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Arpeggios Archives

Learning Arpeggios On The Bass: G Major 2-5-1 Exercise For Major and Minor Triads On Bass
Keep It Groovy

Learning Arpeggios On The Bass: G Major 2-5-1 Exercise For Major and Minor Triads On Bass

In this “Keep It Groovy” lesson, Ryan Madora guides us through practicing arpeggio shapes by playing through a very common chord progression. It’s the perfect warm-up exercise to play with a metronome and can even be shifted to other keys.

Keep It Groovy: How To Play The Bass Line To Lady Marmalade
Keep It Groovy

Keep It Groovy: How To Play The Bass Line To Lady Marmalade

Today we’re keeping it groovy by learning the classic funk bass line to LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Ryan Madora walks us through a simple part that perfectly outlines the harmony and creates a particularly memorable and easy-to-play bass line.

The Brown’stone: The ocaJ Exercise & Bass Lesson
The Brown’stone

The Brown’stone: The ocaJ Exercise & Bass Lesson

This week in The Brown’stone on No Treble, Rich Brown takes us through his favorite Jaco Pastorius exercise. But not only that, he shows us his version of the exercise, played in reverse.

The Brown’stone: The Only Arpeggio Exercise You Need
The Brown’stone

The Brown’stone: The Only Arpeggio Exercise You Need

This week in The Brown'stone, Rich Brown says, "This might be the simplest excercise I've ever given... but it'll probably keep busy for the rest of your life.” Check out this lesson Rich calls “The Only Arpeggio Exercise You Need”.

Vertical Soloing: C Minor 11 Arpeggio Exercise
Vertical Soloing

Vertical Soloing: C Minor 11 Arpeggio Exercise

In this lesson, Lorin Cohen shares an arpeggio exercise that develops our “Vertical” approach to the fingerboard and the ability to ascend swiftly up the neck.

How To Play Through Difficult Tunes
Ask Damian Erskine

How To Play Through Difficult Tunes

This week, someone asked me how to play through "Giant Steps," so I made this video to break down my process. We'll dive into working through difficult sets of changes and talk about how to think about it.

Exercise For Unlocking The Fretboard
Ask Damian Erskine

Exercise For Unlocking The Fretboard

In this video, we’ll work through a great pattern that I learned from the great trombonist Dave Glen. It’s a fantastic way to make the transition between scales and arpeggios and also helps you to relate them more naturally to different chord types. I found this very useful when I first heard Dave talking about it and I think you...

Modal Arpeggio Patterns for Bass
Ask Damian Erskine

Modal Arpeggio Patterns for Bass

We’re continuing our exercise series this week with a lesson on modal arpeggio patterns. Learning modes, scales, and patterns help to open the fretboard up in your mind. You learn the connections, intervals, and relationships of the notes. Some of this sounds more complicated than it is. Hang in there and we will work it all out.

Practicing Scales vs. Arpeggios
Ask Damian Erskine

Practicing Scales vs. Arpeggios

Q: Should I spend my time in the shed practicing scales or arpeggios? Why one over the other? A: Ultimately, you want to be familiar with everything relating to the music you want to play and your instrument, but it’s good to prioritize. When trying to prioritize in the shed, it’s important to understand why you are working on this...

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 3: Minor Arpeggios
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 3: Minor Arpeggios

Continuing our series on increasing fingerboard knowledge, here’s the accompanying Minor Arpeggio Exercises to play all across the fingerboard. This is the same principle as the Major types. I’ve given you a number of variations to try, and you’ll see this gives you more options when playing over a minor chord type. As usual, practice everything slowly, paying partucular attention...

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 2: Arpeggios, Major 7ths & Beyond!
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 2: Arpeggios, Major 7ths & Beyond!

We have not one, but two lessons for you this month! In this lesson, I’ll talk you through major 7th, then 9th, ?11th and 13th arpeggios, which follows part one (“Triad Visualization”). I am a firm believer in learning these concepts in multiple ways/fingerings – it all goes to increase our overall knowledge of the fingerboard, and that’s a good...

Making Arpeggios Musical
Ask Damian Erskine

Making Arpeggios Musical

Q: I know how to outline chords but how do you play them so they don’t sound mechanical or like an exercise? Any particular patterns that you like when approaching a chord? Thanks bud for all of your hard work! A: I’ve written quite a bit about playing arpeggios and inversions through changes (using the Real Book or iReal Pro...