[Drew]

Seven String Sweep Arpeggio Patterns: Part 1

One of the biggest advantages a seven string guitar has over a six is its ability to cover a greater range in a given fretboard position, an advantage that is perhaps best shown by playing sweep arpeggios. The extended range of the seven string neck allows you to squeeze out a bit of extra intervallic space without moving around on the neck, which translates into speed. And speed, if nothing else, is fun. So, here are some fixed position seven string sweep patterns for the four primary chord types and their inversions. These are by no means definitive, so don't be afraid to experiment with other fingerings, but if seven string arpeggios are new to you (or if you're thinking about buying a seven but don't know what you could do with it that you couldn't do with a six), they're a great way to get your foot in the door, so to speak.

Major Arpeggios

A Major arpeggio is composed of a chord's root, it's major third, and perfect fifth. Alternately, it can be thought of a minor third stacked on top of a major third. The first inversion has the third as the lowest note, while the second has the fifth degree as it's lowest note.

Root Position



First Inversion



Second Inversion



Minor Arpeggios

A minor arpeggio is composed of a chord's root, minor third, and perfect fifth. Alternately, it can be seen as a major third stacked on top of a minor third; sort of an inverse of a major arpeggio.

Root Position



First Inversion



Second Inversion



Diminished Arpeggios

A diminished arpeggio is composed of a minor third and a diminished (flatted) fifth, and can be understood as a minor third on top of another minor third.

Root Position



First Inversion



Second Inversion



Augmented Arpeggios

An augmented arpeggio is composed of the root, major third, and raised (augmented) fifth. Alternately, it can be seen as two stacked major thirds. As this divides the octave evenly in three parts, the resulting arpeggio patterns are parallel: to invert this pattern over it's next scale degree, shift it up four frets along the neck without changing the fingerings.

Augmented Arpeggios



Practice Suggestions

In order to execute a sweep arpeggio cleanly, two things must occur. First, your fretting hand must fret every note on the fretboard at exactly the right moment and only at the right moment, and second, they must be connected by a single smooth, flowing pickstroke. In light of this, one of the best peices of advice for practicing arpeggio forms (especially unfamiliar ones) was to practice arpeggios with a straight alternate-picking motion to get the fretting component down. So, start your metronome at an easy pace and give these a go, picking rather than sweeping. It's great for your picking technique and will really help you get your note articulation down.

Also, i like to break these down into note groupings that I loop, while practicing. Rather than sweeping across all seven strings, try sweeping four or five notes at a time. This is surprisingly hard on your fretting hand, and forces you to keep your pickign hand rhythmically tight.

Four-Note Groupings





Five-Note Groupings

Give these a try. Once again, none of these patterns are set in stone, but rather are just one of many possible ways of arranging seven string sweeps on the neck. They're generally ways that I personally find are comfortable, but if you find a way you prefer, then by all means, use that. And remember, focus on note articulation and rhythmic accuracy while practicing these. Enjoy!

(see part II here to put these shapes to work)

[Michael]

Nice lesson, very useful.

[Mark. A]

I'm going to have go over these, they look really good.

[NecroSamist]

Wow, thanks a lot for that lesson. I'm still trying to get my sweeping perfected on a 6, haha. This is EXACTLY what i've been looking for!

[Ryan]

I made a Guitar Pro file with all of these arpeggios in it. These killer for practicing.
This link will expire in 7 days, so if someone wants to they can host it. Its only like 1kb.

[kmanick]

thanks for that Ryan
these are always cool to get the fingers moving.

[Ryan]

Np man. It Drew's brainpower though ;D I wont usurp his thunder.

Yah GP is totally awesome. Plus i can set the tempo at like negative 120 where i need it in the beginning haha.

[Stretchnutz]

Drew, man you do some great lessons!!!

[olsonuf]

That's an excellent lesson, definitely very helpful.

I hadn't thought of that approach to the root position for major and minor (I am going to have to add these shapes to my left hand's vocabulary as well now ); I normally have two notes on the 5th string rather than on the 6th string, like this:

Major (root position):
|----------------------9--12---------------------------|
|-------------------10---------------------------------|
|----------------9-------------------------------------|
|-------------11---------------------------------------|
|-------7--12------------------------------------------|
|----9-------------------------------------------------|
|-10---------------------------------------------------|



Minor (root position):
|----------------------8--12---------------------------|
|-------------------10---------------------------------|
|----------------9-------------------------------------|
|-------------10---------------------------------------|
|-------7--12------------------------------------------|
|----8-------------------------------------------------|
|-10---------------------------------------------------|

[Bound]

very helpfull, thank you.