Master The Four Arpeggios In 8 Steps
There are four important arpeggios to learn on the guitar, the min7, the maj7, the dom7, and the seemingly super awkward min7b5.
In the self-eliminating practice routine (S E P R) we master all these arpeggios in all CAGED shapes.
To achieve this we must put them through a series of steps. When you can play all the exercises of a step, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Complete all eight steps and you will know all four arpeggios, in all shapes, using any starting point.
This is useful should you want to know how to play, for example, a C-shaped Ebmaj7 arpeggio, without hesitating. This is an essential skill to have when improvising.
Min7 Arpeggios – Step 1
In this first step, we practice the min7 arpeggios in all CAGED shapes. This is easy if you know your minor pentatonic shapes.
Video lessons are available starting on an A. To complete this step, you must play starting on the remaining 11 notes as well.
Maj7 Arpeggios – Step 2
Let’s practice the maj7 arpeggios in all CAGED shapes. This is relatively easy as long as you know your CAGED maj7 chord shapes.
Video lessons are available starting on an A. To complete this step, you must play starting on the remaining 11 notes as well.
Dom7 Arpeggios – Step 3
In step 3, we practice the dom7 arpeggios in all CAGED shapes. This is easy if you have completed the previous step, the maj7 arpeggios.
Video lessons are available starting on an A. To complete this step, you must play starting on the remaining 11 notes as well.
Min7b5 Arpeggios – Step 4
The most difficult of the four is the min7b5 arpeggios, to learn it, we practice slowly in all CAGED shapes.
Video lessons are available starting on an A. To complete this step, you must play starting on the remaining 11 notes as well.
Connect all arpeggio shapes – Step 5
To ensure you really do know all your arpeggios, in this step we connect all arpeggio shapes by playing each shape twice, then move up to the next available shape.
To complete this step, you must practice all your min7, maj7, dom7, and min7b5 shapes like this, in all 12 keys.
Connect all arpeggio shapes once – Step 6
In this step, we connect all arpeggio shapes again, although now we play just once per shape, this will require muscle memory to achieve as the shapes go past so fast.
Video lessons demonstrate this for Am7, Amaj7, A7 as well as Am7b5. To complete the step, you must play in all 12 keys.
Arpeggios through the cycle of 4th – Step 7
To ensure you really do know all your arpeggios, in this step we put them through the cycle of 4th. This means we play Amaj7, Dmaj7, Gmaj7, Cmaj, Fmaj using the closest possible CAGED shape.
To complete this step, you must do the same to Dom7, Min7, and the peculiar Min7b5 as well.
Arpeggios and Ionian – Step 8
In this final step, we play all arpeggios around the Ionian CAGED shapes. This is easy if you can play all CAGED chords around the major scale.
Videos demonstrate this in the key of A. To complete this step and master the CAGED arpeggio shapes, you must practice in all keys.