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As I’ve previously stated Arpeggios are excellent exercises for both fingers and mind.

When playing them on guitar they break up the tendency to play scalic patterns.

Also there are techniques involved that can push your playing further.

You can either do alternative picking or sweep picking:

V = Down Stroke

X = Up Stroke

Alternative picking: V X V X V X V X etc

Using the example below – PLAYED FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS – the last note ’9′th fret played only once.

Sweep picking: V X V V V X V X X X V

The above arpeggio goes D F A D F A

If you know your chord spellings you’ll recognise that these are the notes from the D Minor Chord.

That is how an arpeggio works, it’s basically playing the notes of the chord seperately.

Here’s another version, the notes follow the same sequence as above.

Using the example below – PLAYED FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS – the last note ’12′th fret played only once.

Sweep picking: V X V V V X V X X X V