Nathaniel School of Music

Make Your Piano Arpeggios Sound Unique Using Accents (8th and 16th Note Phrases)

To make a piano arpeggio sound unique, group its notes in uneven patterns such as 3+3+2 eighth notes or 5+5+3+3 sixteenth notes, so the anchor note of each group lands sometimes on the beat and sometimes off it, creating natural accents.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 18 min

Can't see the video? Watch it on YouTube.

Key points

What this lesson teaches

This lesson from Jason Zac at Nathaniel School of Music shows how to turn an ordinary, looping piano arpeggio into an accented phrase with real character. It suits pianists who can already play simple triad arpeggios and want them to sound more original, perhaps even become the hook of a song.

Why plain arpeggios sound predictable

Arpeggios are usually played fairly fast, so the beat is always divided, either by two (eighth notes: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and) or by four (sixteenth notes: 1 e and a 2 e and a). If you loop low, middle, high, middle over and over, the same note keeps falling on the same part of the beat. Every downbeat gets the same note, and the music feels non-accented.

An accented arpeggio changes the order of the notes so the same finger does not keep striking the same beat or sub-beat. The accent comes mainly from pitch: when you return to a chosen anchor note, the ear hears the start of a new group. Because the groups are uneven, the important notes land sometimes on the beat and sometimes on the off-beat.

The chord progression

The exercise uses four chords in the right hand: E minor (E G B), G major (G B D), D major (D F# A) and A major (A C# E). Think of each triad as Low, Middle and High notes (L, M, H).

Eighth-note groupings (dividing the beat by two)

3+3+2

Play L M H, L M H, L M across the eight eighth notes of the bar. The low note is your anchor, so you hear groups of three, three and two. You can also start from the top: H M L, H M L, H M. Now the high note (B on E minor) becomes the anchor and the phrase takes on a different flavour.

Jumbling the numbers

Any combination adding up to eight works. Try 3+2+3 and 2+3+3, starting from the top or the bottom. Of these, 3+3+2 is the one heard most often in songs.

5+3 and 3+5

For longer groups, the key rule is do not repeat the anchor note inside the group. For a group of five starting on the low note, move through the middle and high notes and back without touching the low note again until the next group begins. Then play a normal group of three. Reverse it for 3+5.

Sixteenth-note groupings (dividing the beat by four)

Now a bar has sixteen sub-beats, which opens up many more options.

What the left hand can do

Switching between accents and pulse creates two song sections from the same chords. The pulse can serve the chorus or the more uplifting part, while accents in the bass suit a build-up, a busy section or a bridge.

How to practise

  1. Count aloud first: 1 and 2 and, then 1 e and a, stressing the downbeats and then the ands.
  2. Play 3+3+2 from the bottom, then from the top, through all four chords.
  3. Move on to 3+2+3, 2+3+3, 5+3 and 3+5, keeping the anchor-note rule.
  4. Try the sixteenth-note patterns slowly.
  5. Sing the top note as you play to train your ear, and strike the accented notes slightly louder.
  6. Add each left-hand option, then invent your own groupings.

Questions about this lesson

What is an accented arpeggio on the piano?

It is an arpeggio whose notes are grouped unevenly, such as 3+3+2, so the returning anchor note lands sometimes on the beat and sometimes off it. This breaks the predictable loop and gives the pattern a groove.

How do I play a 3+3+2 arpeggio?

Over eight eighth notes, play low-middle-high, low-middle-high, low-middle on each chord. You can also start from the top: high-middle-low, high-middle-low, high-middle.

How do I make groups of five without losing the accent?

Do not repeat the anchor note inside the group of five; move through the other chord notes and only return to the anchor at the start of the next group.

What should my left hand play with accented arpeggios?

Either strike the bass on the accents created by the right hand, or play a steady pulse, slow on beats 1 and 3 or normal on every beat. Switching between the two gives you contrasting sections like a verse and chorus.

Practise it

Related lessons