ARPEGGIOS

Arpeggios are groups of notes that can be played together and in that way, are very similar to chords. 

Arpeggios are related to both scales and chords and are in fact often referred to as broken chords – meaning the notes are played separately rather than in unison. 

Major arpeggios – E Major for example – are made up from the first, third and fifth note of the major scale – E, G# and B in the case of E Major. 

When using arpeggios within scales there is another set of symbols that should be taken into account:  The Roman Numeral. The Roman Numerals indicate which arpeggio is to be used at a particular point in the scale.  E Major, for instance is as follows:

The Roman Numerals I and IV relate to the Major 7 arpeggio.

II, III and VI refer to the Minor 7 arpeggio.

V relates to the Dominant 7 arpeggio

VII refers to the Diminished 7 arpeggio. 

This system can be extremely useful when trying to understand modes and the arpeggios that should be used with them.  See the Scales – Modes section for more on the subject.