what are the real advantages with learning arpeggios?

[richardjones89]

to me they just seem like they 'exsist' and i dont understand what they are used for. anybody?

[98dvl]

Take a look at the bassline for a song like Brown Eyed Girl...

It's almost all appreggios.

Root, 3rd, 5th. They're important for creating chords, and important for playing walking basslines.

[bassicinstinct]

Originally Posted by 98dvl

Take a look at the bassline for a song like Brown Eyed Girl...

It's almost all appreggios.

Root, 3rd, 5th. They're important for creating chords, and important for playing walking basslines.

Very succinctly put.

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by richardjones89

to me they just seem like they 'exsist' and i dont understand what they are used for. anybody?

They are use for everything!
You create chords with them,
you create melody,
You create solos,
And most important you create bass parts in a bunch of styles like: old swing(swing era),walking bass, Blues,Rock&Roll, most latin bass parts are build around the arpegios(cha-cha,merengue,salsa etc..) , pop music, ska, etc.

The thing with arpegios is to use a varieties of rythms with them and then you create bass part related to a specific style of music.

So they are important,and especially for us bass players!

SB

[DocBop]

They are one of the best tools in a bass players pocket. First a great safety net, your brain goes numb, you're on the bandstand and song you never heard is called, have to solo on a tune you never seen the changes to before. All things arpeggios will get you thru till you can come up with something better.

They are to basis of chords hense theory, so knowing not only the fingerings, but how to spell the chords/apreggios you have basics that can carry you for a long time.

Get way to "see" the fretboard. You learn not only root position arpeggios, but the inversions and you are see the whole in tones that work for the chord being played.

Walking bass is usually chord tones and approach notes to chord tones. Know your arpeggios then just approach the arpeggios notes from a half-step from above or below and you're starting to sound Hip.

Learning to solo and hear about target tones. In the beginning you learn to target the 3rd and 7th. Well arpeggios to the rescue know your arp's you know where to find those chord tones. In fact when I learn a scale fingering I try to learn the arpeggio that goes with it so I can see where my chord tones are.

Get advanced and play two octave arps you are now covering a lot of the neck in all the right notes. What to sound cool in the second octave only play the color tones. Example Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, continue next octave with 9th, 11th, 13th, and root.

Arpeggios are great ear training to hear chords. IMO learning arp's in two octaves can teach you more about the neck than running scale do and great technique exercise for both hands with all the string skips.

Arp's are gud.

[AlphaMale]

It helped me a lot when I started playing Classical music. That's all I can say from personal experience. Anything else I said would be my hypothesis.

[Blackbird]

What are the real advantages with learning words?

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by Blackbird

What are the real advantages with learning words?

easier than having to have a keypad embedded in our foreheads.

[game_freak24]

Originally Posted by DocBop

easier than having to have a keypad embedded in our foreheads.

or having to buy one of those space-looking scrolling LED belt buckles.

[JimmyM]

You know, this music theory stuff has been time tested for centuries to where music instruction is down to a fine art, yet there's always some beginner who thinks they know more than the great musicians who came long before us. And they question everything that's thrown at them and proclaim its uselessness under the guise that it's not music. Don't become one of them, Richard. You may not be able to see it now, but you will when it all starts coming together for you.

[liltommyg]

Richard,
Have a look at activebass.com and check out
some of the transcribed Bach there , you will find some amazing pieces composed entirley of arpeggio's.
And again I find myself in complete agreement with docbop regarding there use in learning the fingerboard.

[vinny]

No arpeggios=no bass
Know arpeggios=know bass
Maybe not quite this simple but I can hardly think of any tune I know that isn't based/bassed with arpeggios at least in part & most, completely


PS. One of the best things about knowing arpeggios is recognizing them in lines you're learning. It can really simplify learning some stuff.

[middy]

Chord tones are your most important notes, thus arpeggios are your most important tool.

It's as simple as that.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by richardjones89

to me they just seem like they 'exsist' and i dont understand what they are used for. anybody?

well... I keep finding myself chanting this little mantra, but the traditional role of the bass is to help outline the basic harmony and rhythm of a piece

so, putting aside rhythm, your job as a bass player is to show everyone where the harmony is going...

and since arpeggios are the notes of a chord played separately, they're important to know about because your job is to outline the harmony of the piece... unless you intend to spend your entire bass playing career playing root notes you can't 'outline the harmonic movement' without knowing what the notes of the chords (ie the arpeggios) actually are... that's why they're important


some styles of music require you to do this more than others... if you want to play walking jazz bass to a decent standard you absolutely have to have eat sleep & breath arpeggios because you're expected to 'outline the basic harmony' in an intelligent, sophisticated, engaged & responsive way...

[richardjones89]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

You know, this music theory stuff has been time tested for centuries to where music instruction is down to a fine art, yet there's always some beginner who thinks they know more than the great musicians who came long before us. And they question everything that's thrown at them and proclaim its uselessness under the guise that it's not music. Don't become one of them, Richard. You may not be able to see it now, but you will when it all starts coming together for you.

hehe i know that arpeggios are musically technical and i see now their uses, i simply didnt have an understanding of them and what they are useful for. and i respect the fact that comparably so i am still a begginner on bass and that there are others who are more knowledgable, who i seek advice and knowledge from.

the music im playing in the band atm isnt too musically technical, were an indie rock band and due down to this arpeggios are not used much in songs that i have looked up the tabs for. and i dont know how far you can go with arpeggios to turn into a different type of band other than indie rock ive tried a few arpeggios out and they make sense, but im going to find it hard to fit it into the purposes of the band.

id like to play the instrument well both individually and part of a band. i know that it can be a different experience playing by yourself because only you are making the music and can fill the gaps where a guitar would be, and for a band depending on the type it seems less is more.

so what would i be able to use these arpeggios for in contribution to the band?

[Scot]

Richard,

I wouldn't worry about trying to fit them in with your band at this point if what you're currently doing is working fine. A great deal of what you're trying to accomplish by learning them is to get the *sound* of them in to your ears. If you're not hearing an arpeggio but just throw it in somewhere with the band, chances are, it's not really going to sound that good, even if it's technically correct (e.g., fits with the chord being played by the guitarist and/or keyboardist). Once you get the sound in your ears you will start to recognize them when you hear them in other songs (hopefully, you're doing a lot of listening to different types of music). Knowing when to apply them in a musical situation has everything to do with how well you hear them and how much listening you've been doing. Some styles of music will not lend themselves as well to having the bass play arpeggios but others will quite a bit, as already mentioned. Even with the styles where it is appropriate you still need to know when to use them, which you can only know by listening to a lot of music in that particular style.

You've already received a lot of good advice in this thread. I would try to record some chords or have a guitar or keyboard player friend play some chords while you play the related arpeggios.

Since the role of the bass is to, for the most part, play one note at a time in a linear fashion, playing arpeggios is our way to let the listeners and other band members know what the chord is - it's sort of our way of playing chords. Hope that makes sense.

[JimmyM]

Listen to some 50's rock music if you want a lesson in working arpeggios into simple rock music. And check out a dude like Matt Freeman of Rancid. He did a lot of walking bass lines in punk rock that relied heavily on arpeggios.

[Scalestein]

as everyone else has said they are very useful. It takes a bit of time to understand them and 'unlock the secrets' if you will, because at first playing them just sounds like an exercise. Try doing inversions and such, for example the memorable bass line to 'Come Together' by the Beatles is an inverted arpeggio. It goes Root-Fifth-Octave-Third but it's played with such style that it sounds great, not like a practice routine.

[richardjones89]

a lot of it seems to be just learning the different patterns. i could do with learning all the notes on the bass fretboard so i dont get lost in all the frenzy!

[Depth_Charge]

I have a book on bass that dedicates one whole page to arpeggio's. I have also been given some other materials I am yet to sink my teeth into.

How do you "learn an arpeggio"? Let's take the major scale in C as an example:

C D E F G A B C

...how many possible arpeggio's are in that? Or am I already on the wrong track?