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.
Denis Taaffe has been playing guitar since age seven and has developed a unique solo electric guitar style which uses regular guitar and guitar loops done on the fly and all his material is improvised on the spot. Denis performs, records and teaches guitar regularly. He has released 80 independent CD's, nine of which have been considered for Grammy Awards. He also has endorsements with Kradl picks, Seymour Duncan Pickups, Ernieball/Musicman Strings, Parker Guitars & Boomerang Pedalboards. You can visit his website at www.dtguitar.com for more info on him and mp3 audio samples.