What is an Arpeggio?

To be able to play arpeggios, one should first understand what arpeggios are.

Triads (Triad Arpeggios)

Arpeggios are individual chord tones played in a specific sequence. You can look up the chords on the guitar here.

I’ll provide an example with a C major chord.

In the first line, you can see the notes. Here, we have a C, E, G, C, E. We have 2 times C, 2 times E, and once a G ‘note.’

If we were to play these notes individually, we would have a strange sequence, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an arpeggio. On the other hand, it is challenging to play these notes individually since we still have open strings. (An open string is a played string that is not pressed by a finger, producing a ‘open’ sound.)

If we were to play the intervals consecutively, that is, root (R), third (3), fifth (5), we would need to modify the complete shape a bit.

In this example, we see the major arpeggio. We play a triad (like the C chord earlier), but in its correct order.

In this example, it’s a Bb major arpeggio (it doesn’t matter if it’s Bb, C, or E; you can shift the arpeggio accordingly). All the red notes are root notes. That means, in this case, ‘Bb’ (or in the European notation, B).

If you want the arpeggio on C, then slide the entire arpeggio to the 3rd fret.

All the blue notes are thirds. These determine whether the arpeggio or chord will be major or minor.

Lastly, all the green notes are fifths, the 5th tone of the scale.

If you now play them exactly in this order, you have the intervals -> 1 (root), 3 (third), 5 (fifth), 1, 3, 5, 1. In this case, the same notes (1, 3, 5) are played twice (not simultaneously!), but octaved and in the ‘correct’ sequence.

4-Note Arpeggio (7th arpeggios)

A 4-Note Arpeggio, or simply a 7th arpeggio, refers to arpeggios that have 4 notes instead of the 3 notes found in a 3-note/triad arpeggio.

In jazz songs, 7th chords are often used, and accordingly, we play 4-note arpeggios over these chords.

If you wanted to play 4-note arpeggios over 3-note chords, that’s possible too. The reverse is also true. However, understanding the theory in music is crucial. For a major chord, it could be Major7 or Dominant7, depending on the chord’s degree in the scale.

In this example, we can see a C Major 7 arpeggio. The intervals remain the same as in the major arpeggio, but we add an additional note, in this case, the 7th tone.

I’ve practiced 7 different patterns, all derived from the scale.

Depending on where you are on the fretboard, you should choose one. It doesn’t make sense, for example, to play one arpeggio in the 1st fret and the next one in the 8th fret. Therefore, there are different shapes or patterns that you can apply to always stay as close as possible to the previous one.

The Dominant 7 arpeggio differs by only one note from the Major 7 arpeggio. Specifically, the seventh (the 7th note on the major scale) is lowered by a half step. So, 7 becomes a -> b7.

Finally, let’s take a look at the Minor 7 arpeggio.

Perhaps someone has already noticed that the difference between Dominant 7 and Minor 7 is, again, only a single note. Specifically, the third (3). If you lower the third from 3 to b3, it becomes Minor.

The following arpeggios should be known, preferably in all 7 positions/shapes as well:

Arpeggio / Chord Formula

Maj7 = 1,3,5,7
Dom7 = 1,3,5,b7
Min7 = 1,b3,5,b7
Min7b5 = 1,b3,b5,b7
Dim7 = 1,b3,b5,bb7
MinMaj7 = 1,b3,5,7
Dom7sus4 = 1,4,5,b7
Maj7#5 = 1,3,#5,7
Maj7b5 = 1,3,b5,7
Dom7#5 = 1,3,#5,b7
Dom7b5 = 1,3,b5,b7

Remember to always start with Major 7. Afterward, figure out which intervals the ‘new’ arpeggio needs. For example, Minor7b5 -> 1, b3, b5, b7. Now try to derive everything from the Major 7 arpeggio.

The 1 (Root Note) remains the same. The 3rd note goes one fret lower, as well as the 5th and the 7th notes. This way, you can easily figure out each of these arpeggios. Of course, it takes time to memorize all these arpeggios, but once you have a good grasp of the first 2–3 arpeggios, it becomes easier to remember the next ones.

Permutations

Instead of always playing 1, 3, 5, you can also choose other sequences:

For triads:

• 135 / 153
• 315 / 351
• 513 / 531

For seventh chords:

• 1357 / 1375 / 1537 / 1573 / 1753 / 1735
• 3157 / 3175 / 3517 / 3571 / 3751 / 3715
• 5317 / 5371 / 5137 / 5173 / 5713 / 5731
• 7351 / 7315 / 7531 / 7513 / 7153 / 7135

The number of different combinations can be calculated using the factorial. If you have triads (3 notes), it’s 3! = 1*2*3 = 6 combinations. For seventh chords (4 notes per arpeggio), it would be 4! = 1*2*3*4 = 24 combinations, and so on.