Minor Arpeggios Shapes And Licks

Minor Arpeggios

In a previous lesson we took a brief look at lead guitar arpeggios. Arpeggios are very effective in lead guitar lines as they break up scale-based passages and add interest and variety to solos. This lesson will focus on minor arpeggios.

Arpeggios can be used in lead guitar solos in any kind of music. Rock and metal guitarists use arpeggios all the time, as do jazz guitarists. Even a blues guitar solo can be spiced up with some arpeggio licks. Example arpeggio-based blues licks are provided further down the page.

We'll also demonstrate how sweep picking can be used to play arpeggios in lead guitar lines.

Minor Arpeggios Movable Shapes And Licks

In this lesson we are going to be looking at some minor arpeggio shapes. We'll then provide some licks that have been created with the arpeggio shapes, so you can get an idea of how they can be used.

The following diagrams show movable minor arpeggio shapes. The root notes for each shape are shown as a blue circle. This means (for example) that if you position the blue notes in the diagram over G notes on the fretboard, the arpeggios produced will be G minor arpeggios.

Notice that some of the arpeggio shapes include additional notes above or below the root notes. This allows you to extend your lines to include all the available notes in that fretboard position.

Minor Arpeggios Shapes 1

Minor Arpeggios Shapes 1
Minor Arpeggio Shapes

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Minor Arpeggio Guitar TAB

The above shapes will produce A minor arpeggios if the blue notes are positioned over A notes on the fretboard. TAB is shown below.

Remember that the arpeggio shapes do not all start on the root note.

A Minor Guitar Arpeggios TAB
A Minor Guitar Arpeggios TAB

Combining Minor Arpeggio Shapes

Minor arpeggio shapes can be combined to create longer licks and lines. Below are two examples in notation and TAB. Picking directions have been included to show how sweep picking can be used to play arpeggios.

Sweep Picking Arpeggios

Sweep picking is a technique in which notes on two or more adjacent strings are played with one stroke of the pick. The pick is moved smoothly over the strings in one continuous movement. For example, the first four notes of Lick 1 below are all played with the same downward stroke.

The 'n' markings above the notes represent down strokes. The 'v' markings denote up strokes.

When sweep picking, only the note being picked should be allowed to sound. The fretting fingers should be positioned ready to play the notes, but should only allow the string to ring when they are picked. If the notes are allowed to overlap, the effect will be lost and the line will just sound like a chord being strummed.

Because sweep picking is usually used in fast passages, the technique requires good coordination between picking and fretting hands.

Minor Arpeggio Lick 1
Minor Arpeggio Lick 1

Minor Arpeggio Lick 2
Minor Arpeggio Lick 2

 Minor Arpeggio Blues Licks

The following licks demonstrate how minor arpeggios can be used to play blues-style licks. They combine arpeggios with blues scales.

Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 1
Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 1

Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 2
Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 2

Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 3
Minor Arpeggio Blues Lick 3

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We hope that you found this lesson useful, and are experimenting with arpeggios in your own lead lines. Don't forget to subscribe to Guitar Command for regular guitar news and articles. As usual, let us know what you think of this lesson in the comments below.

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