10-Minute Arpeggio Practice in F-Sharp Minor

Arpeggios are one of the musical building blocks in piano music. And they sound beautiful!

You want to practice your arpeggios…but practicing anything over and over can sound boring. So, we’ve introduced an epic and cinematic way to practice your arpeggios in this lesson. You’ve never seen arpeggio practice like this before!

1. Backing Track
2. Chord Progression
3. Variations
4. Playing Tips

Backing Track

We’ve included a backing track to enhance your practice session! Pianote Members can find this track in the Pianote Members Area. If you’re not a Member yet, here’s a free trial!

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The way this track is designed, the background music ebbs and swells along with your progression. It’ll sound super nice and cinematic.

The Chord Progression

This practice routine sounds so good because we’ll be using a two-part chord progression. Here’s what that looks like:

Section A:

F#m – D – A – C#

Section B:

D – Dm – A – C#

Beginners: if you’re new to chording, check out our How to Play All Piano Chords lesson or check out some of the other chording lessons on this site.

Variations

If you’re new to these chords, start with just playing and holding the chords in their root position first. Then, play these chords broken. Then, once you’re familiar with the notes, try some variations:

• Travel up and down. You can transition from F#m to the D chord in the octave above or below.
• Left hand bass. When you’re ready, add the root note of each chord in the bass with your left hand.
• Two-octave arpeggios. If you’re up for a challenge, start playing two-octave arpeggios! Remember: relax your wrist, release any attention, and try to be as flexible as possible.
• Left hand power chords. I also experiment with playing broken power chords (such as D-A-D for my D major chord) in my left hand.
• Faster tempo. At some point, the backing track tempo will increase! Gradually work up to this tempo.

You can also switch the focus between your right and left hands. Or play broken chords hands together. Improve strength and dexterity in both hands.

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Playing Tips

1. Tension-free arm movements. Try not to tense up your arm. Allow for some rotation and movement in your wrist and forearm. As you play these wide arpeggios, imagine your elbow sort of leading the movement up and down.
2. Mistakes are okay! They’re a part of practice 🙂 The way this backing track is set up, you can pause and re-orient yourself with no hassle.

> More Arpeggio Lessons!

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