Arpeggio help!!!

My advice would be to learn all the inversions of one arpeggio, such as a Dominant 7th, and just alter that arpeggio to turn it into other arpeggios. Take G7 (G B D F). You could lower the 3rd to make it G Min 7th (G Bb D F), raise the seventh to make it G Maj 7 (G B D F#) or lower the 3rd and 5th to make it Minor 7th b5 (G Bb Db F). By just seeing the notes that change, it should make things a lot easier.

@billmeedog 10567 wrote:

🙂

Hey AngusBurger,

That seems like a pretty efffective (and mentally streamlined/”less-confusing”) method for someone just getting into the arpeggios!

I guess I’m a bit confused as to why this person/student wouldn’t want to learn all of the Triads (“3-note-chords” – like: major, minor, diminished, and augmented) Arpeggios BEFORE delving into the “4-note-chord” Arpeggios (major-7th, minor-7th, dominant-7th, minor-7th(b5), diminished-7th.) To my way of thinking, this would be akin to trying to learn calculus-math BEFORE having learned advanced algebra and trigonometry – LOL! (Maybe more simply, it would be like learning how to “run” before learning how to walk!) :rolleyes: :confused:

A couple of other things to consider:

1.) Learning EVERY-note, at EVERY-fret, on EVERY-string of the guitar (by letter-name) can certainly help speed-up the process of knowing/memorizing the INTERVALS of each arpeggio’s-notes.

2.) Arranging all three-note (for the triads) or four-note (for the sevenths) on a SINGLE-STRING and then practicing them (build slowly!) is a GREAT way to literally SEE/VISUALIZE the exact interval-distances from one chord-tone to the next and all the way from the lowest-pitched note to the highest-pitched note! IMO, two-handed tapping is an excellent way to execute these single-string arranged arpeggios (and their inversions.) By using the two-handed tapping approach, you get the added-benefit of psychologically putting yourself into the mind of a piano/keyboard-player where “left=descend/right=ascend” (Sorry AngusBurger and all you “Lefties”-LOL!) as well as the simple visualization benefit of the interval-distance-measuremrnt” from one chord-tone to the next. (IE: Root-Position Dominant7th: Chord-Tone-Root–>4-frets–>Chord-Tone-Maj3rd–>3-frets–>Chord-Tone-Perfect5th–>3-frets–>Chord-Tone-Dom7th.

Let’s plug-in some actual notes & fret-numbers:

(We’ll use Gdom7th on the E6-string):

E1

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B2

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G3

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D4

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A5

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E6

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3—7—10—13—10—7

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______*_____—6—______/*___________________________

*I put the example time-value=sextuplets below the TAB.

** Try channeling a vintage Edward Van Halen vibe whilst tapping out these triadic-sextuplets!!! (In fact, the tapping-section of the classic-cadenza/solo by EVH called “Eruption,” is LOADED with major, minor, and diminished triads alike, and even includes a few inverted-chord arpeggios as well! Check it out some time!) 😉 🙂

Of course, if tapping is NOT your thing, and you’re more of a purest or whatever, then flatpicking or combining flatpicking with fretboard-legato techniques, is a great way to improve one’s concentration AND rapid position-shifting abilities! 😮 😎

Either way, best-of-luck, and I hope this helps someone! 😉

~Bill Meehan~

Hey Guys,

I just realized that unless you can use multi-finger tapping with your picking-hand, then the example I TABbed-out is a bit of a “tough-stretch!” Here’s another Gdom7 arpeggio arranged on a single-string (G-3 string) which is 2-octaves higher than the one I TABbed! This one should be WAY easier to execute while only requiring a single-digit/finger TAP with your picking-hand, OK?!?

(We’ll use Gdom7th on the G3-string):

_______ /********** 6 ***********
_______/****|*****|****|*****|*****
E1

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|

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|

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B2

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G3

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12—16—19—22—19—16

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D4

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A5

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E6

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*I used time-value=sextuplets as a playing-example above in the TAB.

I hope you guys find this to be a bit more reasonable/accessible to play!

Best of luck!

“Know your fretboard!!!”

~Bill Meehan~