How to Do String Skipping Diminished Arpeggios in Metal Guitar

The diminished arpeggio is basically a way of picking some strange scale notes across an octave. String skipping is a practice where guitar players play up one string, then go two strings above or below, skipping a string to make arpeggios cross multiple octaves. Doing this will test not only your music theory skills but your techniques as well.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Make up your chromatic scale for the key you want to play in. Write down your scale or keep it in your head. For the key of C, your chromatic major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. For other keys, you'll have to include some sharp or flat notes in your basic major scale.

2. Find your diminished arpeggio. When you have your scale, you'll want to select the notes you use for a diminished arpeggio. There are basically three notes in a regular major arpeggio, the first, third and fifth, or in the key of C: C, E and G. For a diminished arpeggio, you flat the third AND the fifth, for the key of C, that's C, D# and F#.

3. Find your three diminished arpeggio notes on the fretboard. Easy arpeggio diagrams can help you locate the notes wherever they may be at many different places on the fretboard.

4. Practice the diminished arpeggio by playing through all of the three diminished arpeggio notes up and down the fretboard across several octaves.

5. Add string skipping to your diminished arpeggio. When you've mastered the regular diminished arpeggio, try skipping a string and continuing onward and upward with your arpeggio to cover more octaves. You'll hear the difference; with string skipping, the arpeggio will not be as straightforward. Some notes will be skipped to make room for others, but all will be in the same three-note scale.