Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Center SuperZone Arpeggio

This big pattern straddles the center of the fretboard and is the primary arpeggio form of a major key in the Fretography method. It is rooted in the Dominant degree; the V of the key, and ends on the VII.

It is shown here in the key of C, but as with all the Fretography patterns, is the same geometry for any key.  

The shadow arpeggio (running from A on the 6th string to A on the 1st string in the background) is shown for reference. As an exercise, try playing the primary (green) arpeggio form ascending and the shadow descending, then reverse the sequence. 

The note sequence is:

Ascending:  G B D F A C E G B   ... Descending:  A F D B G E C A 

Then:

Ascending: C E G B D F A    ... Descending:  B G E C A F D B G 

This pattern requires several hand shifts and so it is difficult to play fast, but that makes it a great exercise to develop your control and precision.  Follow the indicated fingering (black numbers for the primary shape, white numbers apply to the shadow).
Here's how it sounds:


(Ascending Center Arpeggio)


(Descending Shadow Arpeggio)


(Ascending Shadow Arpeggio)


(Descending Center Arpeggio)

And here's a related arpeggio pattern in an earlier post: "The VII Zone Arpeggio"




2 comments:

Unknown said...

Just wanted to say hey, and thanks for this blog. I stumbled on it doing an image search on "fretboard patterns," and the spiral galaxy diagram caught my eye. I thought this is either something wacky or something brilliant, so I followed the link and proceeded to read through the entire blog over the next day.

I have been playing guitar for 35 years, mostly self-taught, but played trumpet in school before that and got a good grounding in theory. I was also a guitar teacher for a while until work and parenting took priority, and was just beginning to organize my thoughts and experiences with students into concepts a little bit like this, but you've gone so much further. I've only been able to read through it at work, so I've not sat down with a guitar and really "lived" it, but so far I'm very impressed.

Just wanted to let you know that before I'm back with more questions/feedback.

Regards,
Jim

P.S. - I've long thought guitar music should be written on a grand staff. Guess I'm in pretty good company!

Mark Newstetter said...

Thanks Jim. Feel free to ask any questions or offer any feedback. Much appreciated!