Major 7th Arpeggios Are More Versatile Than You Think 

Completely agree!

Agree 100%! I watch most of the videos many times over. I can't believe the guy doesn't have millions of subscribers, but he will.

Totally man

couldnt agree more, although there is so great teachers out there Mikes approach with layout and theoretical explanations far transcends the others in my opinion. This channel is God sent

Yea mam, I concur. This channel is the truth!

I'm humbled! Thanks for your time.

Thank you for your time. I definitely wanted to minimise the pause. I agree that fingers moving across the neck can be hard to follow. I also created a lesson page (link in description) to take things more slowly.

I want to keep the bulk of my content free and there will be more like this to come. Donations appreciated! bit.ly/2rFaTLE

He accepts and appreciates donations ;)

It depends on where the comparison is made but in general it's a similar concept.

Conveniently, it works over both G7 and Gsus. Both are common variants of V.

Ugh. Too long for this old fart 😊

I'm tempted to say try it out and hear it for yourself as this would be a great ear training exercise. Part of the aim of this lesson was to introduce the general concept of trying arpeggios over related chords in the key. Personally, I find none of the other 7th arpeggios from the key are quite as versatile as the maj7 of the tonic, but you can pick out some gems. They will work musically over some chords in the key, but others will sound a little awkward or forced. For example, the Dm7 arpeggio over C would create the sus4, so if C was being played as major, it would clash somewhat. But over F, it creates some natural colour (6 1 3 5, or an F6 sound). Specifically over G, Dm7 would create a suspended 4th/9th sound. So if the V was voiced as a 9sus4 (e.g. G9sus4) a Dm7 arpeggio would colour it nicely (5 b7 9 4). I can certainly do a lesson exploring all the most usable options. I'll be sure to add it to the upcoming Patreon poll for the next lesson!

@@fretjamdotcom Wow, how awesome of you to reply with more gems. I thought I’d just throw the question out into the fretjam community because to be honest, I’m playing along in my head without an instrument currently lol. But it’s channels like yours that are such a blessing for keeping me engaged. I’ll see you on your Patreon very soon. Thank you sir!

@@joegarcia2323 Really appreciate your input, Joe. Questions like yours help in giving me ideas for new content that I'm sure would help many others.

There's no 6th but it makes a nice outline for Dorian based licks.

@@fretjamdotcom thank you, I am still on going to learn modes and how to use them with a chord changing..can you give me recommendation video for me Sir ?

Sure, but be careful of that 4th created by the G. To my ears it would sound best descending so it pulls to the 3rd (F#).

fretjam ok I see now playing with the guitar a bit. Thanks!

Yes, but let your ears be the judge.

Cmaj7 contains both the 3 and 4 of G, so again this highlights its versatility, as you can hear it as the 4 resolving to 3 (G or G7) or the 3 leading to 4 (Gsus). I just thought it had a particularly nice effect over Gsus (Gsus9 to be exact) which is a common V voicing.

I see thank you for the quick response, as a side note I've been learning about the use of borrowed chords from Parallel modes recently and while I feel I have a decent grasp on the options available have you considered addressing this topic in a video? I'm sure you would cover some things that I've likely missed. Keep up the great work.

Yeh, I've had a few requests for something on modal interchange/borrowed chords. I touched on the concept of modes in parallel in this lesson: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-apqaZJ27biQ.html but there are a number of ways to approach it, so I will certainly revisit it.

First lesson on borrowed chords: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jJPeNYK6iGk.html

Both and both :) In Cmaj7, the triad is major and the 7th is major (1 3 5 7) In Cm7, the triad is minor and the 7th is minor (1 b3 5 b7) If there's just a 7 after the root (e.g. C7) then the triad is major and the 7th is minor (1 3 5 b7)

@@fretjamdotcom Thanks !

I just saw this comment and laughed at how true it is. You have good ears. Johnny Marr was not shy about using maj7. I bet your ears are even better after 3 years!

The #4 (or #11) is a natural colour tone of IV and can be related to the Lydian mode - the natural mode of IV. To be honest, I've never considered the #4 as a clash over M7 in any position, and it actually sounds quite sweet to my ears. Of course it is subjective, but it's standard to apply the #4 over the IV and this is within the diatonic function of IV. In scale terms, playing the tonic/root major scale over the IV (e.g. C major over Fmaj7) gives us: 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 (i.e. Lydian). So think of this tonic M7 arp over IV as a cut down expression of Lydian (2 #4 5 7).

They're standard maj7 patterns for guitar, though there are additional options on the lesson page. Nothing arbitrary about them.

fretjam there’s 64 ways to play a 2 octave triad arpeggio. It’s 100% arbitrary and it’s not correct. There’s better ways to do this. And if they’re standard then why make a video about it?

Of course there are more ways to play it, but I didn't want to go through every single variation, especially when it's the general sound and function I'm trying to familiarise people with. The patterns I chose are a good enough place to begin. Also, this video was about more than just patterns, it was about the situations in which they can be applied. I appreciate your input man, but you have to accept that in a 10 minute summary video there's going to be some compromise. People can always go more in depth and that's what the site is for.

We know there's 12 possible triads for any major / minor chord within a span of 12 frets: Regular voicing, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion on the strings e B G Regular voicing, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion on the strings B G D Regular voicing, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion on the strings G D A Regular voicing, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion on the strings D A E There are actually three arpeggios that contain all 12 triad shapes. Each arpeggio contains four complete but different triads. These three are the most valuable because 1) They contain all 12 triads and 2) You can use them as a roadmap to create any number of triads by combining two or more. One arpeggio contains: The regular voicing on the strings e B G The 2nd inversion on the strings B G D The 1st inversion on the strings G D A The Regular voicing on the strings D A E The next arpeggio contains: The 2nd inversion on the strings e B G The 1st inversion on the strings B G D The regular voicing on the strings G D A The 2nd inversion voicing on the strings D A E And the last arpeggio: The 1st inversion on the strings e B G The regular voicing on the strings B G D The 2nd inversion on the strings G D A The 1st inversion voicing on the strings D A E Like I said above, between these three separate arpeggios, you cover all twelve possible unique triad shapes. If this doesn't make sense I can create a picture.