Al Di Meola Arpeggio Inversions on Guitar: Techniques and Variations

Al Di Meola Arpeggio inversions: Right hand guitar technique lesson

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at picking arpeggio inversions on the guitar. This is in the more recent style of Al Di Meola’s nylon string guitar playing/composing.

The main guitar picking pattern is “Down Down Up” and the variations of this naturally occur form the music itself.

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

This simple “Down Down Up” patten means that the final upstroke makes it easy to pluck the next downstroke on the lower strings.

To begin with lets play a simple F Major arpeggio in the root, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

As you can see and hear the “Down Down Up” works smoothly with the basic F major arpeggio inversions.

Now, let’s pick a chord sequence and vary the picking set up and pattern:

Basic Down Down Up: F root, E7 1st inversion, Am root:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

Now, we will add an open E string for a syncopated rhythmic off beat set up,

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

You will also notice the two upstrokes on the high B and C notes. This makes it easy to descend with the pick/pattern whilst anticipating the next chord:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

This time we will employ the 1st open E string and do the same thing:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

We will now extend this chord sequence with more arpeggio inversions to outline the chord sequence.

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

Let’s extend this some more.

We now have

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

Here is the Full Sequence:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

With Open Strings added:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

This example makes use of triple upstroke picked to create beautiful melodic movement:

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

Finally, we will exploit A augmented 1st inversion going to D minor root: Also, notice the single note melodic rise of the high notes.

al-di-meola-arpeggio-inversions-on-guitar-techniques-variations

In conclusion, these are just a few examples of the beauty and fluidity of following arpeggio inversions for melodic composing and performing at the guitar.

This way of playing smoothly through the inversions works really well with the guitar pick, and as you can see in the examples the inversions can be manipulated rhythmically with anticipation/syncopation.

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“Lotus Feet” Shakti Scale Solo Concepts

Modern Jazz Fusion Chords part 2. Steely Dan, Dan Chord and Slash Chords

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Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at exploiting the Em scale for John McLaughlin’s and Shakti’s composition “Lotus Feet”.

The key to making a solo sound interesting is to highlight the prominent notes of the scale: In this case it is the semitones F# G and B and C.

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Here are the semitones ascending:

Here, they are descending:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Also, take into consideration that the F# note will make the Cmaj7 Lydian:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Now, let’s add one extra note to the semitones and create an imitated phrase going through the octaves.

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Now, we will connect some scale to the semitones ascending:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Here we will connect three tetrachords in 3/4 creating a smooth pentatonic style line:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Another key component when improvising is to exploit the arpeggios within the scale:

Two arpeggios that work well for this composition are Em and Bm:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

E minor:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Mixing the scale with the arpeggio also works really well.

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

It’s always a good idea to have a few pentatonic’s from the scale at hand:

Here we can manipulate the Em, Bm, and Am to good effect. Again we can make them more unique by adding the semitones:

Em Pentatonic:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Bm Pentatonic:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Am Pentatonic:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

Now, lets connect two fragments together:

lotus-feet-shakti-guitar-solo-how-to

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Modern Jazz Fusion Chords part 2. Steely Dan, Dan Chord and Slash Chords

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