An arpeggio (Italian: [arˈpeddʒo], plural arpeggios or arpeggi) is a type of chord in which the notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords.
Arpeggios may include all notes of a scale or a partial set of notes from a scale, but must contain notes of at least three pitches (two-pitch sequences are known as trills or tremolos). Arpeggios may sound notes within a single octave or span multiple octaves, and the notes may be sustained and overlap or be heard separately. An arpeggio for the chord of C major going up two octaves would be the notes (C, E, G, C, E, G, C).
