How to Play a Minor Arpeggio

Arpeggios are the backbone of melody and harmony composition. They are relatively simple things--just a chord played note-by-note--yet their uses are innumerable. A minor arpeggio has the same characteristics as a minor chord: its notes are the intervals 1, 3 and 5 of the minor scale, or 1, flat 3 and 5 of the major scale. With this formula we can play any arpeggio anywhere on the guitar or piano.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Guitar, piano or keyboard

1. Find the root note of the arpeggio you want to play. The root is simply the name of the arpeggio, such as A or C. For now, find an A anywhere on the keyboard or fretboard.

2. Count the intervals of the minor scale going higher from the root. The intervals are simply numbers assigned to each note in the scale; for example, in the A minor scale, A is 1, B is 2, C is 3, D is 4, E is 5, and so on through A again, which will be 8 or 1 of a new scale pattern.

3. Since a minor arpeggio is notes 1, 3 and 5 of the minor scale, find these notes on your instrument. They should be A, C and E.

4. Starting from A, play each note individually. It sounds like a chord, right? That's just what it is, only you're not letting the notes ring together.

5. Practice finding the notes of the arpeggio on different places on the neck and playing them in different ways. For example, let two of the notes ring together, but not the third. Or try using pivoting (playing one note consistently in between other changing notes to create a drone).

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, the formula 1, 3, 5 is the same no matter what arpeggio you need to play.
• If you're a guitarist, keep in mind that the notes you find in the scale pattern above are not the only instances of those notes on the guitar fretboard.
• The notes 1,3 and 5 do not necessarily have to be played in that order. Try playing 5, 3, 1 instead, or 3, 1, 5.