Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:07 am Post subject:
What is an arpeggio? Subject description: In simple terms...
Hi, I've heard this term "arpeggio" mentioned several times, yet due to my lack of formal music training, I have no idea what it means. It sounds like a good name for a spaghetti sauce, though I'm not quite sure how much music can be made with spaghetti sauce. Please enlighten me!
Joined: Sep 07, 2003 Posts: 4529 Location: The Hague - The Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:15 am Post subject:
It means 'To be played like the Harp'.
You know, with your thump gliding over all the strings in reach.
A harp can be tuned in a chord, so it could also mean playing all notes of a chord in a certain way.
On a guitar it is performed the same way: playing a chord gently with a slow stroke, mostly down.
Playing chords on a guitar is in fact a six note very fast played arpeggio, unless you plugg the strings by the fingers of the playing hand.
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 4145 Location: Sweden
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:44 am Post subject:
You were actually doing a school-book example of an arpeggio when you learned finger-picking and played the guitar like that on your shows way back. One example of an arpeggio is taking the notes from a chord and playing them in succession over and over.
For different flavored answer… these notes are the DRONE in Indian Classical Music. This pattern of notes (1,3,5,11 or 1,5,1,1) when played as a drone are the foundation of the oldest form of ICM (Dhrupad) which is a musical tradition that dates back to the first millennium BC. Probably the oldest “ambient music.”
Joined: Jul 07, 2007 Posts: 2067 Location: Berks County, PA
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:20 pm Post subject:
Three-finger banjo picking is mostly arpeggiation, although not slow in most cases. And the chord notes are not necessarily played in a fixed sequence, and they often have melody notes, pedals points (drones) and chromatic notes (out-of-key passing tones) sprinkled in for seasoning.
They don't call 'em breakdowns for nothing! _________________ When the stream is deep
my wild little dog frolics,
when shallow, she drinks.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 8933 Location: Birmingham, England, UK
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:49 am Post subject:
Here's a very good example! (one of my all time fave µ-Ziq tracks too!!)
PS- Hi Wout! Welcome home!
Tom _________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1349 Location: Washington DC Metro
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:39 am Post subject:
Oli_lar wrote:
I get what an arpeggio is, but is that what arpeggiators on synths do then? They're something I've never really looked at, to be honest.
Synth arpeggiators just play arpeggios based on the chord you are holding down, but in preprogrammed patterns. _________________ Current and recent work on Soundcloud
Joined: Mar 09, 2008 Posts: 1687 Location: Not here
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:25 am Post subject:
Arpeggios on synths are pretty much programmed sequences that depend on which keys you press and when you press them in relation to other keys. On some synths, this is so highly programmable that you can essentially turn one key stroke into a fairly good sequenced repeating mini-performance.
Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1349 Location: Washington DC Metro
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:52 am Post subject:
Strange, not only did the forum register a double post from me, but it omitted the rest of my post.
As stated previously, an arpeggio is simply a chord played one note at a time, instead of all at once. A synth arpeggiator will automatically play an arpeggio based on the chord your are holding - you are typically given a choice of patterns, tempo, etc. You might even be able to program your own patterns, depending on the synth.
MIDI makes arpeggiators more interesting than normal. As far as MIDI is concerned, a MIDI "note" can be any sound, it does not have to be a pitched sound. It could be a kick drum, a cymbal, a sample of twittering birds, a sample of a cat reacting to someone stepping on her tail, etc. So a synth arpeggiator could be used to play these samples in succession, to the pattern you chose for it. A typical application in this case is to have the arpeggiator play a drum part. _________________ Current and recent work on Soundcloud
AnalogX made an Arpeggiator as a DirectX plugin.
And with the Tracker Module technique there are codes to make an arpeggio by adding x nr of semitones plus y nr of semitones to the original. _________________ 0.618033988
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