broken chords
Notes played sequentially
Broken chords are the notes of a chord played in succession rather than simultaneously.
Where a standard chord strikes all notes at once, a broken chord spreads them out—ascending, descending, or in patterns.
The technique appears across piano, guitar, and harp playing.
An arpeggio is the most common type of broken chord.
- pianosLarge stringed keyboard instruments
- guitarsStringed musical instruments
- arpeggioSuccessive chord tones
- triadsGroups of three
- stringSlender fiber or character sequence
classical piano · voicing · harmony · progression · keyboards · music · intervals · melody · harp · sequence · musical phrasing · cadences · embellishments · notation · music theory · scale practice · piano exercises · harmonic minor
- playing techniquespicking, arpeggiated, fingerpicking, spiccato, fretting
- musical notationforte, score, piano, sheet music, notation
- accompanimentbacking band, backing track, accompanist, piano accompaniment, guitar accompaniment
- finger techniquesfingering, finger placement, finger positioning, finger crossing, finger exercises
- harp techniquesglissando, harmonics, damping, arpeggios, plucking
- musical texturemonophony, homophony, polyphony, counterpoint, thick texture