Chromatic Arpeggios (Part 3)

The Chromatic Barre Chord

Here's a chromatic arpeggio using an A major 6-string barre chord, using the half-step shifts explored in the two previous posts. 

Rather than treating the barre chord as a fixed shape, we can approach it as a fluid form which blends into the tonal matrix around it. 

If we're in the key of A major, our VII Zone is based on the 4th fret and the root of the A major chord is on the 5th fret. Thinking of the chord as a part of a 'Zone' enables you to smoothly transition between melodic and harmonic ideas. 

Play the arpeggio slowly with careful attention to the indicated fingering;

Here's the notation for the arpeggio above;

Notice that the scale pattern and the arpeggio share the same fingering position. You can transition from one to the other at any point along the way without any shift of hand position.


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Chromatic Arpeggios (Part 2)

The previous post examined a simple triad arpeggio. Here are a set of arpeggiated Zone Patterns (box patterns). The basic Zone structure is there, but because of the leading halfsteps the shapes of the Zones indicated by the green cones. the shape of the Zones may be unclear at first.

If we look at the overall pattern, certain crucial features appear;

Green cones indicate the chromatic shifts in each arpeggio.
Red ellipses connect two positions on a string — always a wholestep
Yellow bands show the transitions between strings — always major or minor thirds.

The visual language of these diagrams is part of the Fretography® Method, which is detailed in this blog. The key to really understanding this approach is to see the guitar fretboard as an integrated musical matrix, rather than a blank grid on which dots are placed without reinforcing the connections between them. 

The shapes and colors are chosen to highlight various diatonic aspects of the patterns. This way you can learn the shapes along with their musical significance. Modes, scales, double-stops, chords, arpeggios – all connected. 

More to come.

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Chromatic Arpeggios (Part 1)

Here's a simple and effective technique for getting more out of chords.

In the diagram below you see a Major 7th chord  rooted in the tonic of its key (I). It can theoretically be any key, but for our purposes we'll place it on the 10th fret, making it a C Major 7th in the key of C.

The  green  cone shapes indicate the movement starting from a note one fret (half step) below each chord tone, within the  yellow  band — leading chromatically into the chord tones themselves, as shown in the notation.

Played note by note this creates a melodic structure which can be applied in lots of ways and can be a valuable part of your musical vocabulary.

Here are three different positions on the fretboard to play the same arpeggio;

This diagram is in the key of G (G=I).

You can treat any chord this way. Just take the shape of any chord and simply arpeggiate it with the chromatic leading notes preceding each of the chord tones.

I'll explore this subject more in future posts.

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