I sometimes hear a guitar player described as having an
'arpeggiated' style, such as Peter Buck of R.E.M. I know that an
arpeggio is the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th of a scale, but exactly
what does it mean to play this style on the guitar? An arpeggio
is simply a chord played one note at a time. So if you're
playing in an arpeggiated style, then instead of strumming the
chords, you'll play each note of the chord one at a time. You
mention Peter Buck, whose playing on "Everybody Hurts" is a
perfect example of arpeggiated playing. Strumming a D-chord:
Arpeggiating a D-chord: