b5) or augmented (#5).
✔︎ Major seventh (7), minor seventh (b7) or diminished seventh (bb7).
Thus giving different types of arpeggios such as :
✔︎ Major 7 (1 3 5 7)
✔︎ Minor 7 (1 b3 5 b7)
✔︎ Dominant 7 (1 3 5 b7)
✔︎ Half-dminished (1 b3 b5 b7)
✔︎ Diminished (1 b3 b5 bb7)
✔︎ Augmented 7 (1 3 #5 b7)
✔︎ Major 7#5 (1 3 #5 7)
✔︎ Minor / Major 7 (1 b3 5 7)
These arpeggios can be extended with supplementary notes above the octave as ninth, eleventh and thirteenth.
Arpeggios can be classified into several families :
✔︎ Triad Arpeggios (made of three notes) as maj, min, aug, sus4, sus2, and diminished.
✔︎ Tetrads or four-note arpeggios (made of four notes) as maj7, min7, dom7, m7b5, dim7, maj6, min6, minMaj7, maj7#5, aug7, 7sus4, 7sus2.
✔︎ Five-note arpeggios as min9, dom9, maj9.
✔︎ Six-notes arpeggios as min1, dom11, maj11.
✔︎ Seven-notes arpeggios as min13, maj13, dom13
