INTENSEGUITAR
Connecting Sweep Arpeggios
I’m just getting back from a recent trip
to Italy and have been trying to get back
into the swing of things – boy, did I have a
blast! As always, thanks to all the readers
for their emails and
comments. If anyone has a question
about any topics,
or would like me
to cover something specific,
please feel free
to contact me at
toshi@toshiiseda.
com or intseguitr@
aol.com. I can
also be contacted
on MySpace at
myspace.com/
toshiiseda.
Remember, there are no rules, except to
play cleanly! Also, try playing along with a
metronome to get your timing down.
E) before descending from an E minor
arpeggio (E, G, B). Next, we ascend into
an F major arpeggio (F, A, C) and again
descend from a different arpeggio – in
this case a C major
arpeggio, using the
same fingering as
earlier. Then we’ll
go back into the
D minor arpeggio
we used earlier
and ascend, finally
descending again
with our G major
arpeggio.
This month’s
question comes
from Mark Jobes
of Forest City,
Iowa. Mark asked,
“Toshi, you have
a great way of
connecting sweep
arpeggios – could
you please give
me some insight
on how to do this?
Thanks! By the
way, your music
rules!” No problem, Mark, and
thanks for checking out my music!
As you see, the
exercise returned to
the C major arpeggio. My suggestion
is to experiment
going in and out of
different kinds of
arpeggios, depending on the progression you’re playing
over. You can also
use it as an exercise
and practice connecting different
arpeggios together
to make things more
challenging and
interesting. Have
fun with the exercise
and then challenge
yourself by taking it
a step further!
In most cases, I’ll simply slide from one
arpeggio to another. This is a concept I
picked up from Richie Kotzen when I took
a few lessons from him years ago. We have
looked at these arpeggio fingerings in a
previous column, so I’m sure you’ll recall
some of them. Hopefully you’ve been
practicing and have a firm grip on how
to execute and use them in your playing.
Now let’s work on connecting them.
When I slide from one arpeggio to the
next I’ll use either my pinkie or middle finger. I purposely didn’t include any fingerings this month, so feel free to experiment
with what feels most comfortable to you.
Sometimes I’ll ascend using one kind of
arpeggio while descending with another.
Other times I’ll ascend with an arpeggio
and descend with the same arpeggio, but
use a different fingering. For example, let’s
take a look at this little exercise in arpeggios I’ve written out. We’ll start with a C
major arpeggio (C, E, G), where I ascend
the arpeggio with one fingering but then
slide up to another position and descend
that C major arpeggio from another position. From there, we ascend a D minor
arpeggio (D, F, A) but then descend from a
G major arpeggio (G, B, D).
That wraps it up for this month. Thanks
again for tuning in – it’s always an honor
to write for you. Until next month, “Who
dares wins!”
From here we’ll slide up to the 17th fret
and ascend an A minor arpeggio (A, C,
Toshi Iseda
Toshi Iseda is an Alumnus of the prestigeous Berklee
College of Music and the American Conservatory of Music.
He has been featured in Guitar Player, Guitar World and
Guitar/Guitar One magazines, and is a former instructor at
the National Guitar Workshop and former instructor at the
American Institute of Guitar. He is considered the #1
instructor in Central Tennessee.
toshi@toshiiseda.com intseguitr@aol.com
toshiiseda.com myspace.com/toshiiseda
