TRACK 18-25 eau Using Arpeggios In Blues J4~_ Inthis boot-camp style feature Jon Bishop shows how to use =m arpeggios in your blues soloing, to boost your knowledge and technique and make you sound more interesting and musical. @@O@ © Moderate/Advanced x Areas fingerings 130bpm |B Abily tolink arpeggios (CD:TRACKS18-25 |e Solingsophitkanen USING ARPEGGIOS IS one of the most effective ways to outline the sound ofthe ‘underlying chords when creating melodies. Many of the most successful melodies ever \wrtten have been arpeggio based, but weas guitar players ean be guilty of not using arpeggios as often aswe could, "This eature isdesigrned to work specifically ‘onyour ability to articulate minor, major and dominant 7 arpeggios, and to keep things simple we'llbe using the major and minor a bes ora ania pli el Froma stylistic standpoint blues guitar players often like to construct solos using a ‘combination of minor and major pentatonic seales. These core scales are embellished with TECHNIQUE FOCUS Alternate picking arpeggios _t lower tempos using alternate pking pay peggios can provide oe eal abrenages i {ermscf improving the overall and dyraies. ‘he met economia way play notes on hacen rings th ge stoke ofthe pick "Snascendngmpeggo would be ployed with all down stokes and sa vets. Arson tempos however dfiultomanaineven tng when picking this way- ean become lumpy ‘The aerate plclngfechraquemprovertilog 23s to medium tempos because adds mechan pendulum ye movement tthe plckinghand The constant movement of the flking arm p and down ao hepe tala a Eonsistent dynamic and you wl dealer t0 Scent ote na muscl way wiht techie The hardest the to mater sconsisteny a5 the pick women be sping stings hen playing more complex patterns. Thebes pans {ovartvery soy and be st with youl The unite picing rege of down up, downup needs tobe maintained you ret reap the fll Denes fusing ts teenie 26 Guitar Techniques July 2014 TRAGK RECORD If you'd ike to techniques such as bending and vibrato, Inthis workout weare going touse the blues form asa foundation to practise using arpeggios with a view to incorporating these ideas into future solos and improvisations. Figure (page 28) outlines four, easy-to use rpeygioingerings for major triad chords; Figure 2 outlines four popular arpeggio shapes for minor trad chords. You ‘ean relate these arpeguo fingerings back ta the open chord sages they ft with for snc the-C shape’ arp fits ith th ‘open C shape chord ete. These shapes can used in any position on the neck and will adopt the name of the note they are played fom (if Cshape arpeggios played from a G note twill ea G major arpeggio) but stil in essence retain the open Cshape. Addingin the minor 7th interval to these 46 Using arpeggios is one of the most effective ways to outline the sound of the underlying chords when creating melodies. 99 foundational triad shapes wll provide minor and fingerings Pure and Figure 4 demonstrate this (see page 28). ‘These 7th chords provideextra colour and are only one note short of our much loved pentatonie scales. Itisa good idea to tietogether a chord shape and its arpeggio and seale shape into one postion as this helps blur the line between rhythm andlead playing, This concept allows the guitarist to pick and choose what to play, while staying relevant tothe ‘overall harmonic context. Once you have digested and practised playing these arpesgin shapes youl find yon willbe able to use them to navigate the blues form and sound instantly more focused. Stepone is to slowly walk through 12-bar form using the appropriate arpeggio and then change to the next arpeggio at the correct time. As you do this you will start to ‘some great examples of arpoggio usage while soloing inthe blues style, be sure to check out Rot Ford's epic Talk To Your Daughter; Sapphire Bue by Larry Carlton; Alien Love Secrets by Eric Johnson; Dust Bow! by Continuum by John Mayer. ll these guitarists use arpeggios in one way or anather in their playing - find theareas whese the arpeggias Link up nicely, samples 2nd +i the tab and anal demonstrate this approach using simple quaver (8th note) hhythms. Try Tearning these ‘esamples fest and then ranch ont into sour wn improvised versions. Remember this isa ‘boot camp’ style exercise to foree you into playingchord tones (arpeggios). You probably wouldn't choose to play a blues soloin this way fora performance but i's great exercise ‘Tomake he transitions between the chords as smooth as possible some passing tones are added. These add colour and linkthe arpeggios so they don’t sound like exercises. Steptwois to incorporatesome ofthese arpeggio ideas into your performance solos and this concept s demonstrated in Examples 2and 4. You may find that alternate pickin arpeggios wll help you establish a better fel with good timing (see technique focus for more details). At faster tempos sweep picking (playing notes on adjacent strings with a single stroke) is more efficient. The picking strokes have been notated on the exercises and sticking to these may feel a Tattle asskovt at est, but wl prvi th ‘most consistent results in the long run. As ever, have fun using arpeggios in your blues solos and I see you next time. I GET THE TONE ae en to spat them!USING ARPEGGIOS IN BLUES eer? 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