March 28, 2021 by Klaus Crow
There are some exercises, licks or riffs you have learned early on in your life that you will never forget.
For me this gorgeous one octave arpeggio pattern over Cmaj7 is one of them.
When I first learned it I just thought it was beautiful. I would memorize it and try to play it as fast as I could.
Later on I figured out how to incorporate these arpeggios in my playing and they’re still part of my guitar improvisation vocabulary today.
It’s nice to practice this pattern over a Cmaj7 chord progression.
Spotify has great guitar backingtracks you can use for this.
You can try the sweep picking technique to make the pattern sound more fluent.
For the first bar (arpeggios 1 till 4) pick the first note with a downstroke and the next three with an upstroke. For the second bar (arpeggios 5 till 8) pick the first three notes with a downstroke and the fourth note with an upstroke.
Take the time you need to memorize the whole pattern. First learn to play it slow, clear and accurately. Speed comes second.
Enjoy the ride and have a wonderful day!
Cmaj7 ------- G7 --------- Dm7 ---------- Am7
e:--7--3-----------------------------------------------------|
B:--------5-------6--3---------------------------------------|
G:-----------5----------4-------5--2-------------------------|
D:-------------------------5----------3-------5--2-----------|
A:---------------------------------------5----------3--------|
E:-----------------------------------------------------5-----|
Bm7b5 ------- Em7 --------- Am7 --------- Dm7
e:--------------------------------------------------5--8-----|
B:------------------------------------5--8-------6-----------|
G:----------------------4--7-------5----------7--------------|
D:--------3--7-------5----------7----------------------------|
A:-----5----------7------------------------------------------|
E:--7--------------------------------------------------------|
Em7 --------- Bm7b5 --------- Fmaj7 ------- Cmaj7
e:--10--7----------------------------------------------------|
B:---------8-------10--6-------------------------------------|
G:------------9-----------7-------9--5-----------------------|
D:---------------------------9----------7-------9--5---------|
A:-----------------------------------------8----------7------|
E:-------------------------------------------------------8---|
Dm7 ---------- G7 ---------- Cmaj7 -------- Fmaj7
e:----------------------------------------------------8--12--|
B:-------------------------------------8--12------10---------|
G:-----------------------7--10------9---------10-------------|
D:---------7--10------9---------10---------------------------|
A:------8---------10-----------------------------------------|
E:--10-------------------------------------------------------|
G7 ------------ Dm7 ---------- Am7 --------- Em7
e:--13-10----------------------------------------------------|
B:---------12-------13-10------------------------------------|
G:-------------12---------10-------12-9----------------------|
D:---------------------------12---------10-------12-9--------|
A:-----------------------------------------12---------10-----|
E:-------------------------------------------------------12--|
Fmaj7 -------- Bm7b5 ---------- Em7 ------ Am7
e:-------------------------------------------------12-15-----|
B:-----------------------------------12-15------13-----------|
G:---------------------10-14------12---------14--------------|
D:-------10-14------12---------14----------------------------|
A:----12---------14------------------------------------------|
E:-13--------------------------------------------------------|
Bm7b5 ------ Fmaj7 -------- Cmaj7 ------- G7
e:-17-13-----------------------------------------------------|
B:-------15------17-13---------------------------------------|
G:----------16---------14------16-12-------------------------|
D:------------------------15---------14------15-12-----------|
A:--------------------------------------15---------14--------|
E:----------------------------------------------------15-----|
Am7 --------- Dm7 --------- G7 ---------- Cmaj7
e:-------------------------------------------------15-19-----|
B:-----------------------------------15-18------17-----------|
G:---------------------14-17------16---------17--------------|
D:-------14-17------15---------17----------------------------|
A:----15---------17------------------------------------------|
E:-17--------------------------------------------------------|
Dm7 -------- Am7 ---------- Em7 --------- Bm7b5
e:-20-17-----------------------------------------------------|
B:-------18------20-17---------------------------------------|
G:----------19---------17------19-16-------------------------|
D:------------------------19----------17------19-15----------|
A:---------------------------------------19---------17-------|
E:-----------------------------------------------------19----|
It would be immensely helpful for us beginners if you could attach a recording when you share one of these tabs. I’d love to hear what it’s supposed to sound like.
I couldn’t agree more. A recording would give something to play up to.
Hello Sir,
I’m a beginner and I really appreciate your lessons. I’m from Mauritius and whenever i get time, I practice a little bit on your tutorials. I agree with M. Roberts and blissinger. It would be great help if you could provide us a recording, to judge our practice routines.
Thanks for all Sir. Have a nice day.
Hi Klaus,
thank you for sharing this lesson . I found it very hepfull to master the arpeggios. I use it often as warming-up exercice (less boring than scales runnings). It’s a real dust buster too for the neck of my guitar ;-) .
Have a nice day sir.
Denis (Brittany west part of France)
Sheet music would be awesome, tabs are a pain to read.
I suppose there isn’t a time sig given because you just fire up the ol’ metronome and bang it out in quarter notes as quickly as is comfortable for you. If you find it too easy, do it faster.
Hearing what an exercise like this sounds like is a waste of time. Just play it… If you want to hear what this sounds like it would better serve you to play it against a Drone C base note. That way you can hear the root and then learn to feel the different tonalities against that root. This will help you way more then just hearing a guy play arps on the fretboard. That is an exercise in structural muscle building and brain training by repetitive motion but it does little to help your basic musicianship which is.. ear training against a root note.. Just my 2 pennys
@october storm
I have been playing guitar for the last 30 years, the last 18 years I have spent as a military musician. The argument of tab vs sheet music always comes about during a rehearsal. The winner in all the arguments is TAB with rhythmic dictation above it. Tab was the first form of written music for guitar. Traditional notation didnt come about for guitar until classical guitar started being taught in colleges.. For many years I have sat behind sheet music in Jazz bands, rock bands, jazz combos ect. Traditional notation is cumbersome and never gives the entire picture of what the part is doing. The biggest reason I have found for this is not in the notation but in the arranger and composers ability to notate the part. Many arrangers that I have had to DEAL with have no clue in the least how to notate a guitar part, especially with distortion, bends, wammy bar, blah blah blah. But when I show them how tab works every last one of them has a light bulb go off and they never present me with sheet music again its always tab with rhythmic dictation above.. Again thats my 2 pennys LOL