A guitar arpeggio is the notes of a chord played one at a time instead of all together. For G major that’s G, B and D, the 1, 3 and 5. Arpeggios matter because chord tones are the strongest notes over each chord, so in a solo they make your lines follow the song, not just the key.
When I started playing guitar I felt really stuck, especially when I tried to solo. I thought scales would save me. Sometimes they did, but I kept playing the same positions over and over again. Arpeggios were a huge thing I came to understand. I went to a Tom Misch concert in Brooklyn, it was a beautiful show, and I fell in love with his song Movie. This lesson goes through seven levels of arpeggios built around that song, and it ends with a solo over it.
What are guitar arpeggios?
An arpeggio is a chord’s notes played one by one. Take G major: we’re playing the notes in the chord, 1, 3, 5, literally repeated. Three notes like that make a triad.
This is very helpful because when I’m playing a song and I can articulate the notes inside each chord, those notes are centers of tension and gravity. Over Movie you could just rip on E minor pentatonic, and that works, because E minor is the center. But when great artists solo, they use the pentatonic, which is a beautiful scale, and they also pay attention to the chords. That’s where arpeggios come in.
When we’re soloing we are connecting scales, but the chord tones are really the core truth of how the chords sound.
Rotem Sivan
If I have F major 7 and I understand that’s the sound of the chord, I can move around it with pentatonic or the major scale. I can use all these things, but understanding and hearing those chord tones, that’s what’s up. If triads are new to you, my post on guitar triads is a good place to start.
Levels 1 and 2: a G major triad, then add the 7th
Start with a plain G major triad arpeggio, slowly, then add one note, the major 7, to get G major 7.
- Level 1: the G major triad. Play G major really slowly and check out the sound. Make sure you know what you’re doing, because when you know, you can hear it, understand it, and change or add notes, which is really awesome.
- Level 2: add the major 7. The added note is F sharp, so the arpeggio becomes 1, 3, 5, 7: G, B, D, F sharp. For me it sounds super lush and super beautiful, and it’s a color we can totally use on this song. Listen to how the F sharp works as a leading tone into G.
Levels 3 and 4: from the fifth string and across three octaves
Next, play the same idea from the fifth string, then stretch one shape across three octaves so you see more of the fingerboard.
- Level 3: C major from the fifth string. Play it over two octaves, C, E, G, C, E, G, C, thinking about the notes and singing them. Then do the same with C major 7. Try different fingerings. Sometimes I’ll slide and sometimes I won’t. A slide can be a nice sound, but when you’re playing on the faster side, using the same finger again could slow you down, so make sure you can play the arpeggio more than one way.
- Level 4: three octaves. Everything so far stays in one area of the neck. Look at a piano and there’s a lot of space, and on guitar we have a lot of space too. One of the things I love doing is playing three-octave arpeggios, so take the G major shape and play it across three octaves. It’s super helpful for seeing the fingerboard, and seeing it lets you spot your options when you solo.
The cool thing with guitar is that once you know shapes from the fifth and sixth strings, and you connect each one to its center, you can move them. Slide that G shape and you have C major or F major. Once we know the shapes, we can move them around and get the sounds, which makes things a little easier sometimes.
Levels 5 and 6: minor arpeggios and inversions
To get a minor arpeggio, lower the 3rd of the major one. To fit a slash chord like D over F sharp, start the arpeggio from the note in the bass.
- Level 5: turn major into minor. Movie has an E minor and an E minor sus, but so far we’ve only played major chords. Take C major from the fifth string and adjust it. If you know the notes are 1, 3, 5, C, E, G, then instead of E you play E flat. That’s such a big difference. Now it’s 1, flat 3, 5, and that’s C minor. That’s the power of knowing what we’re doing.
- Level 6: inversions. The song goes from G major 7 to D over F sharp, and over that second chord I want to hear the F sharp in the bass. So far we’ve played arpeggios from the root, but not an inversion. D major is only three notes, D, F sharp and A. So I simply start from F sharp, go to A, and I’m back in the position I know.
This is where understanding and hearing the notes, and then finding the fingerings, really, really helps.
How do you use arpeggios in a solo?
Keep your scale as home base and highlight the triads of the chords as they go by. That’s level 7: a solo over Movie using a lot of triads.
I’m still thinking about the center, E minor pentatonic, but I’m really highlighting most of the triads of the chords. The song moves through G major 7, D over F sharp, F major 7 and E minor. At one point I play a pentatonic idea over G major, something like G major pentatonic, and then hit B to D, which is part of the G triad. The reason I promote understanding the triad is that triads are the centers. They’re very strong gravity points in the song.
Here’s a practice idea for today. Take the G major 7 to D over F sharp move from the song. Play the G major 7 arpeggio slowly and sing it. Then play D major starting from F sharp, so you can hear that bass note. Once both feel easy, loop the two chords and improvise with E minor pentatonic, but each time a chord arrives, land on one of its triad notes. If you want to build triads into your hands one step at a time, Triads Workshop covers major and minor from the 6th and 5th strings, permutations, every triad in the key, C major triads in five positions, and open triads.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between a triad and an arpeggio?
A triad is a three-note chord: the root, 3rd and 5th. An arpeggio is any chord’s notes played one at a time. Play a triad’s notes one by one and you have a triad arpeggio, like G, B and D for G major. Add the major 7 and you get a four-note G major 7 arpeggio.
How do you turn a major arpeggio into a minor one?
Lower the 3rd by a half step. C major is C, E and G. Change the E to E flat and you have C minor: 1, flat 3, 5. Knowing the notes inside your shape is what makes that quick change possible.
Should I slide between notes when playing arpeggios?
It depends. A slide can be a nice sound, but be able to play each arpeggio with different fingerings too. When you’re playing on the faster side, using the same finger again could slow you down.
Can I mix pentatonic scales and arpeggios in a solo?
Yes. Over Tom Misch’s Movie, I keep E minor pentatonic as the center and highlight most of the triads of the chords. Over G major I play a pentatonic idea, then hit B and D, notes from the G major triad. The chord tones act as strong gravity points.
Pick one chord from a song you love tonight and play its arpeggio in three octaves before you solo over it. When you’re ready to go from triads to full 7th chords, Jazz Chord Essentials shows how a 7th chord is built and the four main colors: major 7, dominant 7, minor 7 and half diminished.
