How Mandolin Arpeggios Are Used in Songs

Series Summary

The mandolin belongs to the guitar family of musical instruments. Considerably smaller, the mandolin has eight strings which are paired together in four courses that are strummed or plucked to produce sound. Mandolins are typically tuned the same as a violin, but can be tuned to produce the same fretting patterns as the standard guitar. Believed to have derived from Italian culture, the Mandolin is used in a variety of music genres, including bluegrass, country and western, folk and rock and roll. Even Greek and Indian cultures have incorporated the Mandolin into Kantades and Carnatic music. In this free video music lesson, a mandolin instructor demonstrates how to play arpeggios from each of the four main positions, as well as from several different chord positions, such as the dominant seventh, minor seventh, half-diminished and full-diminished. Also learn cross-picking techniques, such as the forward roll, backward roll and middle roll. The instructor also demonstrates how to jump strings.

Video Transcript

"In arpeggio, we'll look at 7th arpeggio. And what arpeggios are, are the notes of a chord. Instead of strumming the chord, we're going to play the chord. So instead of having a C major chord or C major 7 chord. Because we're playing a 7th arpeggio. You get the notes of the chord. And what we're looking for, we're going to look at how arpeggios relate to keys that are playing in. It's what you use over all Jazz changes, when chords. When songs change keys. We use arpeggios a lot. Or at least one mode of playing. So once again, they sound like. And you're going to have different colors. You're going to have the major color, you're going to have a minor sound. You have a dominant sound, diminished and half diminished. And they all relate to major keys."