Improvising using arpeggios

by Danyl
(Ukraine)

Question: I heard from some source (don't remember exactly) about arpeggio-based approach to improvising, using targeting notes and chromaticism. And that those techniques use a lot jazz musicians in early times when they didn't really use any scales. Can you explain what it means and maybe give a couple examples?

Answer

Arpeggios are indeed a great place to start when learning how to improvise effectively, and not just in jazz.

Because arpeggios use the tones of the chord they're playing over, each arpeggiated note can be seen as a "safe" landing note for when the chords change. For example, if we have a typical ii V I progression such as...

A minor - D major - G major

...we would start by identifying a suitable fingering for each chord's basic triads, making sure they are close to each other on the fretboard so we can move smoothly between them.







Using these movable arpeggio patterns in the key our example progression is in, we get the below...



Through each chord change I've used the root note of each arpeggio/chord. However, we could also use the 3rd and 5th of the major and minor triads as "landing notes" through the chord changes.

At this stage, that will be your improvisation - experimenting with different arpeggio landing notes when the chord changes.

Remember, there are also extensions of the basic triads - 7th, 9th, 13th arpeggios etc. which add more colour to the major and minor chords. In jazz, the backing chords are often purposefully kept down to the bare minimum of tones (known as "shell chords") giving the lead more options as far as dressing the chords with extended tones.

Chromatics and diatonics

It's logical to first make sure you understand diatonics before you start improvising with chromatic phrases. This is because for chromatic playing not to sound "outside" or unharmonious, it needs to be played in the context of a diatonic framework. The perceived diatonic key is what gives chromatic playing some kind of purpose, rather than it just sounding aimless.

This again goes back to the idea of "safe notes" over the backing chords. If you can identify two stable tones of a chord and apply these in an arpeggio or scale, you can often create a "bridge" between them using a chromatic phrase. It's having these stable chord tones as marker points that ensures any chromatics you use are put into context.

In the simple example below, the chromatic phrase is injected between the 5th and 3rd - two very stable diatonic tones as they are part of the major triad being played in the background. This puts the "outside" notes into context...


Click to hear >



In summary, when using chromatics or "outside" tones, make sure you have some kind of hook in there that resolves the phrase to a tone that lies "inside", the safest tones being the major or minor triad tones, depending on the chord you're playing over.