Mapping Arpeggios

Triads are usually described as the three note chord built by stacking two intervals of a third, giving you a root, a third, and a fifth.

And as a violinist, when I think of triads, I think of not playing the second and fourth notes of the first five notes of the scale.

Doing this creates a triad.

These three notes can then be manipulated using patterns, just like we saw in my two previous mapping videos.

For example, start with an open G and play the first five notes of a G major scale.

If the A and the C aren't played, you end up playing a major triad.

That said, figuring out where exactly to put that second or fourth finger can become a frustrating experience. I mean, once you've put your finger on the string and started to play it, it's too late.

Everybody's already heard it.

So is there a way to change the note before you play it? Well, if you put your first finger down and if you put your second finger down, the first finger can show the way.

Why? Because it's a whole step from G to A and a whole step from A to B.

Still not sure.

Then just play G, A, B a few times, and when you feel comfortable, put the two fingers down at the same time and then play.

You've now mapped it out.

The same thing happens from B to D.

B to C is a half step and C to D is a whole step.

If you place your third finger when you play the fourth, that distance becomes visible.

And once you can hear it, feel it, and then see it, the distance becomes predictable.

And when it becomes predictable, good intonation is not very far away.

Exploring this kind of mapping can lead you in directions you might not have imagined.

Here's something I found interesting.

If you look at the triad A, C sharp, E, starting with the first finger on the G string, what I observe is that the second finger B helps me determine where to put the third finger C sharp.

The E, though a whole step from the open D string, is in fact parallel to the A. And And with that, I've mapped out a pattern.

If you take that same pattern an octave higher and start with the first finger A on the D string, the pattern stays exactly the same.

Go another octave higher on the A string, and again, the pattern stays the same.

Finish it with a fourth finger, don't forget to map it with your second and third fingers, Et voila! You have a three octave ascending arpeggio.

And it doesn't stop there.

You see, if you start the same pattern with the first finger on B flat, you get a three octave B flat arpeggio.

In fact, wherever you place your first finger on the G string and use the pattern to map it out, the arpeggio takes care of itself. Well, there are many different kinds of arpeggios, but it was Carl Flesch, who in his Scale System book introduced a harmonic progression that is very useful as it mirrors those found in the pieces we play.

Why don't we map out that progression on my fingering board so that we can visualize those whole and half step patterns? So will mapping like this get your arpeggios perfectly in tune? Well, I remember that my teacher once startled me by saying, No one plays perfectly in tune.

It's just that some people are faster than others at fixing the note before you hear it.

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

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