18 Dec

dm arpeggios made simple

I was doing my daily practise routine and grumbling about how difficult it was to get the D note to sound cleanly on the third string when using the pinky to bridge two strings at the same time in a Dm arpeggio:

   1  4  1  4  4  1  1  1     4  1  1  1  4  4  1  4
|| ---------------------10- | 13-10------------------- ||
|| ------------------10---- | ------10---------------- ||
|| ---------------10------- | ---------10------------- ||
|| ------------12---------- | ------------12---------- ||
|| ------8--12------------- | ---------------12-8----- ||
|| 5--10------------------- | ---------------------10- ||

So, here’s an easier way that doesn’t use so much bridging:

   1  1  4  1  1  4  1  1     4  1  1  4  1  1  4  1
|| ---------------------10- | 13-10------------------- ||
|| ------------------10---- | ------10---------------- ||
|| ------------7--10------- | ---------10-7----------- ||
|| ---------7-------------- | ---------------7-------- ||
|| ---5--8----------------- | ------------------8--5-- ||
|| 5----------------------- | ------------------------ ||

Note the pattern “1 1 4” in the left fingers. It may seem kind of strange moving from the 10th fret using the pinky to another 10th fret using the index, but I find this to be a very simple way of doing this arpeggio. I also use a similar shift for other arpeggios – it allows you to use a simple pattern of the left hand and simple slide the hand around the fretboard as needed.