How to do Crazy Fast Crossover Arpeggios: Tutorial

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What's up everyone,

I've always had a thing for flashy moves on piano, and I ended up learning this arpeggio move that can add some flair to piano covers/improvisations you might do. Its actually relatively easy to learn if you know how to learn it, I thought I'd share it with anyone who's interested 

1. Notes and Fingering:

Pretty easy notes, just a basic arpeggio (root, third, fifth) up and down.

On a C Major Chord:
LH: C3 E3 G3
RH: C4 E4 G4
LH: C5 E5 G5
RH: C6 E6 G6 C6 G6 E6 C6
LH: G5 E5 C5
RH: G4 E4 C4
LH: G3 E3 C3

LH can either use 5 3 1 or 4 2 1 for the fingering, RH must use 1 2 3 so the pinky can hit C6 on the top.


2. Technique:

This is super important because without good technique you'll only be able to play it slowly and won't be able to ramp up the tempo.

The basic technique is whenever your arm is moving away from your body (LH to the left or RH to the right) your wrist should move down and away in a "U", or semicircle shape.  Whenever your arm is moving the opposite direction, the wrist moves up and in (an inverted "U" shape).

Trust me, you're going to want to drill this in right away at slow tempos, it makes it much easier later.  Also, exaggerate the motion when you first practice it, it will be easier to tone it down later but it's easier to drill it in when you exaggerate.


3. Practice Strategies:

I wouldn't practice this arpeggio thing more than 5 to 10 minutes a day, but when you do practice it, USE THESE STRATEGIES!  Trust me, they'll save you a ton of time.

a. Rhythms
If you don't know how to practice in rhythms (also called groups) yet its probably the number one thing you should start doing, they help you drill in muscle memory crazy fast compared to any other method IMO.

To practice in rhythms, play through the exercise first with the rhythm "Short short long" (quarter, quarter, eighth).  Play it a couple times through.  Then play it a couple times using the rhythm "Short long, short" (quarter, eighth, quarter). Finally use the rhythm "Long, short short" (quarter, eighth, eighth).

This basically breaks down the entire run into groups of three notes so your brain has time to concentrate on each set.  It helps a tonnnn

b. Chords

Simply play the entire passage as 3 note chords.  This helps your brain focus on groups of notes so it has less to memorize.  Once you start getting good at this, focus on increasing the speed of the horizontal movement as that's usually the hardest part of the run.

c. Metronome

Start off at a ridiculously slow tempo.  Like annoyingly slow.  You want to get it perfect to start off.  Play through 2 to 4 times then up your metronome by 3 clicks (around 12 bpm).  Do it again 2 to 4 times.  Keep bumping your metronome up until you hit a point where you start making mistakes.  Really focus and try a couple more times to get it right at this new tempo, then always end by cranking it down slow for a couple reps.  THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.  Your brain remembers the last thing you do more than the rest, so the last repetition must be FLAWLESS.  So crank the tempo down slow enough where you can do it absolutely perfectly.


4. Complete Practice Routine

If I was to learn this all over again, here's how I'd learn it to make the most of my time:

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes (actually do this, don't just estimate your time)
2. Do 4 repetitions of each rhythm
3. Do 8 repetitions of playing in chords
4. Do 3 repetitions at each metronome setting
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 until timer goes off
6. Finish off with 3 repetitions at a slow tempo, and get it perfect

Oh and I forgot to post part 2:

Anyway, if you have any questions/comments/tricks you've learned, please leave them below, I'd love to hear them 

-Zach Evans