stair-stepping (broken) arpeggios in both hands.

[Derek]

You know the kind I mean... C G E C G E C and so on, in both hands (going up the arpeggio, not just in one octave).

I find this technique one of the most challenging to play fast. I see my octaves, thirds, etc. improving steadily, but this one...I seem to have reached a plateau.  Anyone found ways of practicing this technique that produced steady improvement over time?  I just find it difficult to play these sorts of arpeggios without hitting wrong notes every so often. I'm trying to practice slowly, and get a strong feel for having the new position of my hand "already there" before I start playing it.  Any advice would be appreciated.  My goal is to be able to play figures like this without thinking about them, in any position, in any key (which I can already do, but not fast with a capital F)

Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't teach myself to play piano as well as I do now but with my eyes shut. It seems like this would force my mind to pay attention to rotation information from all my joints as to their position relative to the keyboard, instead of making my eyes flit back and forth rapidly (which seems to throw me off occasionally for difficult techniques such as this). Thoughts?

[ramseytheii]

Tehre are so many ways to practice arpeggios I can't even begin to notate all of them.  But here are several.

One of the important things is that you practice every exercise displacing the left hand against the right hand, so they don't always start on the same beat, and you end up playing in harmony rather than unison.  It's frankly the only way to get used to the feeling of arpeggios.

If this seems mechanical, make up your own damn exercises.  It takes 99% work and 1% creativity.

Walter Ramsey

[gosch1]

..hope I'm getting this right, but I don't think derek was referring to 'simple' broken arpeggios.
(?)
I think he is referring to the kind of broken arp. one can find for example in the middle of Beethoven Sonata Op 2 No 3 (beginning of the exposition).. in the right hand

This kind of broken-arp. is really something special, I think.
I'm currently experimenting with that passage myself... I think keeping an 'open palm' is key here.

[dan101]

Here we go... arpeggios 101.

I would temporarily go back to hands separate practice and try the following. In the right hand, practice from the third note to the fifth note (G3, C1, E2). Then do this pattern backwards (E2, C1, G3). Now go forward and backwards as many times as you can (G3, C1, E2, C1, G3). Do the same for the left hand using the third, fourth and fifth notes (G2, C1, E4).

That's an old trick that I was taught in college. You practice covering the gap. Best of luck.