I hope your fingerboard familiarity is coming together! Let’s turn our focus now to arpeggios.

An arpeggio is essentially a chord played one note at a time, usually (but not necessarily) from the lowest note upwards. Harmonically speaking, the terms arpeggio and chord can be considered synonymous in practical application. Let me clarify...

Major 7

Start on the root and play every other note of the C major scale:

1 (skip the 2), 3 (skip the 4), 5 (skip the 6) and 7.

Those notes (C, E, G and B) or intervals (1, 3, 5 and 7) would be the notes contained in the C major 7 (CM7) chord. If those notes were strummed, it would be a CM7 chord. If they were played one note at a time (one after the other in an ascending, ascending/descending, descending, etc., manner), it would be a CM7 arpeggio.

Although it’s certainly possible to play chords on a bass, the vast majority of our time is spent playing monophonically (one note at a time). Consequently, when your keyboardist or guitarist refers to a particular section of the tune with this chord or that, simply replace the word chord with arpeggio. Harmonically...we’re talking about the same notes!

The exceedingly valuable thing about the major 7 (M7) arpeggio is that any note of that arpeggio will work any time you encounter a M7 chord (and frequently major, major 9, etc...more on that in our pending discussion of modes). Notice that I didn’t use “generally speaking” or place any other conditions on that statement?

If you consider it for a moment, it might seem a bit obvious: one could reasonably presume to safely play any individual note of a particular chord over that chord. But how often do we bassists get apprehensive about playing anything other than the root (or its octave!) over a chord, especially when the arrangement contains a few harmonic twists? Regardless of whether a tune is in the key of E, Gb or Z# (ha!), if you encounter an AM7 chord, you can always use notes in the AM7 arpeggio (which offers a pretty broad palette of notes, when you consider that the arpeggio can be extended over the entire 3+ octave range of your bass). It’s when we get into the non-chord tones (i.e. playing other scale degrees over chords) that the role of that chord relative to the key becomes important. Again, more on that when we get to modes.

EXERCISE 1

Memorize these two forms for the CM7 arpeggio. Practicing them both ascending and descending, in quarter notes: (1, 3, 5, 7, 7, 5, 3, 1). Use 1-finger-per-fret fingerings consistent with that which you employed on the major scale.

Once you’re comfortable with this, play them in all 12 keys. Just like our scales, these arpeggio forms can be transposed simply by moving the entire pattern to a new root note (an AM7 arpeggio is this same pattern, relocated such that the “1" is on A).

Minor 7

Let’s now play every other note of the natural minor scale (refer back to Lesson 4 if necessary):

1 (skip the 2), b3 (skip the 4), 5 (skip the b6), b7.

Those notes (C, Eb, G & Bb) or intervals (1, b3, 5, b7) would be the notes contained in the C minor 7 (C-7 or Cm7) chord. Again, strum those notes to play the chord, or play them one at a time sequentially to play the arpeggio.

Any time you encounter a m7 chord (-7, -9, etc.), notes from this arpeggio can be used in your bass line. If you see a G-7 chord on a chart, you can play the notes in a G-7 arpeggio (without regard to the function of that G-7 relative to the key) and it’ll work fine. Again, it’s with the non-chord (“in-between” notes) that the key and modes become relevant.

EXERCISE 2

Memorize these two forms of the C-7 arpeggio. Similar to the previous exercise, practice them both ascending & descending, in quarter notes (1, b3, 5, b7, b7, 5, b3, 1). Use consistent 1-finger-per-fret fingerings.

Once you’re moving along reasonably well, play them in all 12 keys, transposing them all over the fingerboard.

Dominant 7

Lastly, a dominant 7 chord can be derived by playing every other note in the Mixolydian mode (see Lesson 5). So that would be:

1 (skip the 2), 3 (skip the 4), 5 (skip the 6), and b7.

You can use the notes in a dominant 7 arpeggio any time you encounter a dominant 7 chord (C7, A7, G7, etc.).

IMPORTANT: This is one of the most frequently-encountered clams played by novice musicians! The usual thought process goes something like this:

“A7...ok, I’ll play the A...and I suppose I can play the octave, too...and I can usually play the 5th, to I guess I’ll try that one, too...ALRIGHT....so far so good...hmmm....well, I guess I can play the 7th - after all, it IS an A7 chord...”

But as we just covered, the dominant 7 chord calls for a flat 7th (b7)!! Please don’t find yourself being a contributor to this ongoing trampling of dominant 7 chords! ha

EXERCISE 3

Do the same drill as above, but now with the appropriate intervals for the dominant 7 arpeggio (1, 3, 5, b7).

Transpose to all 12 keys.