a root is a series of the same note played over and over, like playing the same note 8 times, thats root, usually played fast, and chords are playing 2 or more strings at the same time, usually played with a pick or your thumb, like struming a bunch of strings, and arpeggio's are like scales... hope that helped

Joe Badilla wrote:
a root is a series of the same note played over and over

No Joe, I'm sorry. That's not what a root is. The root is the first (and last) note of a scale), the "home" if you like. It can be played once or often, but the same applies to all the other notes of the scale.

For example, in the C major scale, C D E F G A B C, C is the root.

Your explanation of a chord is about right, sort of. The most common chords are triads, major or minor, made by taking the 1st 3rd and 5th notes of the scale and playing them at the same time. For example, a C major chord contains the notes C, E and G from the scale above.

The A minor scale has the same notes as C major, but start on stop on A: A B C D E F G A. Picking the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from that scale gives us an A minor triad: A C and E.

arpeggio's are like scales is not quite right. An arpeggio is a chord, but played one note at a time instead of being strummed all at once.

For example, if you play a bassline that goes: C E G C, you are playing an arpeggio, whether you finger it as a chord or one note at a time.

I hope this helps.

Jeff,

I am quite new to the world of theory, even though I've been playing for 20+ years. The more I learn, the more it seems that most of the concepts are fairly simple - yet are confused by the terminology which is used. It's not entirely different from the medical world...as when Doctors insist on calling 2 black eyes "Bilateral periorbital eccyhmosis."

There are others here (practically everyone else here) who have a better handle on theory. But I'm responding to your post in a sort of self-help way; it helps me learn it by writing about it.

The root (also called a tonic) is simply the key
or first note in a scale. So if you were going to play a C major scale, the root is a C note. 3rds and 5ths are simply the 3rd and/or 5th note in a scale. So if a C major scale goes CDEFGAB then the 3rd one is E and the 5th one is G (you count the C as #1 when counting).

When you combine a root, 3rd and 5th together you have a chord in the key of the root, and all an arpeggio is (if I understand correctly) is playing a root/3rd/5th. Kind of. Sort of. I think :-)

There is a link on my homepage to a lesson by Ron Demay which I think does a great job explaining (and simplifying) this. And like I said, I'm new to theory and you may well find corrections to this post from others!

ok we are going to use the c major scale as an example and lets say we use a basic chord 1-3-5
c d e f g a b c is the scale. the one is c the three e and the five is g, the chord played is c,e,g. appregios from what i have learned i believe are just the notes that make up the chord. so you use these notes individually to compliment the chord the guitar player is playing. any questions let me know maybe i can clarify some more

First, we will construct a chord, like above... the C Major Scale

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 <---This is the number of the scale's "step."
You'll take ROOT (1), 3RD (3), and 5TH (5), C,E,G. There's your basic C Major chord. To construct a minor chord, just lower the 3rd by 1/2 step (distance of one fret). A "chord" played on two strings is not a chord, it's commonly referred to as a "double stop", or can be defined as a specific interval, i.e. a power chord being a "fifth."

Arpeggios are broken chords. Arpeggio is defined as an old Italian term meaning "play on the harp." What I mean by a "broken chord" is that you fret a chord (the notes of a chord, like the C chord above) and strum it one note at a time. It's okay to let the notes ring, as long as you're making it known audibly that you're strumming them seperately.

I think you got your answer big dog. LOL. thanks you guys because you gave me my answer too. All of you. LOL!


Later

CHORD: 3 notes or more played SIMULTANEOUSLY. That is plucked.

[2 notes are an harmonic interval]

ARPEGGIO: The notes of a chord played individually - one after the other, as opposed to being plucked at the same moment.

Strumming is therefore playing arpeggios no matter how fast the notes are strummed. They aint SIMULTANEOUS!

iN CaSe i souNd liKe A SmaRt- arSe, I recently picked up a music dictionary at a garage sale. Trust me guys BUY ONE! or steal one, but try to find one somehow, they are very educational.

Why are you doing this??? :^Black Hawk

At the risk of sounding redundant in relation to the other posts here....The best way to clarify this for you as you are in fact new to this whole thing...is to think of the arpeggio as the "legs" of a table.

A table has no support without it's legs. There is no real applicable difference between the term "chord" and the term "arpeggio". In real world terms...they both represent pretty much the exact same thing at the beginning stages.

For the sake of this example...we will assume a table will need 4 legs to be stable and defined. That is the same principle with a chord. For a chord at the beginning stages to be defined clearly...the chord needs 4 legs.

The first leg would be the chords root. This is the note that everything being played is based off of. The root is the primary sound that everything gravitates towards and away from.

To get a good working example of this going...go to your bass and peddle an open "E" note. Do this for about 20 seconds at a comfortable pace with an easy and comfortable feel associated with it. After 20 seconds move to an "A" note for a short period of time. You will notice that your ear is playing this "A" but...it is now in relation to the "E" that you were playing. You should naturally want to return to the E when the time is appropriate. That "E" is your root or the base of what you are playing.

Now to create a chord...or the legs of the table...you will need 1.To practice the major scale to be able to get what the number system is all about (I.E. 1,3,5,7). The only thing those numbers mean is that they are a reference to the different scale positions between one root and it's octave.

An arpeggio or "chord" is made up of this skip sequence: 1,3,5,7. At the beginning stages this is all you will really need to understand to grasp the concept. Just think of the necessary notes in a chord as the legs of a table.

Great working examples of bass lines that really address this whole topic in a fundamental way are blues bass lines. Go check out some blues lines and try to play along with them. That will give you a firm working knowledge of what "1,3,5" actually are in physical application.