Diminished Arpeggio Madness

Hi GMC'ers! This is a lesson covering diminished arpeggios. We can play these arpeggios using string skipping, tapping, 3-note-per-string picking/ legato, sliding, and many other techniques. These particular techniques are often used by guitarists such as Michael Romeo, Jeff Loomis and Vinnie Moore.

You can use each section as a lick and learn them individually to start.

As you can see on the scale diagram, diminished arpeggios are symmetrical, so you can keep your hand shape and move around the patterns to transpose. Notice that if you skip a string, for instance, playing in the E and G strings (skipping the B) or D and B strings (skipping the G) you get a nice symmetrical pattern that you can consistently move around the neck in no time. Once again you can position your hand the same way and just move by thirds, or even chromatically.

On the major scale we find the diminished triad starting on the seventh step. We find this symmetrical position of the diminished arpeggio (the complete chord) starting on the seventh step of the harmonic minor scale. We can use this as a dominant chord because it has a lot of tension to it.

On the A & G strings and Low E & D strings you can still get this symmetrical positioning but you have to move one fret.

If you have any questions:
* Give feedback (upper-right-corner)
* My Personal Board
* General Forum

Techniques:
* Sting Skipping
* Tapping
* Sliding
* 3 Note-Per-String Picking/ Legato

Have fun with them!/ Daniel