Jazz Guitar Arpeggio Practice

[omstor]

I am wondering if you guys have some good ways to practice arpegios (chord tones) . I am new to this chord tone arpeggio thing, but i know the basic stuff (play the different chord tones from the root), so i would like to get some advice from you on some practices i can do, so that i can use them in a musical setting! Thanks

[christianm77]

Start with 1 3 and 5 and go from there. Jordan Klemons has some really nice vids on YouTube.

Don’t practice arpeggios - practice chord tones. That means - keep it slow and pick a couple of notes per chord.

[omstor]

Thanks!!

[docbop]

Are you voicing leading the arps as you play them thru changes of a tune. In other words not going back to the root when the chord changes, but going to the nearest chord tone in the direction you're going (ascending/descending.) That really helps not only get the arp lines more musical, but requires you really know your chord spellings.

Are you doing these just based on one position, not expand do them over a range of the neck. Decide on a lowest fret and a highest to work within let say 2nd fret to 12th fret. You keep ascending until you reach the 12th fret once there change direction and start descending and don't change direction until you hit the 2nd fret. This is good to use cycles of II-V's or similar changes. As you get better expand the fret range.

Time to make it even harder expand the arpeggios out to the 13th be they major, minor, or dominant chords. Okay time to get serious start using altered dominants like b9, #5, and etc. With the altered note nailing the nearest chord tones really requires some mental skills.

Get through that you will know your chord spellings and the neck of your guitar really well.

[Jonathan0996]

Sheryl Bailey has a Bebop Essentials Dojo set of videos and materials on Truefire. It contains several excellent lessons on arpeggios, along with some good material on comping, phrasing, etc. Highly recommended.

Bebop Dojo: Essentials - Sheryl Bailey - TrueFire

[cosmic gumbo]

Take 3 5 R 7 through the cycle of 4ths.

[Reg]

here are some basics

[MarkRhodes]

In her book "Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards," Mimi Fox demonstrates such studies on four standards, "Summertime," "Night and Day," "All the Things You Are" and "Autumn Leaves." She suggests that it is good practice when learning any tune to be able to play through the changes this way (in various positions and registers). It's not the end of the line but it's a solid foundation to build on. (And it improves one's technique and fretboard knowledge.)

She also shows the 'grips' she uses for ten chord types (m7, M7, 7, m7b5, 7b9, M7#11, 7#5, and a couple others) in five positions each. (She never uses the term "CAGED", but her five positions for each chord dovetail with that approach, and also Jimmy Bruno's "five fingerings" approach.) Joe Pass once said of Mimi (who studied with him), "She can play anything I can play." This is the nuts and bolts of one part of that. A very important part.

Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards (Mel Bays Private Lessons): Mimi Fox: 9780786687718: Amazon.com: Books

[conchmusic]

Reg - I like the way the arpeggio position fingering sheets you posted are written out. Where did they come from? Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer. Thanks!

[DS71]

I knew lots of arpeggios and sweeps and different classical and rock stuff I'd done with arpeggios. But when I got serious about jazz, I took M7, Dom7, m7, and m7b5 across the neck and around the cycle everyday for months. I'm sure many here have done the same.

I don't do it anymore, but for a while I did 8th note studies through the standards I was working on. Steady swinging eight notes, straight through the changes of your tune-nonstop and always trying to reach for the nearest chord tone on the changes.

[don_oz]

Go up one arpeggio and down the other in a scale. In C major for ex. 1 3 5 (C, E, G), 5, 3, 1 ( A, F D) play it in 8th note triplets. Go all the way up one octave and then play them in reverse. Start by playing C down from 5, 3, 1 then up Bo 1, b3, b5.

4 note Arpeggios (8th notes): 1 3 5 7 (C, E, G, B), 7, 5, 3, 1 (C, A, F, D) and repeat on other chords alternating between up and down. Go all the way up the scale one octave then play them in reverse. Start with Cmaj7 coming down 7 5 3 1, then up Bm7b5 from 1 3 5 7.

Around cycle of fourths

[PMB]

As don_oz suggests, mix up scales with arpeggios. Maybe work various patterns in isolation before combining them. Here are a few outlines (including cosmic gumbo's 3 5 R 7) over the first eight bars of Autumn Leaves, one of the most celebrated cycle of 4ths chord sequences:

Follow docbop's advice of playing these outlines in all positions and you should see (or more importantly, hear) some results pretty quickly.

[don_oz]

Go up one arpeggio and down the other in a scale. In C major for ex. 1 3 5 (C, E, G), 5, 3, 1 ( A, F D) play it in 8th note triplets. Go all the way up one octave and then play them in reverse. Start by playing C down from 5, 3, 1 then up Bo 1, b3, b5.

4 note Arpeggios (8th notes): 1 3 5 7 (C, E, G, B), 7, 5, 3, 1 (C, A, F, D) and repeat on other chords alternating between up and down. Go all the way up the scale one octave then play them in reverse. Start with Cmaj7 coming down 7 5 3 1, then up Bm7b5 from 1 3 5 7.

Around cycle of fourths

Just to be clear in the key of C it would be like this:
Up the scale in triads (8th note triplets)
C E G
A F D
E G B
C A F
G B D
E C A
B D F
G E C

Down:
G E C
B D F
E C A
G B D
C F A
E G B
A F D
C E G

And repeat with chords (4 note Arpeggios with the 7ths added) played in 8th notes

[PMB]

Just to be clear in the key of C it would be like this:
Up the scale in triads (8th note triplets)
C E G
A F D
E G B
C A F
G B D
E C A
B D F
G E C

Down:
G E C
B D F
E C A
G B D
C F A
E G B
A F D
C E G

And repeat with chords (4 note Arpeggios with the 7ths added) played in 8th notes

... and here's a study played by countless classical and jazz musicians that extends this idea to include both arpeggios and scales: