Arpeggios

I read an article on arpeggios and it stated that the chord's notes are to be played on strong beats--what are strong beats, how do I create them in my music and how do I recognize them in other songs???

Thanks

By strong beats they probably mean the actual beat, the ones and twos, ect, as opposed to the offbeats, which are the Ands.
If you were playing in four-four time, the strongest beats would be One and Three, the nest strongest are Two and Four, and the offbeats are the ANDs that are counted between the numbers, like, ONE and Two and THREE and Four and, ect.
You can recognize them in other songs by just tapping your foot along to the tempo of the song. Your foot will hit the floor on a beat, and come back up off the floor on an offbeat. The beats where your foot hits the floor are where you'll want to emphasize the notes your playing, but then, a little syncopation can also make things interesting. Thats when notes on the offbeat are stressed, instead of the notes on the beats.

Who said that chasum?? And where did you read it?

I believe these are the correct websites:

cyberfret.com/styles/blues/mixolydian-scale-blues/index.php

and...

guitarnoise.com/maximum/20030427.php

It was definitely on those two websites...cyberfret.com and gutiarnoise.com

After reading the article I see what you meant. Strong beats are what Josh said. The strong beat is always the first beat of every measure. You can recognize it better with a drummer when he hits a crash at the beginning of a beat. That cymbal hit is a strong beat or the first beat.

Reading the article, the author said a strong beat is one and four. One yes, but four isn't a strong beat even if it is accented. Thus giving the name to a beat other than one that is accented. Accented beat. To give a feel to a song, you can count like Josh said. One is always accented. Then whatever numbers you accent after gives you a feel. This is where time signatures come from. 4/4 or common time is easy. Just count 1, 2, 3, 4, and repeat. Accent when you say one and slightly accent 3. You can even accent other numbers when counting and get a different feel. Try it counting 1, 2, 3, 4 but accent one and four. You get a different feel. This is what the author meant by playing the arpeggio tones on strong beats, which is a good idea but don‘t make a rule of it. Playing a note outside a arpeggio on a strong beat can add a little tension and sometimes that’s what your going for. Also syncopation is a common tool of composition, which would be playing a tone (whether of the chord or not) somewhere in the middle of a beat.

Going back to the article, accenting one and four isn't the only way to carry a blues feel. It's a good idea and a good suggestion but as you can see accenting different numbers when counting produces a different feel. If you always have the same feel, your music will always sound the same. So try different feels, even different signatures. Try 5/4 by counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and repeat. Accent 1 and 4 or 1 and 3. Different feel eh?? Sounds incomplete huh? Like you want to go to 6, but you start over a beat beforehand. This is the feel of 5/4.

Originally posted by noticingthemistake
After reading the article I see what you meant. Strong beats are what Josh said. The strong beat is always the first beat of every measure. You can recognize it better with a drummer when he hits a crash at the beginning of a beat. That cymbal hit is a strong beat or the first beat.

For the record, we should add 'in straight time, or most rock charts' to be totally accurate.

Thanks, guys!!!!