How to Practise Giuliani’s 120 Arpeggios

Giuliani’s 120 arpeggios are often approached as a long checklist: start at number one, move forward and hope the right hand improves along the way. A more useful starting point is a musical question. Can you make one pattern sound even, prepare the next string accurately and keep the same tone when the chord changes? One carefully chosen formula can reveal more than a rushed tour of twenty.

Our Giuliani guide presents the first forty formulas with right-hand fingerings and string-and-fret tables. They belong to the larger collection; the site does not present those forty as the complete set of 120. This article explains how to turn the available patterns into focused practice that carries into a piece.

Read the pattern before repeating it

Begin with the right-hand letters. The thumb is p, the index i, the middle finger m and the ring finger a. Follow the order slowly without trying to make a continuous arpeggio yet. Notice whether the thumb returns between finger attacks and whether a pattern includes notes played together. Parentheses in our tables identify simultaneous attacks.

Then inspect the string-and-fret sequence. A familiar chord name does not mean every formula uses exactly the same bass or position. Use the notes specified for that pattern. This prevents the exercise from becoming a memorised hand movement that no longer matches what you are meant to hear.

Separate the string search from the chord change

If the right hand keeps finding the wrong string, remove the left-hand difficulty for a moment. Try the pattern on open strings at a comfortable volume. Watch the preparation of the next finger, then look away briefly and listen. The goal is to find the intended string reliably without making the movement larger each time.

Next, prepare the chord shapes without the arpeggio. Sound the required strings separately and identify a muted note or an awkward transition. Only combine the hands when each has a workable plan. The open-string warm-up and finger-placement exercises offer simpler places to examine those movements.

Give every note a place in the sound

An even pattern is not necessarily a pattern in which every note is equally loud. You may want a clear bass with lighter upper notes, or a particular finger to bring out a melody. First learn to hear the balance you are producing. Play a short group, stop and decide which attack stood out unexpectedly.

Try the same group more softly. If one finger disappears, slow down rather than compensating with a forceful stroke. Compare the contact and movement of that finger with the others. Then return to the original volume and see whether the sound remains more consistent. The tone exercises provide a useful framework for these comparisons.

Count the notes as well as the clicks

A metronome setting does not describe the whole speed of an arpeggio. Two notes per click and six notes per click demand very different coordination at the same number. Write down both the tempo and the number of attacks assigned to each click. Keep simultaneous notes distinct from consecutive attacks when counting.

Choose a speed at which you can hear the complete pattern and prepare the chord change. If the change repeatedly causes a pause, practise the end of the first chord and the beginning of the second. That join deserves its own repetitions. Running the whole pattern again may give the difficult transition too little attention.

Change one demand at a time

Once a pattern is stable, choose the next challenge deliberately. You might keep the tempo and soften the upper voices, keep the balance and improve the chord change, or keep both and increase the speed slightly. Changing all three at once makes it difficult to know why a passage succeeds or fails.

Use a short checkpoint such as several clean repetitions in a row. Listen for the same note lengths, steady spacing and absence of an unwanted accent at the change. Treat the checkpoint as evidence about this attempt, not a permanent certificate of mastery. Return to the pattern on another day and check the same qualities again.

Choose a small working set

You do not need to practise every available formula in each session. Select a few that address different problems you can actually hear. One may help the thumb remain independent; another may expose a difficult string crossing; a third may prepare the balance needed in your current piece. Give each a specific purpose in your notes.

The two groups of formulas 1–20 and formulas 21–40 make it easier to revisit a known pattern. A new number is useful when its demand is relevant, not simply because the previous number has been played once. Keep enough time to test the result in music.

Take the movement back to a piece

After the exercise, play the passage that motivated it. If the arpeggio is clearer but the phrase still breaks at a position shift, the next task may belong to the left hand or to the join between shapes. That is useful information: the exercise has helped you separate two problems that initially sounded like one.

End by recording a short phrase and noting one observation. “Prepare the ring finger before the string change” gives tomorrow’s session a concrete starting point. Over time, the collection becomes a set of tools you can choose from, rather than a daily endurance test. The measure of success is the clearer musical passage that follows.