Improvising with arpeggios is a great way to dig into chord changes, bringing out the exact sound of each chord in your lines. While scales and modes are great for outlining keys and creating modal colors, when you want to sound each chord in a progression, arpeggios are the way to go. While they are great for outlining chord changes, arpeggios can often become boring or predictable when you overuse them in a solo.
Improvising with arpeggios is a great way to dig into chord changes, bringing out the exact sound of each chord in your lines.
While scales and modes are great for outlining keys and creating modal colors, when you want to sound each chord in a progression, arpeggios are the way to go.
While they are great for outlining chord changes, arpeggios can often become boring or predictable when you overuse them in a solo. But while they can be bland if played as is, there are plenty of techniques that you can explore in order to create killer licks with these important, four-note groups. One of the easiest ways to expand any arpeggio is to add chromatic approaches above or below each note in the scale.
In this article, we will explore this concept, learning it from a technical standpoint and then creating licks that you can take into your solos. Before we start, I have used a G7 arpeggio for each example in the article. If you are new to this fingering, take a minute to check it out below and get it under your fingers before moving to the subsequent exercises.
Step 1: Chromatic Approach From Below
Once you have your fingers around the G7 arpeggio, you’re ready to dig into the first chromatic approach technique. This