Arpeggio Applications

Lesson 1 - Major Sounds

Sample - Lesson 1

Lyle: Before you start these lessons, you need to know the resulting chords of the harmonized major scale:

G major scale and chords

Lyle: By stacking the notes of the major scale in thirds (every other note) the resulting chord types are:

G major scale harmonized in 3rds

Gmaj7  Am7  Bm7  Cmaj7  D7  Em7  F#m7b5
    I          ii       iii        IV      V     vi       vii

I & IV = Major 7
ii, iii, vi = Minor 7
V = Dominant 7
vii = Minor 7b5

Lyle: You only need to learn 4 kinds of arpeggios to accommodate chords resulting from the harmonized major scale: Major 7, Minor 7, Dominant 7, and Minor 7b5.

Gmaj7 arpeggios

Lyle: There are many other ways to play these arpeggios, I'm just going to show you a couple for each chord type.

Gm7 arpeggios

G7 arpeggios

Gm7b5 arpeggios

Lyle: Now you'll learn ways to create other major chord sounds by applying different chord arpeggios over the single Gmaj7 chord.

G Major Scale - Ionian

Lyle: Here's a jam track you'll be working with, it's in G major, using a Gmaj7 chord:

Jam Track in G Major

Lyle: For those of you wondering, this is how I'm playing the rhythm riff:

rhythm riff for jam track

rhythm riff for jam track

Lyle: If you play a Gmaj7 arpeggio over the Gmaj7 chord, you'll simply get the Gmaj7 sound.

G, B, D, F# - Notes of the Gmaj7 arpeggio
1,  3,  5,  7  -  Notes compared to a G chord

Gmaj7 sound example

Lyle: Now the fun begins. If you play a Minor 7 arpeggio up a Major 3rd from the root of the chord you'll get a Major 9 chord sound.

Lyle: Bm7 arpeggio against the Gmaj7 chord = Gmaj9 sound

B, D, F#, A = Notes of the Bm7 arpeggio
3,  5,  7,  9 = Notes compared to a G chord

Gmaj9 sound example

gpg: What makes the maj 9?

Lyle: 1-3-5-7-9

Lyle: 2=9, 4=11, 6=13

gpg: So the A is the 2 in maj and b7 in Bmin?

Lyle: Yes, A is the 2/9 in G. A is the b7 in Bm7

Lyle: If you play another Minor 7 arpeggio down a Minor 3rd (the relative minor) from the major chord you'll get a Major 6 sound.

E, G, B, D = Notes of the Am7 arpeggio
6, 1,  3,  5 = Notes compared to the G chord

G6 sound example

Lyle: Listen close to this next TAB. It has the chord sounds matching the arpeggio substitutions we just went over:

major chord sound examples

Lyle: You'll hear how each new arpeggio fits each new chord sound.

Lyle: Check out this solo example that uses these arpeggios:

solo 1

solo 1

Lyle: Here's another example using different arpeggio patterns:

solo 2

solo 2

Lyle: Another cool way to create a major sound is to play a Minor 7b5 arpeggio a flatted 5th above the major chord and you'll get a major blues type of sound.

solo 3

solo 3

Db, E, G, B = Notes of the Dbm7b5 chord
b5,  6,  1, 3 = Notes compared to a G chord

gpg: You are playing a Db over a Gmaj7?

Lyle: That is a Dbm7b5 arpeggio over the Gmaj7 chord, yes.

Lyle: The Db note is the flatted 5th in G, also known as the blues note.

Lyle: 1, b3, b5, b7 = Minor 7b5 chord formula.

Lyle: I used a clean sound for these examples but you don't have to stick with a clean sound. Notice that I used an overdrive sound for the Lesson Sample at the top of the lesson where I played these same solo examples.

Lyle: That's all for this session. You need time to train your fingers and get them to memorize these arpeggio patterns.