Major Arpeggios on Guitar - Ultimate Roadmap

When playing over a major chord, major arpeggios will help to connect your solo to the
backing music. I often refer to arpeggios as the "skeleton" of your solo, fleshed out by
other movements and embellishments, such as scale phrases.

So if you were playing over E major, for example, an E major arpeggio would be
intrinsically connected to this chord. This gives you a strong melodic base for building
your solo around that chord.

First, watch the video presentation below for an overview. You can then find more help
further down this page...

 32 page printable PDF expands on this lesson

 Exercises for the most common chords & patterns
 Tabs with economy picking & fingering mapped on
 Chord backing tracks for more engaging practice

Basic Major Arpeggio Theory

Like major chords, the major arpeggio is made up of three key ingredients...

The root (1) - this is the note we use to name the chord/arpeggio (e.g. E major has
an E root. C major has a Croot).

The major 3rd (3) - this is the interval that gives the chord/arp its major sound.

The perfect 5th (5) - a more neutral sounding interval that is a part of every major chord.

Even if you're unsure what these interval names/numbers mean, you'll see how they
can be used to form repeating, movable patterns on the fretboard.

This means you don't have to know the individual notes of every arpeggio you play (e.g.
C major is C, E, G). Instead, you can memorise a few patterns and simply move them to
the appropriate root for the chord you're playing over.

In other words, spatial awareness of how one note relates to another, in any key and
over any chord, is a more efficient use of your practice time than trying to memorise
each individual note of every chord/arpeggio.
 Major Arpeggio Patterns
Let's start by building our patterns in the same way we would with scales.

Each pattern has its own root position(s), which will tell you where to position the
pattern for the chord you're playing over.

Use a metronome to build your speed and timing accuracy. I recommend increments of
5 BPM, only increasing the tempo when you're 100% confident with playing at the
current tempo.

Tip: You don't always have to play the entire pattern, from the lowest to highest string
(and vice versa). Try also isolating the top, middle and bottom part of the pattern.
A Note On "Rolling"

Some of the above patterns look challenging. And they are! But as demonstrated in the
video, you can use a technique called rolling to negotiate those "two/three strings, same
fret" sequential movements.

If we were moving up from 2nd to 1st string, fret the 2nd string as normal, with the tip of
your finger.

Collapse back the same finger until the 2nd string lifts off the fret and the pad of your
finger tip frets the 1st string.

Reverse the above sequence for moving down the strings.

Rolling is an advanced technique that takes some time to master. Keep persevering
with it and have patience.

Practice moving between just two strings like this, with each finger, until you get it. It's a
hugely valuable skill to have under your fingers!

The Major Arpeggio Roadmap

Here, we string together the patterns from above to create one large neck-wide pattern.
Remember, the sequence of patterns remains exactly the same for any chord. The only
difference is where we position the root of the patterns in relation to the chord we're
playing over.

A few examples coming up. See if you can spot the earlier "box" patterns sequenced
within the larger roadmap...

C Major

So all the roots (1) are on the note C.

A Major

All the roots are on A.

E Major

All the roots are on... yep, E!

So this sequence of patterns is like a "conveyor belt" that moves with the root of the
chord you're playing over.

Try and continue the sequence beyond the 12th fret.

Tip: you can also see how the arpeggio forms on each individual string. Sometimes you
might want to play them like this (e.g. for pedal notes).

Connecting The Patterns

Often you'll just play arpeggios in their box patterns from earlier. But we can also use
the connection of these patterns, through the roadmaps above, to span larger areas of
the neck.

This is useful if you want to jump between positions freely and create smoother,
seamless phrases up and down the neck. This will be especially useful when we come
to combining arpeggios with scales further down the line.

As demonstrated in the video, you'll need to use slides in some situations, in order to
correctly position yourself at the next fret. But this has a welcome side-effect of giving
your movements more fluidity and feeling.

In other situations, you'll be challenged to make large fret jumps. This is valuable
practice for targeting the correct fret accurately and cleanly.
In other words, these kinds of movements give you more freedom to go where you want
on the neck, rather than being constrained within a 5 or 6 fret radius, as so many
players get stuck in.

Connected Pattern 1

Connected Pattern 2

Keep Practicing

When you have the individual patterns memorised, continue to practice linking them
together in different ways. Challenge yourself! You can use my blank fretboard
diagrams to mark on your own sequences.
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Eventually, the roadmap (the sequence of arpeggio patterns) will become internalised,
which means you'll be able to keep your bearings no matter where you are on the
fretboard.

Later, we'll learn how to connect these arpeggio patterns with related scales. To have
these three important tones covered (1, 3, 5), means you'll find it far easier to form
melodic phrases across the neck.
 Minor Arpeggios on Guitar
If you've been through the major arpeggios lesson, there's actually not that much
more you need to learn to master their minor counterparts.

Just as major arpeggios use the major triad intervals - 1 3 5 - minor arpeggios
use the minor triad...

Root (1) - minor 3rd (b3) - 5th (5)

The minor 3rd is one semitone lower than the major 3rd. What this means is,
rather than learning minor arpeggio patterns from scratch, all you need to do is
flatten the 3rd in the major arpeggio patterns by one fret position to get your
minor arp.

For example, taking this major pattern...

We can turn it into a minor arpeggio by simply flattening the 3rd...

The root and 5th are part of both major and minor scales and chords, and
therefore arpeggios!

So, let's just have a review of the patterns from the last part to see how this new
minor 3rd interval alters them. Remember, you can get a more comprehensive,
interactive guide to arpeggio patterns using Guitar Notes Master.

Minor arpeggio patterns

So we've only changed one tone in these patterns from the major arpeggios -
the b3. Test your co-ordination of this by switching between major and minor
arps in the same position.

E string root minor arpeggio patterns

A string root minor arpeggio patterns

D string root minor arpeggio patterns

As mentioned in the last part, you don't always need to start on that root string in
each pattern. These are just for reference. If a soloing phrase leads into the b3,
for example, you can continue the arpeggio from that point in whatever way you
wish. Learn the patterns by heart and keep your options open.
Once you've learned these patterns, it's time to work on linking them together,
like we did in the key of G last time (R b35)

Remember, the 12th fret notes are the same as the open string notes, so the
pattern is the same from the 12th as it is from open position.

You can break this and other patterns down, apply them in any key and generate
bespoke exercises using this software.

Minor arpeggio guitar backing tracks

We're just going to take it easy, like in the last part, and explore the patterns
we've learned over the minor backing tracks below. Don't worry about speed or
soloing prowess! Just focus on getting confident with the fingering for these
patterns. You can always build up your speed using a metronome.

The first is in the key of A minor (which means the root note of our patterns will
be on the note... A)

Download the A minor backing track

The second is in the key of Eb (E flat) minor (which means the root note will be
on the note... Eb)

Download the Eb minor backing track

Have a play around. Once you're happy with your progress, it's time to move on
to the next stage - 7th arpeggios.
 7th Arpeggios on Guitar
Just like 7th chords, 7th arpeggios contain four notes. All we're doing is adding
an extra note to the major and minor triads (3 notes) we learned previously. This
provides us with a fuller arpeggio sound that can be used to extend the basic
major or minor sounds.

This lesson will add to what we learned in the guitar arpeggios series (so make
sure you're confident with the lessons before this one).

As we're simply adding to the major and minor triad forms we learned in the other
parts, we don't have to learn new arpeggio fingerings from scratch. We may just
have to alter them slightly to accomodate this new 7th interval.

So, there are different types of 7th chord and their arpeggio equivalents use
exactly the same intervals/tones. Where there's a chord, there's an arpeggio.

Major 7th arpeggio patterns

Root (1) - major 3rd (3) - 5th (5) - major 7th (7)

The major 7th tone lies one semitone (one fret) down from the root. So, wherever
our root note is, we know the major 7th will sit just below it!

Major 7th arpeggios can be played over major 7th chords or regular major triad
chords. For now, just play the arpeggios and get to know the sound they create.
E/D string root patterns

A string root patterns

Dominant 7th arpeggio patterns

Root (1) - major 3rd (3) - 5th (5) - flat 7th (b7)

When you've learned the major 7th patterns, for dominant 7th all you need to do
is move the 7th down one semitone/fret. As a result, this is known as a flat
7th or minor 7th (b7).

Dominant seventh arpeggios can be played over... yes you guessed it - dominant
7th chords or regular major triad chords (chords without any 7th).

Remember, you don't have to start these patterns on the lowest root string. You
can use any part of the pattern to create, for example, smaller 2 and 3 string
patterns.

E/D string root patterns

A string root patterns
Minor 7th arpeggio patterns

Root (1) - minor 3rd (b3) - 5th (5) - flat 7th (b7)
Similar concept to above, but this time the flat 7th is built on the minor triad
patterns we learned previously.

Minor 7th arpeggios can therefore be played over minor 7th chords or used to
extend regular minor triad chords (which don't use the 7th).

E/D string root patterns

A string root patterns

D string root patterns

Now you know the main arpeggio patterns, try applying them over the different
7th chords you come across. Use them as lead-ins to larger scale phrases.
Arpeggios are great for "connecting" lead phrases and because they only include
the main chord intervals, they can help put any larger phrases and passing tones
into context.

Remember, you don't have to use the 5 and 6 string arp patterns. even just
repeating 2 or 3 string arps can give your solos enough flavour. We'll look at
inventive ways to apply arpeggios in your solos in another part. For now, just
work on getting physically comfortable with playing these patterns in part and full.