Arpeggios. There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about what they actually are, but they’re simpler than most people think. An arpeggio is just the notes out of a chord, picked individually instead of strummed all at once. That’s it. If you’re working on your guitar techniques, arpeggios are one of the foundations that connect rhythm playing and lead playing.

What Arpeggios Actually Are

You can strum an arpeggio — let all the notes ring out over top of each other until you hear the full sonic sound of the chord. Or you can pick a bass note and then an arpeggio pattern on top. You can play them with your fingers, with a pick and fingers together, or with just the pick alone. Stairway to Heaven? That intro is an arpeggio. Any time you’re picking notes out of a chord shape and letting them ring, you’re playing an arpeggio. Check out our guide on fingerpicking skills.

The key thing is that arpeggios use the notes inside the chord. A G chord has G, B, and D — those three notes spread across six strings in different octaves. When you pick them out in a pattern instead of strumming, that’s your G arpeggio.

How to Structure Your Arpeggios

Generally, the lower strings handle the bass notes and the upper strings carry the melodic picking pattern. If you’re using a flat pick, a common approach is to pick the root note on a bass string, then pick through the third, second, and first strings in sequence. The timing determines the feel — you can play them in straight eighth notes, triplets, or any other subdivision.

There’s no single right way to pick an arpeggio. Different patterns and string sequences create different feels and rhythms. The goal is to get them smooth, with each note ringing clearly into the next. That’s what gives arpeggios their flowing, harp-like quality.

Different Picking Methods

You’ve got options for how to execute arpeggios:

• Flat pick only: Pick each string individually with your plectrum. This gives a bright, consistent tone across all the notes.
• Pick and fingers (hybrid picking): Use the pick for the bass note and your fingers for the upper strings. This is how a lot of country and fingerstyle players do it — check out hybrid picking for more on this approach.
• Fingers only: Classical and fingerstyle approach. Your thumb handles the bass strings while your index, middle, and ring fingers pick the upper strings.
• Even just a thumb: Sometimes that’s all you need for a simple, warm arpeggio pattern.

Arpeggios vs. Rake Picking

If you’ve heard about arpeggio techniques in a metal or shred context — rake picking, sweep picking — those are related but they’re a more advanced, more difficult application. They’re still based on the same foundation: the notes inside a chord. But the picking approach is completely different, using a sweeping motion across the strings rather than individual picks. That’s a topic for another day and a much more advanced lesson.

Getting Started

Pick a chord you know well — G, C, Am, whatever feels comfortable. Hold the chord shape and start picking the strings individually, starting from the bass note and working up. Let each note ring into the next. Then try different orders: bass note, skip a string, come back. Or go up three strings and come back down. Experiment with the timing — slow and spacious, or tight and rhythmic.

Once you can cleanly arpeggiate through a few chord shapes, try connecting them in a progression. That’s where arpeggios really start to sound musical — when the chord changes flow smoothly and the picking pattern stays consistent. If you’re building up your fingerpicking skills, arpeggios are the perfect foundation for more complex patterns down the road.

The concept is simple. The execution takes some work. But arpeggios show up everywhere in music, from folk to metal, and having them in your playing opens up a lot of doors.