Anarpeggio (Italian:[arˈpeddʒo], pluralarpeggios orarpeggi) is a type ofchord in which thenotes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios onkeyboard instruments may be calledrolled chords.
Arpeggios may include all notes of ascale or a partial set of notes from a scale, but must contain notes of at least threepitches (two-pitch sequences are known astrills ortremolos). Arpeggios may sound notes within a singleoctave or span multiple octaves, and the notes may be sustained and overlap or be heard separately. An arpeggio for the chord of C major going up twooctaves would be the notes (C, E, G, C, E, G, C).
Inmusical notation, a very rapid arpeggiated chord may be written with a wavy vertical line in front of the chord. Typically these are read as to be played from the lowest to highest note, though composers may specify a high to low sequence by adding an arrow pointing down.
Arpeggios enable composers writing formonophonic instruments that play one note at a time (such as thetrumpet) to voice chords andchord progressions in musical pieces. Arpeggios are also used to help createrhythmic interest, or as melodicornamentation in thelead oraccompaniment.
Though the notes of an arpeggio are not sounded simultaneously, listeners may effectively hear the sequence of notes as forming a chord if played in quick succession. When an arpeggio also containspassing tones that are not part of the chord, certainmusic theorists may analyze the same musical excerpt differently.
The wordarpeggio comes from the Italian wordarpeggiare, which meansto play on aharp. Despite its Italian origins, its plural usage is usuallyarpeggios rather thanarpeggi.
Any instrument may employ arpeggiation, but arpeggios are more commonly used on instruments which serve the role of melodic lead orornamentation. Arpeggios may be used as an alternative to continuousportamento for instruments which are not able to achieve that, or which have limitations in achieving portamento over multiple notes of a scale, such askeyboards,fretted instruments, andmonophonic instruments like theflute.
Arpeggios are commonly used in manymusic genres and are particularly highlighted in genres with significant focus on melody and ornamentation, such asflamenco andneo-classical. Arpeggios are an important part ofjazz improvisation. On guitar,sweep-picking is a technique used for rapid arpeggiation, which is most often found inrock music andheavy metal music.
Along withscales, arpeggios are a form of basic technical exercise that students use to develop intonation and technique. They can also be used in call and response ear training dictations, either alone or in conjunction with harmony dictations.[2]
Somesynthesizers containarpeggiators, which are step sequencers designed to facilitate the playing of arpeggios, as well as non-arpeggiated sequences also.
In earlyvideo game music, arpeggios were often the only way to play a chord since sound hardware usually had a very limited number of oscillators, orvoices. Instead of tying them all up to play one chord, one channel could be used to play an arpeggio, leaving the rest for drums, bass, or sound effects. A prominent example was the music of games anddemos onCommodore 64'sSID chip, which only had three oscillators (see alsoChiptune). This technique was highly popular amongst European video game music composers for systems in the 1980s like theNES, with many transferring their knowledge from their days of composing with the Commodore 64.[3][better source needed]
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