Hey Friend,

Thanks for the well-wishes. I am feeling better - not 100%, but much better than yesterday. Fortunately, my wife doesn’t have anything too taxing planned for me today!

When we talk about arpeggios, a great place to start experimenting with them is using open chords. These chords are easily moved up and down the neck to create interesting riffs.

What's more, when you move them out of their primary position but continue to use an open string in the new position, you get some cool results. 

That open string note still fits with the chords because it is part of the key, but you get some extra color in the new chord since that open note is not part of the typical triad.

Take for example a D major triad played in the open position. The notes are D, F# and A. Playing it in the open position gives us a root note on the fourth string, then allows  us to play the triad on the third, second and first strings.

The notes are D, A, D and F# on strings four through one. Tabbed out on the strings would look like this:

String:   6 5 4 3 2 1

Frets:     x x 0 2 3 2

If you move the triad up two frets, the chord becomes an E major chord with notes E G# B. But if you’re playing the triad as an arpeggio, you can slip the D note in from the open D string and get a cool foundation for the riff.

Playing the notes as an arpeggio would give you D, B, E and G# from string four to one.

String:   6 5 4 3 2 1

Frets:     x x 0 4 5 4

Before I give you an actual song example, I want you to try it out on your own. Play an open D major chord, and then slide your fingers up two frets and strum the first four strings, keeping the D shape.

Next, play the D and E chords, but play them as arpeggios, starting with the fourth string and plucking each chord note in succession.

Slide the chords up and down, and practice at a slow, consistent tempo, plucking one string per beat.

In 4/4 time (4 beats per measure, each beat is a quarter note), you’ll first play the four notes of D, then slide the shape up to E and play the four strings, one per beat, like this:

1  2  3   4 | 1  2  3  4

D A  D F#  D B  E G#

Repeat it and try to keep a nice steady flow. 

Tomorrow, we’ll see a perfect example of this type of arpeggio in action. Stay cool, Rockers!

Peace~

Dave