By Jerry Rockwell
This A Mixolydian 4-chord loop is one of my favorites, and it is very popular with my Patreon subscribers. It has a dark, foreboding Celtic vibe, and I like to flatpick these arpeggios very slowly, with a strict alternating style: OUT on the main quarter note beats, and IN on the “and” beats in-between.
Try some picking patterns of your own with these chords, and keep them going for a good while….. the mesmerizing and circular quality of this progression will draw you right in!
Exercise 1: Arpeggios
Since there are so many great voicings for these chords all over the fingerboard, I wanted to give you some of the best block forms I have found, starting in the higher frets and working on down the fingerboard. This is in 4/2 time, so the first three chords are half-notes, and the last two are quarters. In every measure those last two chords are Dsus4 and D. Try these SLOW, and then arpeggiate them!
Exercise 2: Block Form
Jerry Rockwell is a long-time DPN supporter and contributor. His goal in this column is to provide approachable exercises that introduce music theory concepts so subtly that you don’t even know you are learning them. He views the dulcimer as a box of possibilities and invites you to explore with him. To learn more, visit jerryrockwell.com or join his Patreon community at patreon.com/jcrockwell_dulcimer_teaching.
