Last semester I had a student come to me with a long list of audition material that

he had to put together in a very short time. Along with tunes, chord progressions
and the usual scale fingerings, he had to learn all of his arpeggio fingerings up
to the 13th.

He asked me what fingerings I would use to play each of these arpeggios, and after
thinking about it for a few minutes, I came up with an approach that would allow
him to use the triad and 4-note arpeggios fingerings he already knew, along with a
little bit of scale theory, to quickly and efficiently learn all of his 13th
arpeggios.

The approach is pretty simple from a technical and theoretical approach, which
makes it easy to learn, and it can be quickly applied to any chord you�re learning
once you get the theory down and the basic shapes under your fingers.

Here�s how it works, take any chord that you want to learn its arpeggio up to the
13th, for example G7.

Here are the notes of a G13 arpeggio:

G � B � D � F � A � C � E

Now, let�s break it down into a 4-note arpeggio and a triad one scale tone above
the root like so:

G � B � D � F = G7

A � C � E = Am

So G7 + Am = G13

Now, once you have the concept down, it�s time for the fun part, applying it to the
neck of the guitar. I�m a big fan of using shifting with my scale and arpeggio
fingerings, so you�ll apply that concept here as well.

If this is new to you, take a few minutes and work on the first example before
moving on to the others below.

Here is how I would finger a G7 arpeggio, starting on the 6th and 5th strings:

G7 Arpeggio

And here is the Am triad starting on the 4th and 3rd strings:
Am Triad

Now, you can combine these two small, easy to play shapes to for our G13 arpeggio
as such:

G13 Arpeggio: G7+Am

See how it works, pretty easy right?

You can take this approach and apply it to any chord that you want to learn, say
GMaj7(#11), which is Gmaj7+A.

Gmaj13#11 Arpeggio: Gmaj7+A

Or how about Gm7 (Gm7+Am):

Gm7 Arpeggio: Gm7+Am

Or even Gm7b5 (Gm7b5+Ab):

Gm7b5 Arpeggio: Gm7b5+Ab

Try some on your own now, maybe G Phrygian, or G7 (#11), just take the 4-note
chord, find the next triad in the scale and add them together to form your arpeggio
up to the 13th.

A good way to practice this approach is to play all of the chords in a scale up to
the 13th, which will not only help you visualize the shapes for each 13th chord,
but also help you learn the chords for each key and how they relate to each other.

Here are all the chords in a G Major scale up to the 13th, on the 6th and 5th
strings.
G Major Chord Scale Up to 13

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And here are those same arpeggios, but this time for the G Melodic Minor scale.

G Melodic Minor Chord Scale Up to 13

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You can also practice this approach through any tune that you�re learning. Just
start on the first chord, play the arpeggios up to the 13th, then move on to the
next chord and do the same thing. Once you can do this without stopping, try
improvising a solo using only the notes of each 13th arpeggio, this is a great way
to get the changes to any tune in your ears, hands and mind.

Arpeggios up to the 13th may sound daunting to learn, but they can be an essential
tool when learning how to play jazz guitar. Try this exercise out and see how it
feels, knowing these larger arpeggio shapes will definitely come in handy during
many playing situations, and develop your mental and physical dexterity at the same
time.