Chunking approach to triads and chords (arpeggio)

Playing Technique
#1

I am getting a lot of mileage out of taking a “chunk” approach to scales and certain scalar patterns. Going through the three seminars and the Primer course has been a treasure trove of scalar chunks to get under my fingers. Is there something similar I haven’t yet seen for arpeggiated chords or triads? I know that isn’t really a metal shredder thing to do, but in the jazz world arpeggios and triads are almost more important that scales. Almost.

I am trying to develop my own. But a three note “chunk” seems almost too brief. After a single triplet beat in a measure I keep having to restart a new chunk. Four note arpeggios of seventh or sixth chords is better, but still not the six or eight note chunks that makes bar length scalar chunks so fast and useful. I am new to deliberately trying to organize my playing in “chunks”, and am wondering if other people more experienced have better ideas.

Options are to learn common two triad passages as chunks. Also are triad chunks with one color note. Triad up/scale down chunks, is another. But rather than start from absolute zero, I am wondering if the code team has already a segment buried somewhere in the material that has some of this already.

2 Likes
#2

You could try to play triad pairs (two triads that do not share any notes). This video hopefully explains what I mean. And you could practice different inversions of the chords as well.

2 Likes
#3

2nps seventh chord fingerings are useful if you want to make a big repeating chunk out of an arpeggio. (i.e. Cmaj7 play the G and the B on the low E string, the C and the E on the A string and then repeat that through the octaves). Obviously you can do any 4 note chord -add9s are pretty cool for this.

Allows you to use all those baked in pentatonic picking patterns you’ve already got with some different colours.

Also handy if you want to do that Coltrane thing where he rapidly arpeggiates every 7th chord in a key.

1 Like
#4

Thanks to all. Decent suggestions. I guess my question was more along the lines of whether there were more arpeggio licks already “cracked”. I’m looking at YM arpeggio lick in “Volcano” seminar. It’s a cool down/up arpeggio covering exactly one octave that YM repeats in three inversion. Up/Pulloff/Up/Down/Down/Down.

As Troy mentions, fast arpeggios tend to be a pick twister. It is cool to see how YM solved one arpeggio pattern. I’m wondering if there are any others?