Arpeggios part 3.

By Morten Gjermundsen (trollstjerne@yahoo.no)

In this lesson i will show you a few arpeggios using Seventh chords.The chords we will use are Major Seventh,Dominant Seventh,Minor Seventh and Minor Seventh Flat Five. We will use the C major scale to build these arpeggios.

The first thing we have to do is have a look at the Major scale.The C major scale is

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

To hear how the C Major scale sound like click here Now if we take the 1 3 5 and 7 from this scale we get notes C - E - G - B.If you play these four notes together at the same time youŽll have a Major Seventh chord.If you play these notes one after another youŽll have an C Major Seventh arpeggio.

Listen 

||----------------------||
||----------------------||
||-----------4----------||
||-----2--5-------------||
||--3-------------------||
 ||----------------------||
To create a C Dominant Seventh arpeggio we just lower the 7 note one semi tone (half step).So then we have the notes C - E - G - Bb ( 1 3 5 b7 ).

Listen 

||----------------------||
||----------------------||
||-----------3----------||
||-----2--5-------------||
||--3-------------------||
||----------------------||
The next we will look at is the Minor Seventh arpeggio.To form an Minor seventh arpeggio you take the 1 3 5 7 from the Major scale and lower the 3 and 7.If you do that youŽll get 1 b3 5 b7.The notes will be C - Eb - G - Bb.

Listen 

||----------------------||
||----------------------||
||-----------3----------||
||--------5-------------||
||--3--6----------------||
||----------------------||
The last arpeggio we will look at is the Minor seventh Flat Five chord.Like the other example we will also here use the C Major scale.To form this chord we take take the 1 3 5 7 from the Major scale and lower the 3 5 and 7.Then we will get 1 b3 b5 b7 (Root,Min 3rd,Dim 5th,min 7th).The notes will then be C - Eb - Gb - Bb.

Listen 

||----------------------||
||----------------------||
||-----------3----------||
||--------4-------------||
||--3--6----------------||
||----------------------||

After learning these arpeggios.Learn them in all 12 keys.In this lesson i used the C Major as an example.To play these arpeggios in another key just do what i did.For example to form an A Minor seventh arpeggio you take the 1 3 5 7 from the A Major scale and lower the 3 and 7.Before we end this lesson i will show you some arpeggios derrived from the Major scale.In this example we take the C major scale ( C D E F G A B C ) and take the 1 3 5 and 7 to form an Major 7th (Maj7) arpeggio.If we take the same scale but start on the second note ( D ) we get D E F G A B C D.Now take the 1 3 5 7 and you have a D Minor Seventh (Dmin7).If we begin at the 3rd note we get E F G A B C D E.Now take the 1 3 5 7 (E G B D) and youŽll have a E Minor 7th (Emin7).Starting on the 4th note we have F G A B C D E F.If you now take the 1 3 5 7 (F A C E ) from this you get an F Major 7th (FMaj7).If you begin the C Major scale on the 5th note you get G A B C D E F G.Take the 1 3 5 7 here and you have a G Dominant 7th (G7).If youŽre starting from A you have A B C D E F G A.Take the 1 3 5 7 and youŽll have a A minor 7th (Amin7).If you start the C Major scale from B you get B C D E F G A B.taking the 1 3 5 7 here and you get B minor 7th Flat Five (Bmin7-5).Then itŽs back to C again.

Listen and if you want you can use this Backing track. 

                                                 
||--------------------------|------------------|
||--------------------------|------------------|
||-----------------2--4--5--|------------------|
||--------2--3--5-----------|------------------|
||--3--5--------------------|------------------|
||--------------------------|------------------|


                                              
----------------------|-----------------------|
----------------------|-----------------------|
--------4--5----------|-----------5-----------|
-----2----------------|--------7--------------|
--3-------------------|--5--8-----------------|
----------------------|-----------------------|


                                                
-----------------------|------------------------|
-----------------------|------------------------|
------------7----------|------------9-----------|
---------9-------------|-----7--10--------------|
--7--10----------------|--8---------------------|
-----------------------|------------------------|


                                                    
------------------------|---------------------------|
------------------------|---------------------------|
---------7--10----------|--------------112----------|
------9-----------------|----------14---------------|
--10--------------------|--12--15-------------------|
------------------------|---------------------------|


                                                 
--------------------------|---------------------||
--------------------------|---------------------||
--------------14----------|---------------------||
------12--15--------------|---------------------||
--14----------------------|--15-----------------||
--------------------------|---------------------||
Remember to practice these arpeggios in all keys.And try to use them in your songs to get the most out of this lesson.ThatŽs all for now.Hope you enjoyed this lesson as much as i did writing it.And that you learnt something new you can use in your playing.Happy practicing.

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