Diatonic 7th Arpeggios

We can use our knowledge of Diatonic Chords to quickly build a set of arpeggios. Let's try it!

Try playing through this now, like you would with an exercise. Take it from lowest to highest note, and then play it back down as well. As you work through it, say the name of the chord you're currently arpeggiating.

Once you're comfortable with this, try it in a different Major Key. Can you work out the names of the chords you're playing?

Of course, this can be done with other Scales as well. For example, here it is with the A Minor Scale.

This is a great way to gain familiarity with the many different arpeggio shapes that are possible on guitar, but it's worth pointing out that you can easily graft the Am7 and Bm7b5 shapes onto the shapes we learned with the Major Scale, as seen below.

Relative Keys are so handy!

This method is an extremely quick and easy way to find arpeggios to suit a chord progression, and works well for improvisation in a song with a lot of chords, or quick changes. 

You can also just treat this like a riff, and play it up or down the scale while improvising. This tends to have a classical or jazzy feel, and sounds quite elaborate and dramatic. Try it out!

This technique will improve your skills on multiple levels. It drills new arpeggio shapes while also helping you to memorize the names of the Diatonic Chords of a Scale. It's also a bit of a challenge to play, at first.

Remember that you can always fall back on this method to stay connected to the music you're improvising over.