Arpeggios - Things To Get Right From The Beginning

When you start learning arpeggios then usually it is in positions and that is great for having an overview of all the chord tones of a chord but it is not immediately easy to use them and to add that to your playing in a way that sounds good, it is this separate pattern that you can't really get to work.

This video will help you fix that so that you start playing better jazz solos and don't waste time when you are practicing arpeggios.

The Most Important Scale Exercise In Jazz:

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Content:
00:00 Intro
00:23 Problems with Positions
01:51 Arpeggios In Their Natural Habitat
02:59 Make It Easier To Create Great Lines
03:57 Make It More Natural And More Free
04:34 What to Practice and Explore
05:27 The Best Exercise For Combining Scales and Arpeggios
05:50 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!

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My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.

The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.

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[JensLarsen]

What do you think is the best way to practice arpeggios? What do you need to know?

[zaqintosh]

Wonderful and practical lesson! One perspective: I've found triads (with 7th extensions) a more practical way to mentally store / practice this rather than scale-like arpeggios. Bear with me, it's not that I'm not arpeggiating the triads when I improvise, it's that by having the triad as a muscle memory (rather than an arpeggio) means when I need to improv over a chord in real time, my fingers all immediately form to the nearest relevant triad, which means I can instantly start on any chord tone, and introduce nearby scale tones to taste, as I anticipate a new chord coming, I'll try to vice lead to the next triad and do the same thing. At the end of the day its the same result, but archiving things relative to a triad I find mentally simpler (as long as you understand the chord tones in the triad or inversion). One other comment about your comment at the very end about practicing all the arpeggios in the key in one superimposed position. I've never found exercises like that to be musically relevant. Instead I do the same thing but following the most common chord resolutions in music: 5 -1. 1 -4. 2 5 1. 6 2 5 1. etc... I practice those chord resolutions like crazy because that's literally what I'll need to do in a real musical context... I almost never need to follow the major scale progression in numeric order.

[markwainwright]

I’ve been learning to play jazz for about a year and was really struggling with soloing using arpeggios/guide tones due to the overwhelming number of patterns to remember all over the fretboard. This old video popped up in my feed yesterday and this morning I’ve focussed on a single octave and am playing lines that I am genuinely pleased with. My phrasing is massively improved because I’m not scrabbling around frantically trying to locate the next “good” note and things are just flowing quite beautifully. Thanks Jens for providing such a simple suggestion. It seems so obvious now you’ve told us!

[stephanmeinl]

That was exactly my problem - the chunks. I could remember the arpeggios but my "soloing" was just sequences of these chunks. This lesson and your new course are real eye-openers to me. Thanks a lot Jens.

[ColdCanadian]

I know this is an older video, but my lord, I am only 3 minutes in and you have touched on every point I’ve been scouring the internet for regarding “playing arpeggios with the corresponding mayor scale”…… okay need to finish the

[GregoryPearsonMusic]

Jens, the way you super-imposed the scale with the arpeggios showing the relationships was really helpful

[benkatof]

To me, you could put the last bit first - practicing arpeggios inside the scale is so useful. I would never practice am arpeggio outside of its scalar context after learning that way. I also like to move a scale to different positions and starting places to learn the different ways of playing the same arpeggios. It's so much better for me than learning just patterns.

[ranradd]

I love it when Jens says "it's easier than you think."

[davidwallace]

Just because someone is a great guitar player doesn't mean they can be a great guitar teacher, Jens you are great at both, I so enjoy watching your vids ! You're so awesome at making jazz not seem so darn complicated. Thanks for all you do !!!

[petejandrell]

This is a great lesson Jens, pitched perfectly at a pivotal point in my practice progress

[ebrens]

My dad was a rhythm player who always wanted to learn more lead stuff - I wish I could send him this! This is the best, most well-ordered way I’ve seen this laid out online.

To be literary, this is totally a modern text, and I’m gonna be hanging onto it as long as I can! Thank you for crafting it. Sorry for being corny!

[ryujifuji]

Thank you very much for teaching us about this. I am a beginner jazz player and I just practiced this every day for a few minutes for almost a year. It made a difference and I started being able to solo over simple jazz songs a little.

[stephenmcconnell]

Thanks for this. I was told by an instructor (when I tried learning Jazz a few years ago) to practice 4 note arpeggios over a. Iim V I and he didn’t want me to deviate from it. I was trying to do exactly what you said, but he didn’t want me to do this. I’m working on arpeggios again and this is a GREAT lesson. I appreciate your lessons very much.

[Barchenhund]

Mr. Larsen, without doubt, you are a spectacular teacher of guitar. I’m thankful for you sharing your knowledge and your channel.
Edit: Also I enjoy listening to your Brooklyn accent.

[PeterGuyMyrand]

This is a reslly grest lesson. An important easy to comprehend point put clear.

[parryrobinson]

Arpeggios, scales, target notes, enclosures, pentatonics, all up a string, across the fretboard, across and up the fretboard and all in the context of a progression. I’ve spent a lot of practice time on these ideas but rarely played anything I was happy with. This lesson is a eureka moment for me. Specifically, 2:59 to 5:11. I tried limiting myself within an octave and immediately started to make meaningful melodies. THANK YOU JENS. You are doing a wonderful service with your in-depth instructions. As with practicing, I keep going over and over many of your videos to make the material second nature to me.

[tonussi]

You opened my mind to some things I wasn't realizing. So many thanks to you and other teachers as well.

[frankvaleron]

Great lesson Jens. Along with your lesson on identifying triads within the scale I've found this approach very helpful in breaking the habit of, as you say, running up and down the whole arpeggio. These techniques, as well as getting more adept at enclosures and note targeting (from your book) are letting me make lines that feel a bit less predictable to me. I know you have covered it before, but videos building on this one which talk more about voice leading with the 3rd and 7th guide tones would also be fantastic. Thanks

[JonnyWigggle-isvl]

Hi, I just played a solo for my band a couple of days ago and it was horribke. It is now 3 AM and I'm trying to get better so it won't happen again. Thank you Jens Larsen for the help.

[martinrhodes]

Just what I needed! Thanks so much Jens - as a teacher myself (not guitar though) I appreciate enormously your dedication to making these lessons accessible and useful. I know how much effort this requires.