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Many R&B songs I listen to have a similar sort of sequence of notes which flow in a manner similar to that of a harp. A good example is Beni's song 'Last Lie', in which the first chord is done in this manner. Does anyone have any tips or method for creating this sort of sound?

(I apologise if I'm unfamiliar with any music jargon, or any common conventions of this branch of stock-exchange, I generally reside in JLU)

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It's called Arpeggiation. 'Arp' from 'Harp'.

To play an arpeggio on the piano: you position your hands above the notes of the chord and then quickly press each of the keys in turn, progressing from left to right.

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"roll" is more colloquial shorthand than actually descriptive of the technique. You shouldn't really be physically "rolling" any part of your body; rather, the notes in the chord should just be played one at a time in quick sequence from bottom to top, usually fingering from the left side of your hands to the right. The technique is also used to play chords that are larger that one's finger reach, hence the colloquial "I can't reach that chord, it's too big..." - "That's okay, just roll it!". – NReilingh♦ Feb 4 at 12:05
Agreed. But I'm having difficulty thinking of the best way to describe it. And I'd like to avoid the word sequence since I put that word into the question. – luser droog Feb 4 at 12:59
@luserdroog "quickly play each of the notes in turn" – slim Feb 4 at 14:04
@slim Excellent. Thank you. – luser droog Feb 4 at 14:23
Thanks a lot, big help, now at least I know the term and where to move from there. – Koasamitsu Feb 4 at 22:56

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