Learning the Fretboard with Arpeggios Part 1 Video Lecture - Guitar Become

it's going on everybody I'm Sean Daniel
greetings I'm Justin Mitchell and today
we're going to talk a little bit about
arpeggios my favorite thing in music
they're not my pet
they're not your pets they're all our
edges all right
and this is actually going to be a
multi-part series about our PES Gio's
starting off with a little bit of the
basics not the exact basics raise your
head a little bit we've got other videos
about arpeggios we talked about how you
can use them and eventually it's going
to lead to sweet picking right because I
got a lot of questions about like how do
you sweep back and it's like you do a
standalone video on sweet picking it's
irresponsible it really is it's just
it's just not right so we're gonna build
up to it mm-hmm but our PES you is I
feel I kind of like one of the classiest
ways to learn music oh what a question
so what I thought I would do as I
prepared this this cheese-and-cracker
plate here just kind of put here so if
you ever want to take a break Kairi over
right yeah all right so down to business
right basically arpeggio definition of
it is when you play a chord one note at
a time that's right right and I think
there's a lot of confusion out there
because when I also started to play I
thought an arpeggio is like which
technically it is right right but that's
such a basic understanding of arpeggios
that is not helpful at all it's boring
right yeah because I mean you could just
say that like a when you look at tab or
sheet music right if the if he notes are
stacked on top of each other and you're
playing them in harmony that is a chord
right and if they're they're spaced up
and you're playing them kind of linearly
then that melody could be an arpeggio
right so the difference between a corne
arpeggio is really just kind of
perspective on that's right yeah exactly
yeah so we're going to just run through
a few chords I'm just gonna play chords
and he's going to play arpeggios that's
right and kind of like a lead way
because I think that the main goal of
this whole series is to kind of like
come at even just like lead playing or
just improvising or just doing it right
oh yeah who's writing melodies yeah
that's a position arrangement everything
musically cut can come down to our page
it's it's a great way to get a different
perspective on learning that's right so
I'm just gonna play I'm just gonna play
G major to E minor okay and he's going
just ARP all over this now in art right
that's okay there's that yeah so it's
just a way that you can kind of never
really run out of things to do yet the
beautiful part about exploring arpeggios
is that you reach the point where that
there are no really wrong notes you know
I mean like you you are you are always
following a chord and and it helps you
get away from there's the perspective of
what they call tonic soloing which is
like then you have your pentatonic shape
and you are soloing in this tonic you
know and it sounds good and and in there
plenty of people who can use the
pentatonic scale to follow the changes
right but when you are you're really
focused on the chord and embellishing
that chord with different notes within
your arpeggio it really opens up what
you're able to do especially when it
comes to like a lot of players get stuck
in a rot and if you have a comprehensive
knowledge of arpeggios you literally
cannot be stuck in a rock you know that
there's something that you can do that's
right and again so kind of like our own
personal stories I came around arpeggios
pretty late and just you get it she kind
of like learned a lot like that was kind
of like one of your main I guess your
Rica moments great through arpeggios
correct yet so Ian stich who you guys
saw in the modes of Thrones bring him
into this don't bring him into this need
to talk about him but unless what go
ahead I was just going to say that he he
introduced me into the the concept that
the fretboard could be connected okay
and and that's what really set off you
know me looking into about all kinds of
books and and and you know tried to find
videos well honestly I couldn't find
really many many helpful videos on on
arpeggios or sweet picking hmm so but he
was he was a guy so me and my buddy Cody
you when when I first met him he was
working at a guitar shop and we would
always see him in Starbucks with those
like grimoire books and me and Cody be
like look at this guy try to like learn
out of a book right like he's not a real
musician you just need to play man you
can't skip play in a that's right your
head out of books and pick up a guitar
and then like a month pass and he was
way better than we were right what
happened I ready to go into these books
now it's kind of through the joy of our
Pesce oza that I feel like you're
playing advanced very quickly yep yep
yeah because it yeah I was real
passionate about playing yeah so let's
kind of just go over basically two types
major minor arpeggios that's right and
then let's
understand a little bit more that's the
easiest way to do it so let's start off
okay so if we take the like a G major
chord and at in this case a G major
arpeggio the shapes that you might be
familiar with begin on the the third
fret of the low E string and that's our
one and then here if we were going to
move to the a string 2nd fret there's
our 3 there's our 5 again I'll go
through the major scale right like 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8
take 1 right we've done this other
videos it's up to you but that's really
important to understand root major 3rd
right and then you you know you can
repeat it an octave up as Shawna's shown
in like a previous video and then you do
the same thing at the v or repeat that
shape so the pitiable shapes you can
play that's right and that's the one of
the most beautiful things about
arpeggios is that I encourage you at the
end of this series to take the time to
really learn the entire neck in one
major in one minor shape and then you
will be able to legitimately play in any
key at any time because they're they're
so easy to transpose and that's
something that we'll go over as well
yeah
so in order to make this arpeggio shape
a minor shape all you're going to do is
take this this second note that we're
playing which happens to be the 3rd of
the chord and you're gonna move it down
one fret so one half step so land third
flat third - a difference tree major
minor that's it so same room same v
differently and then to make it easier
for you I think you can also use your
pinky to hit the same note so you're on
the third fret of the g here on your low
E and then right here at the 6th fret my
third that's it
so we have major I think she's doing
that back-to-back mm-hmm it's a great
way to like really just get the sound of
a major arpeggio versus minor that's
right in your head
mm-hmm right yeah so that was off the
same root note right that's all the same
root note so if you're ever trying to
like if you're like in a position where
you're trying to play with somebody yeah
and maybe it's somebody who's like not
even staying within one key mm-hmm right
like you know if somebody's always
playing chords in one key you could just
get into like a pentatonic for this you
just mess around right but if they're
change like okay I'm gonna play like a C
major to a C sharp major or something
this is like a way to really quickly do
one thing and then just do this a
similar thing use like you know your
arpeggio toolbox so that's right yeah
and so um just as like a general
exercise if you're playing with your
friends and and if they're playing an a
chord here which would be like a minor
just just imagine like that nope
wherever their root note is that they're
playing is is the
so you know it's it's just the shapes
that we're going over right now and
you're just playing off directly that
chord so as they move so if Sean is
playing an a minor chord you know and so
I have and then he moves to a G major so
you know obviously that's not very
musical but that is the best place to
start right this is kind of like getting
the roadmap your head
I got a minor G major and then you just
like branch off from right especially if
you said learning it through the neck
why don't we do just a couple shapes
yeah like love to through the net more
than just to rock because I think in my
videos I've only done like two octaves
at a time right all right so it's kind
of expand upon and kind of go a little
finer okay so if we were going to do
more than Oh more than one octave
probably the easiest way to do that
would be to start we could do an a minor
shape here cool so for this shape we're
going to take it nice and slow here so
you have a your root note here on the
fifth fret of your low E string then
you're going to reach with your pinky to
hit the minor third right which is uh
here right
so we have G to a tee that's right
that's right and then so we have the
seventh fret on the a string is where we
switch and that is our one flat three
that's our minor our murder trial yeah
right back so then all you're going to
do is you're going to continue switching
strings to D hit the fifth fret which is
a so this is our first octave
Yeah right you go forward steward yeah
that's all I recommend at this point you
know maybe pause the video and get get
into the get really comfortable with
that that that motion so then you're
going to hit the minor third again this
is a really simple we're just repeating
triads in different different areas so
right so we have the fifth fret of this
g string right so so this point we've
added another note just get comfortable
going forward and backwards and so far
we've used Firebird neither three frets
higher on the same string or two frets
lower on the hot next next string that's
exactly exact same note yeah it's two
ways yeah and that's the beauty of
guitars of their multiple play all the
ways to play the same that's right like
on a piano you can't do that this like
this is a note we have options is it so
sometimes the options can make things
more confusing mm-hmm but the options
are actually very helpful as far as
efficiency is concerned I think so too
right yeah yeah especially because um
you know you also have to consider where
you want to go right which is in this
case why we choose this note because
we're going to slide so we have this
this shape comfortable we're actually
going to slide here I believe that's a
ninth fret here on the g string and
that's the five of a so we have right so
now one will you've covered a lot of
ground yeah and that's why I personally
think that our pezzi o's are the number
one way to learn how the fretboard
connects
oh yeah even more so than the scale
shapes even though really it's all the
same stuff it is always look at the same
thing yeah the more the more that you
explore modes and the more that you
explore arpeggios the more you realize
it's it's legitimately all the same yes
it's very you know so anyhow the last
note that we're going to hit in this
particular sequence is just we're going
to finish on the third octave of a or
technically the second octave alright
because it's so it's going to be
yeah that's it as an a minor arpeggio
Don and so I think that the main
takeaway from this lesson even though
it's simple is to maybe if you have a
looper pedal you know or you have a
buddy and you can just play an a ma like
an a minor chord you know really really
simply and then just you know work on
like you know yeah
and just get comfortable moving around
with it try to make it musical you can
you know go up three notes you know sir
yeah yeah expand actually lor you've
actually made money doing this before we
got tired of telling you this impromptu
like Christmas concert oh yeah with like
two days to prepare if that yeah like we
didn't really rehearse even know it's
like do you know any Christmas songs I
don't really don't mean any Christmas
arms oh right so basically just showed
up I would play chords and he would just
arpeggio over the chords then we would
make facial expressions to make it seem
like we were remembering things yeah
yeah really it was just everybody loved
it nobody knew the difference that's
right
seriously and if I in you know you'll
also find that a lot of famous melodies
are just simple arpeggios so like as we
were playing in back all that kind of
sounds like jingle bells so let's like
that's right let's rock it a little bit
and you know so so you know we didn't
technically play any Christmas songs but
I mean the spirit was there exactly
that's mysterious I see the Christmas
concert now that could be a different
video but yes right yeah so nice we have
a minor arpeggio this is the same thing
major uh yeah so these have two for two
practice you know that's right yeah so
the same thing major
is going to take a little bit more of a
stretch from your pinky because as we're
hitting here this is the minor third
which you know means that you took the
major scale of a and you flattened the
third one fret so for this one we're
only going to change one note it's the
same pattern but we're going to add
right so instead of hitting the fifth
fret here on the g string hit the sixth
fret
and then here the same thing I'm going
to go to the ninth fret I think as far
as like technique it is really important
to learn how to I've heard it called a
roll and what you're doing is your index
finger pinkie middle finger and then
you're rolling your middle finger to
catch that next note prefer and then
your index finger is right here ready to
catch that so and then slide and there's
your eight and if it's like super hard
for your pointer finger to your pinkie
to make that four fret
reach right I mean you don't have to
stick here you can kind of jump that's
right right and I think especially if
you're doing wider interval stuff
jumping with your fingers is fine
absolutely right and lastly because
we're talking about efficiency in the
options the other option is to just so
all I did was I went um one string over
and one fret up is the same note as
right so that major third interval is
we're talking about now the reason that
he's going four frets to play a major
third instead of down and back has more
to do with the sweet picking stuff that
we're generally gonna get into exactly
because that like if you're really
interested in sweet picking you want
that to be your thing I would highly
recommend you start playing the major
scale by reaching instead of starting
with your middle finger that's right
right which is fine I mean and honestly
a well-versed guitar player can do it
both ways it we're heading on the
context of what's happening but and also
- is this going to stretch your fingers
out that's writing because especially
like if you're maybe just starting
playing guitar like you're your natural
resting space of your fingers will be
here and then you play for three years
and it's here and it seems so minuscule
but this makes a world of difference as
far as like what you can be able to do
just by like training that into your
hand and like having your finger stretch
out and I will say that uh the most
frustrating part about beginning to use
your pinky this is for people who maybe
have no experience with arpeggios and
they're doing like pentatonic a box one
right and they're using their ring
finger
when you begin to use your pinky you
will be worse you just will your timing
between your hands and your picking will
go your thank you for in life right so
it will take time but it will make you a
more efficient and a better sounding
guitar player for sure so really yeah
the power of pinky power to the pinky so
practice your minor and major arpeggios
mm-hmm and then in future videos are
going to expand on that a little more
that's right yeah we're going to go over
how you should pick them all different
shapes and by the end of the series you
will comprehensively understand
arpeggios all over the fretboard
there you go arpeggio is with friends
this is just this is just beginning
want to come