5 Extended Jazz Guitar Arpeggio Exercises | MattWarnockGuitar.com ...

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As you take lessons and continue your journey of learning how to play jazz guitar, youre told about the
importance of knowing your arpeggios inside and out, as well as being able to run them through changes to
create improvised lines and solos.

But what do you do when you can run all of the arpeggios up and down for any tune you know, as well
as use them in an improvised context?
The answer just might be to start checking out extended jazz guitar arpeggios, those that move beyond
the first octave, 1-3-5-7, fingerings that many of us already know.

Extended jazz guitar arpeggios are those that go beyond the typical 1-3-5-7 shapes that we normally
study in the the practice room.
For example, a normal Cmaj7 arpeggio would be:

C-E-G-B or 1-3-5-7

The extended jazz guitar arpeggio would take you beyond the 7th, to include the 9th, 11th (in this
case the #11) and 13th like so:

C-E-G-B-D-F#-A or 1-3-5-7-9-#11-13

Being able to play extended jazz guitar arpeggios is a great way to outline chords while at the same
time stepping beyond the first octave of the chord and out into the upper extensions, 9-11-13.
You can learn more about these ideas in my in-depth article Extended Jazz Guitar Arpeggios.

So how do we do this?
Well, you could just find the notes that make up the 9th, 11th and 13th for any chord youre working,
such as maj7, 7, m7 or mMaj7, but that might take too much time or produce awkward fingerings.

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pair it with a simple, three-note triad that you already know, and voila, instant extended arpeggio.
You can see how this works in the following example:

Cmaj7 up to the 13th is Cmaj7+D triad

or
C-E-G-B + D-F#-A

So you havent learned anything new, just took two things you already knew and combined them to
form a new concept.
Here is a basic chart for figuring out the extended jazz guitar arpeggios for common chords:

Maj7 = maj7+M triad a tone higher (produces a Lydian sound)

7 = 7th+M triad a tone higher (produces a 7#11 sound)
m7 = m7+m triad a tone higher
m7b5 = m7b5+M triad a semi-tone higher
mMaj7 = mMaj7+m triad a tone higher

Once youve checked out extending jazz guitar arpeggios for these common voicings you can come
up with your own for any chord or arpeggio that you want to explore such as Maj7(#5), 7(b13), 7(b9)
and many more.

Pick a tune
Play the ascending extended arpeggios for each chord
Play the descending extended jazz guitar arpeggios for each chord
Play the ascending extended arpeggio for the first chord, then descending for the second and
continue
Reverse the previous idea so you start on a descending extended arpeggio
Improvise on the tune using only extended jazz guitar arpeggios

Being able to solo with chord tones, either arpeggios or extended arpeggios, is an important tool in
any jazz guitarists bag of tricks.

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triad on top of these fingerings.

It will allow you to keep the sound of the chord in your melodic ideas while expanding your tonal
options at the same time.

Purchase the 30 Days to Better Jazz Guitar Ebook with 20 pages of extra material and 5 never before
published bonus lessons!
Return to the Play Better Jazz Guitar in 30 Days Homepage

Do you have a favorite way to practice Extended Jazz Guitar Arpeggios? Share it in the Extended
Arpeggios thread at the MWG Forum.

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1. Tim Ferris, August 7, 2011:

Hi Matt!
Just want to take a minute to drop you a line to thank you, for not only this lesson, but all of the
others as well. The lessons are so simple, logical, and easy to relate to what I already know. I
check in everyday. Thank you!
2. Matt Warnock, August 7, 2011:
Glad you dig the article and the site Tim, thanks for the kind words, lots more lessons to come!
Thanks for the support.
3. Larry, May 8, 2013:
Hi Matt,
The lesson is very very useful !!!! I also find that if I use the 1st 3 notes as triad instead of last 3
notes, under the below example, I can also locate Fmaj7 under the same pattern.
Origin : G B D F / A C E
GBD/FACE
Best Regards+++++
Larry

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