All About Arpeggios by Nick Jennison

"All About Arpeggios" is a comprehensive guitar course from Licklibrary.com, led by the exceptionally talented and knowledgeable Nick Jennison. This lesson series is a deep dive into one of the most expressive and harmonically rich elements in guitar playing: arpeggios. Whether you're a budding lead player or a seasoned guitarist looking to sharpen your melodic phrasing, this course equips you with essential tools to unlock new dimensions in your playing.

Nick Jennison, a respected UK-based guitarist, educator, and gear expert, brings years of experience in both performance and tuition. Known for his articulate teaching style and deep theoretical understanding, Nick guides you through each concept with clarity and musical context. His playing fuses technical fluency with emotive phrasing, making him an inspiring model for students striving to blend technique with musicality.

Introduction to Arpeggios

This introductory section lays the foundation by defining what arpeggios are and why they matter. Arpeggios—notes from a chord played in sequence rather than simultaneously—are crucial for outlining harmony, improvising melodically, and targeting chord tones with precision. You'll learn the basic concept and hear how arpeggios differ from scales, providing a launchpad for the more advanced material ahead.

Benefit to the viewer: Grasping this core concept boosts musical awareness and leads to more intentional, expressive soloing.

Triad Arpeggios

Here, Nick explores major, minor, diminished, and augmented triad arpeggios. You’ll work through fingerings and patterns that cover the fretboard and apply them in musical examples.

Benefit to the viewer: Triad arpeggios offer a compact, efficient way to outline harmony and enhance phrasing with greater precision.

7th Arpeggios

This lesson introduces Major 7th, Minor 7th, and Dominant 7th arpeggios, which expand the harmonic richness of your solos. You'll learn how to construct and apply these to chord progressions.

Benefit to the viewer: Adding the 7th note brings tension and resolution into your lines, offering a more sophisticated sound palette.

9th and 6th Arpeggios

Take your playing further with these extended arpeggios. Nick explains how 9ths and 6ths add flavour and colour to your lead guitar work, and shows how they can be tastefully integrated into solos.

Benefit to the viewer: These arpeggios help you sound more expressive and contemporary, often mimicking the phrasing of horn players or vocalists.

Diminished Arpeggios

This section focuses on diminished triads and 7th arpeggios, essential for creating tension, drama, and chromatic movement in your playing. Nick breaks down symmetrical shapes and how to resolve them effectively.

Benefit to the viewer: Mastering diminished shapes empowers players to move between keys and chords smoothly while adding an edge to their solos.

Diminished Arpeggios Continued

Here, the lesson digs deeper into application—how to sequence diminished arpeggios, link them across the neck, and modulate through different tonal centres.

Benefit to the viewer: You’ll learn to create advanced, fluid lines that inject unpredictability and sophistication into your lead work.

Arpeggio Applications - Combining Scales & Arpeggios

This lesson teaches how to blend arpeggios with scale-based phrases, creating dynamic and melodically interesting solos. You'll learn to weave in and out of scalar runs using arpeggios to highlight chord tones.

Benefit to the viewer: Seamlessly combining arpeggios and scales helps your solos sound more musical and less mechanical.

Arpeggio Applications - Using Triads to Outline Harmony

Nick demonstrates how different triad shapes can be superimposed to define underlying chord changes—ideal for improvising or writing guitar solos with clear harmonic intent.

Benefit to the viewer: This approach gives your lead playing structure and direction, especially in fast-changing progressions.

Arpeggio Applications - One Octave 'Cell' Approaches

In this creative segment, Nick teaches how to use small one-octave arpeggio “cells” to build longer phrases. These can be connected in numerous ways, offering flexibility and control.

Benefit to the viewer: Mastering smaller patterns makes it easier to navigate the fretboard without getting lost in complex positions.

Spread Voiced Arpeggios

Spread voicings break the traditional linear structure of arpeggios, creating larger intervals and a piano-like texture. These shapes are often used by fusion and progressive players.

Benefit to the viewer: These arpeggios sound rich and dramatic, adding a fresh texture to your phrasing and soloing toolkit.

Guitar Techniques Covered in This Course

The "All About Arpeggios" course integrates a variety of essential guitar techniques that enhance the musicality and technical fluency of each lesson. These include:

• Sweep Picking – for fluidly executing multi-string arpeggios.
• Hammer-Ons – to smoothly connect arpeggio notes.
• Pull-Offs – used in legato arpeggio phrasing.
• Legato – to add fluidity and expressiveness to arpeggio runs.
• Alternate Picking – crucial for precise execution.
• Slides – for connecting arpeggios across the fretboard.
• Trills – to embellish and add flair to your arpeggios.
• Arpeggios – foundational to the entire course content.
• Palm Muting – for rhythmically articulated arpeggio applications.
• Two-Handed Tapping – occasionally applied for extended arpeggio ideas.

By the end of All About Arpeggios, you'll have a fully developed understanding of arpeggios in theory and practice. You'll also gain the technical mastery needed to execute them confidently and musically in real-world playing situations. Whether you're looking to improve your soloing, improvise more melodically, or just deepen your fretboard knowledge, this course is an essential step on your guitar journey.