Piano Fact

Week 7: Arpeggios
Want to have a little fun with arpeggios? Check this out. An arpeggio, by definition, is merely a chord that’s played one note at a time. A G7 chord is comprised of the notes G - B - D - F. Play these notes one at a time in succession, and you get a G7 arpeggio. It’s that simple.

So what do you do with these arpeggios? Piano players use them often, in many different circumstances. Try this.

Play the lowest G on the piano and then play the rest of the notes in the G7 chord (G - B - D - F) with the left hand. Repeat what you just played with the right hand in the next highest octave.

Then cross the left hand over the right and repeat the G7 arpeggio in the next octave. And so on.

Starting with the lowest possible G on a full 88 note keyboard, you should be able to play no fewer than six complete G7 arpeggios.

Practice this until you can play this six octave arpeggio pattern rather quickly, smoothly, and without mistakes.

Know what you have there? It’s an arpeggio you can use as an introduction for ANY SONG IN THE KEY OF C.

This is an example of a little trick used by all professional piano players. Allow yourself to try this as an intro to any tune in the key of C. Amaze your friends by your ability to play this “complicated” trick without sheet music.

We’ll look at some more tricks we can do with arpeggios next time.

For further information on arpeggios see Popular Chord Style Piano.

Return to Piano Fact Archive Index.