How to Write
Beautiful Arpeggios.

 

 

 

Free PDF Tutorial
includes multitrack MIDI file

 

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2551818/beautiful-arpeggios

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intro.

 

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If you play all the notes of a chord simultaneously, you’ll create an instant emotion in your listener. This is a powerful technique, and the most common way to play chords. While allowing a chord to unfold and reveal its emotion one note at a time is arguably less powerful, in the right context, it can be even more beautiful.

 

One such context is the new single “Ray Of Solar” by Swedish House Mafia. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Swedish House Mafia before, and I don’t know anything about them, but when I was going through the new releases on Spotify, this song instantly stood out thanks to its beautiful arpeggio intro.

 

And yes, arpeggios are widely used, but they’re almost always boring. Most producers clearly don’t know how to be creative with arpeggios. And as Swedish House Mafia uses so many clever hacks to make their arpeggios creative, we simply had to share them with you.

 

So, inspired by “Ray Of Solar”, here’s our 6-step method for writing beautiful arpeggios that will definitely stand out. But first… Tea!

 

 

 

Step 1. Chords

 

The first hack that Swedish House Mafia uses to make their arpeggios far more captivating than most other arpeggios, is an incredibly long cycle. Sixteen bars!

 

When listening through the new releases every week, it’s rare to hear chord progressions that are eight bars long, let alone sixteen. That long cycle draws you in, because it keeps on going, which in turn spikes your curiosity as you’re (consciously or subconsciously) trying to work out the pattern, i.e. when it repeats.

 

So, create a track for strings or pad. You can use whatever you want, as long as it can play chords. At the very end, when you’ve finished writing your arpeggios, you can change the sound to a solo cello, like in “Ray Of Solar”. Solo cello will make your beautiful arpeggios even more beautiful, but that’ll have to wait till the end.

 

Next, set up sixteen bars of 4|4 with a 1/2 note grid, and your tempo at 135 BPM. Swedish House Mafia is in the key of F♯ minor, but we’ll use A minor instead, as it keep things simple because it’s just all the white notes. Here are the chords:

 

 

 

Now, spend some time choosing four chords you like. You can use whichever chords you want, but start on the root chord (Am), as that will anchor your progression into the key. Here’s the chords we chose: Am → Cmaj → Dm → Em.

 

Once you’ve chosen your chords, draw them on the grid (each chord for two bars), and also draw the root of each chord below it. You’ll know why in a few minutes.

 

 

Eight-bar chord progression with root note of each chord below (highlighted)

 

 

 

 

Step 2. Changes

 

Now it’s time for the second hack that Swedish House Mafia uses to make their arpeggios standout. Instead of changing chords every two bars, they change to some chords in unexpected places (i.e. halfway through a bar). The surprise of this not only creates a more fluid and alive sounding progression, it also keeps the listener engaged due to its unpredictability. As always, you can do whatever you want here, but just be sure to keep your progression to eight bars (we’ll get to the other eight bars next). Here’s how long we played each chord for:

 

Am - two bars

Cmaj - one and a half bars

Dm - two and a half bars

Em - two bars

 

 

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