What Guitar is Made for - Arpeggio
If tremolo is the most ALIEN technique for the guitar then arpeggio is the most NATIVE one.
To exaggerate a bit, guitar was made for arpeggio. Give your guitar to someone who has absolutely zero prior experience with the instrument, the first thing they're gonna do is arpeggiate the open strings. Remember my previous email about guitar as a non-sustained instrument. In that department, violin has an obvious advantage. But when it comes to arpeggio guitar takes the cake and violin sort of fails.
Arpeggio comes natural to the guitar and it's played with free stroke, for obvious reasons. Though rare, some do use rest stroke for arpeggio such as Vicente Amigo. But that's the subject of another article.
There is lot's of arpeggio in flamenco guitar. It is precisely because of it's popularity that the tricks of arpeggio practise are generally overlooked.
Some players play better, faster, more accurate arpeggio than others. Why is that? What is their secret?
Remember my video: How to Develop Picado Speed. The key concept for picado is staccato practice. You mute the string with the next finger as soon as the first finger makes the note. The reason for this is twofold. Primarily, you are training your fingers to not waste time hovering over the strings. Secondly, you are training your brain to send one signal to perform two tasks.
There is something similar in arpeggio. It is called PLANTING. The idea is exactly the same as the staccato in picado.
While practising arpeggio, when you pluck one string you should plant the next finger on the corresponding string.
Watch this video to see what I mean:
How to practise arpeggio
Practise SLOWLY but plant the next finger as fast as possible. When you start playing the arpeggio faster, the act of planting will transform into pure speed and accuracy.
To exaggerate a bit, guitar was made for arpeggio. Give your guitar to someone who has absolutely zero prior experience with the instrument, the first thing they're gonna do is arpeggiate the open strings. Remember my previous email about guitar as a non-sustained instrument. In that department, violin has an obvious advantage. But when it comes to arpeggio guitar takes the cake and violin sort of fails.
Arpeggio comes natural to the guitar and it's played with free stroke, for obvious reasons. Though rare, some do use rest stroke for arpeggio such as Vicente Amigo. But that's the subject of another article.
There is lot's of arpeggio in flamenco guitar. It is precisely because of it's popularity that the tricks of arpeggio practise are generally overlooked.
Some players play better, faster, more accurate arpeggio than others. Why is that? What is their secret?
Remember my video: How to Develop Picado Speed. The key concept for picado is staccato practice. You mute the string with the next finger as soon as the first finger makes the note. The reason for this is twofold. Primarily, you are training your fingers to not waste time hovering over the strings. Secondly, you are training your brain to send one signal to perform two tasks.
There is something similar in arpeggio. It is called PLANTING. The idea is exactly the same as the staccato in picado.
While practising arpeggio, when you pluck one string you should plant the next finger on the corresponding string.
Watch this video to see what I mean:
How to practise arpeggio
Practise SLOWLY but plant the next finger as fast as possible. When you start playing the arpeggio faster, the act of planting will transform into pure speed and accuracy.
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