Arpeggio
An arpeggio plays the notes of a chord one after another instead of all at once, here climbing on every sixteenth note, all 16 steps of 16. Every note belongs to the chord, so it always fits, and it turns a held chord into a running pattern: the shimmer of synthwave, trance and a lot of film music.
Also called arp, arpeggiated chords, broken chord.
Play it
- Bar 1Am7
- Bar 2Fmaj7
- Bar 3Cmaj7
- Bar 4G7
Faded lanes are a guide: they are there so the pattern has something to sit against. The loop runs over four chords, Am7, Fmaj7, Cmaj7, G7, one bar each. Tap any box to change it.
Try this
Try this · change one box
Tap any note to take it out. The notes after it shift along, because each hit plays the next note of the chord: an arpeggio counts hits, not steps.
Learn this pattern step by step
The course builds up to it from Unit 1, which is free with a Google sign-in. It plays in your browser, like this page.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1, then Arpeggio comes in Unit 5: Melody.
Hear it without the grid
A short recording of the loop above at 110 BPM, made with Swung’s own sounds.
How it works
Each chord here has four notes: the root, the third, the fifth and the seventh. The arpeggio climbs through them, starts again and climbs again, four times per bar. When the chord changes, the same shape moves to the new notes on its own.
Synthesizers have a button for this, the arpeggiator: hold a chord and it plays the notes in turn, up, down or up and down, at a speed locked to the tempo.
The pattern in words
- Arpeggio: steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of 16.
| Part | Steps, 1 to 16 | Plays on |
|---|---|---|
| Arpeggio | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of 16 |
x a hit, o a quiet hit, 2 or 3 a quick roll inside one step, – a note held on, · nothing.
Variations
Up and down
Three notes climbing and falling: root, third, fifth, third.
Eighth notes
Half as fast: each climb takes half a bar.
On a lead synth
The same notes on a bright, buzzy lead.
Where it’s used
Also common in Trance, Synth-pop and Film scores.