Fast Rolling Arpeggios: one or two hands?

[Eric Barker]

Here's something I've been wondering about. Up until recently, I've always played rolling arpeggios (those that go up and down the keyboard) with one hand, since I was typically playing solo and had to keep bass/melody going. But now that I'm playing with more bands, I've often switched to using 3rd finger and thumb of both hands, which allows for seamless repositioning while I'm rolling. On the surface, it seems easier, but I've noticed that my timing ends up suffering a bit. It's a little more difficult to really lock in with both hands alternating at fast speeds like that. My accuracy is better, and it takes much less time to practice them up to speed, but I'm wondering if ultimately it's a bad call and I should just go back to doing them with one hand. Then again, I could just practice the two-handed technique a whole lot and see if I can lock it in better, but I have a suspicion that that is more likely to fall apart when when playing with various drummers.

What do you guys find?

 

[CowboyNQ]

Then again, I could just practice the two-handed technique a whole lot and see if I can lock it in better,

I'm pretty confident you'll get where you want to go if you follow the path you've suggested here.

Just a matter of time and practice. It feels weird now because you've been doing it the other way for years, it will take a while for the new technique to feel "normal".

Not that there's really a right and wrong way - it's what works for you.

For the record I tend to do arpeggios either one or two handed, but prefer two handed if I can get away with it ergonomically.

 

[KeysDude]

I too also use either one hand or two depending on the kind of arpeggio I'm playing. usually arps that stay within an octave I will play with one hand but arps over two or more octaves, my right hand creeps in to help, also when I'm soloing and doing a quick fire repeated arp, I tend to use two hands as there is better accuracy and more comfort in using two hands.