Improvisation Tools - Part 2: Arpeggios
(23 Jan 03)
Exercises, Dim and Why Arpeggios
Exercises Using Chord Progressions
At this point would be a good idea to actually start working on commonly used chord progressions. Major 7, Minor 7, and Dominant 7 are the most important chords to create the harmonic context used in Pop/Rock/Jazz tunes.
Common diatonic chord progressions are:
IIm7 V7 Imaj7
Example in C major Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
Example in G major Am7 D7 Gmaj7
VIm7 IIm7 V7 Imaj7
Example in C major Am7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
Example in Bb major Gm7 Cm7 F7 Bbmaj7
IIIm7 VIm7 IIm7 V7 Imaj7
Example in C major Em7 Am7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
Example in Eb major Gm7 Cm7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7
Exercise 1: creating a continuous line
Here is an example of starting on the root of Dm7 in ascending direction:
Starting on the Fifth of Dm7 in descending direction:
Try the exercise by starting on all chord tones of the Dm7 chord.
Exercise 2: playing a specific combination of chord tones
This whole exercise is based on the idea to take different combinations of the four chord tones and play it throughout the chord progression.
As an example, here is the 1 3 5 7 combination.
or 1 5 3 7
This is a challenging exercise. It really forces you to think about what you are playing. Make up your own combinations. They don't have to start on the root.
If you are still with me and haven't trashed the article by now the next logical step is that you apply the exercises on the last two pages to real tunes. It's a great way to learn the overall sound of the chord progression.
Here are the 5 patterns for m7b5 and dim7 arpeggios to complete the fingerings for all chord families.
Monor b5 Arpeggios
Quick repeat: Minor7b5 = 1, b3, b5, b7, Cm7b5= c eb gb bb
Cm7b5 Voicing
Cm7b5 Arpeggio
Diminished 7 Arpeggios
Quick repeat: o7 = 1, b3, b5, o7, Co7= c eb gb a (bbb)
I have decided to not include the diminished fingerings for two reasons; firstly because you already have enough material to work on. The second reason is that they are a special case. As described in the article "7th Chords" each of the chord tones of a diminished chord can be the root; therefore there are only 3 different diminished arpeggios to include all 12 notes that can be the root. Don't bother with them for now! If you have worked through the other chord families and understand the way arpeggios are constructed you should be able to figure them out on your own.
Why Arpeggios and Chord Tones
"That's not fair! I worked through all this stuff and now you tell me what it is good for?!?" Well, not exactly. The thing is that I wanted you to work through this part because you need to get down the fundamentals of arpeggios.
Nowadays we are overwhelmed by information on how to improvise -- Guitar articles, interviews, Web Sites, books, videos, schools, CD Roms, etc. It gets very difficult for individuals to choose from this infoflood. "Steve Vai plays Dorian" and John Abercrombie says his improvisation is based on chromatic. In "Guitar Player" you see some altered licks and all together you have the feeling that the more you know and practice the more confused you become.
I was in this situation. Berklee was the worst and best experience at the same time. In the first semester I had a teacher that made me go through all modes and scales: "You got to know all your scales!" -- I practiced them. The second semester I told a teacher that I was interested in the style of Larry Carlton. "No problem. You have to learn Triads" -- I practiced them. This little game went on and on with the result that I felt my playing gets worse than worse. I stopped playing and started thinking. The result was that I threw away all influences and judged improvisation tools based to their importance to me. It looked something like this:
Scales: Nope -- too many notes -- tend to be played up and down.
Triads: Nope -- too few notes -- the sound of a 7th chord progression doesn't stand out
Pentatonic: Nope -- Great for playing over chord changes in Blues and Rock, but no good for playing through chord changes and examining what I'm doing.
Arpeggios: Yup -- made immediately sense, a few thoughts:
- Arpeggios are linear translations of chords. If i don't know how to play and hear these chords how can I think about adding any Tensions or playing outside.
- Arpeggios are technically challenging and their intervalic structure gives an interesting sound (to me).
- Arpeggios kept me away from playing over and over the same licks. It opened new views in terms of fingerings and musical ideas.
I then started to explore Arpeggios on the entire neck, practiced entirely to play with these chord tones. After a couple of months I found that this was the right way because I could hear and sing what I was playing. Now I could add specific tensions and set the other improvisation tools in relation to the frame that I built up with arpeggios.
What I'm getting at is that these are incredibly important considerations that you have to go through at some point. Whether you decide to focus on scales or pentatonics is irrelevant. What is key is that you go through this step, one which nobody can help you with, and focus on the thing that is the most important to you.
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