Welcome to another edition of Practice Up. As I continue to develop my guitar style, I just completed and released my 105th full length album entitled, Modern Rock Guitar Vol. 105 – Finding Your Way 2. You can hear audio samples of each track at my website. While recording the album, I made extensive use of diminished arpeggios. I found that when I broke the diminished arpeggio into small patterns, I was able to use them more easily with other arpeggios. Keep in mind that the diminished arpeggio can be played every three frets. As a result, an G#/Ab diminished arpeggio could also be called an F diminished arpeggio, B diminished arpeggio or D diminished arpeggio. Let’s take a look.
Example 1
Let’s begin with a standard Ab diminished arpeggio ascending and an A minor arpeggio descending:
Example 2
Keep in mind the diminished arpeggio can be moved every three frets. So, our Ab diminished arpeggio in the first example moved up three frets gives us a B diminished arpeggio. We could play a B diminished arpeggio ascending and an A minor arpeggio descending as follows:
Example 3
We can also extend the B diminished arpeggio to play this B diminished ascending and A minor arpeggio descending example:
Example 4
Here is yet another way to play our B diminished arpeggio ascending and our A minor descending from the second example. Use your pinky to transition from the diminished arpeggio to the A minor arpeggio on the high E string:
By taking these simple arpeggio shapes and using them to ascend to an A minor arpeggio, we can create some interesting lead lines. When you begin to move the diminished arpeggio every three frets, it yields a number of additional possibilities. Remember to try and incorporate these arpeggio shapes into your playing – we’ll see you next time.