An arpeggio is a musical technique where you play the notes of a chord one at a time in sequence, rather than all together.

Imagine pressing down the keys C, E, and G on a piano all at once: you hear a C major chord. Now play those same three notes one after another, C-E-G-E-C, moving up and down. That flowing pattern is an arpeggio. Guitarists use arpeggios constantly, plucking strings individually instead of strumming them all together. Classical composers fill their music with arpeggios because they add movement, energy, and elegance.

You might hear someone practice scales and arpeggios on the piano. While scales move through notes in stepwise order (C-D-E-F-G), arpeggios skip around, hitting only the notes that belong to a particular chord. This makes them sound more dramatic and interesting. Many famous melodies use arpeggios: when you hear the opening notes of a rock guitar solo, you're often hearing arpeggiated chords transformed into melody.