How To Connect Dominant 7th Arpeggios In Blues
- By jazz-guitar-licks
- On 2016-12-13
- 0 comments
Mastering arpeggios is inevitable for anyone who wants to improve its sense of improvisation and bring more musicality to its playing. Practicing and mastering them is a necessity for all jazz guitarists, indeed arpeggios are great tools to improvise over chord changes and jazz standards.
You'll find at the end of this lesson a basic blues study in C showing how to connect dominant 7 arpeggios and here a serie of Mini Lessons with tab, PDF guitar pro file and short video for practicing arpeggios a little more closely.
Some basics
What's An Arpeggio ?
An arpeggio is a chord whose notes are played one by one, it is a chord played like a scale.
Why Playing Arpeggios ?
Playing them in your guitar solo will outline the harmony of the tune. It will give your improvisation a sense of direction, making your jazz lines more beautiful, more melodic, more interesting to listen to.
How To Use Arpeggios ?
The first rule is to play the arpeggio corresponding to a chord. For example, playing a D minor seventh arpeggio over a Dm7 chord or a G dominant 7th arpeggio over a G7 chord.
You can also use them to add color to your solos by using arpeggio substitutions and superimpositions (playing an arpeggio different from the chord). For example, a Bm7b5 arpeggio over a G7 chord. This way you will highlight the 9th of G7. There are many possibilities.
Dominant 7th arpeggios
This lesson is an example of how you can use and play arpeggios in blues. We consider a standard dominant Blues in C. The chords in the simplest form of a dominant Blues in C are C7, F7, and G7.
To spice up this basic 12-bars blues progression we will add two dominant 9th chords which are C9 and F9 chords in bars 4 and 11. Most beginning guitar players when faced with soloing over blues chord progression usually use the familiar minor pentatonic scale with the blue note added (b5). That's a good choice, but it sounds too "bluesy", don't outline the harmony and can be rather limited at the long run.
In this context, we will use three dominant 7th arpeggios corresponding to three main chords of the blues namely C7, F7 and G7. Remember that Dominant seventh arpeggios are built with :
- Root (1)
- Major third (3)
- Fifth (5)
- Minor seventh (b7)
C7 arpeggio | C | E | G | Bb |
F7 arpeggio | F | A | C | Eb |
G7 arpeggio | G | B | D | F |
How To Connect Dominant 7th Arpeggios In A Blues ?
When you want to play fluid and melodic lines using arpeggios, it is important to connect them. The distance between the connected notes should not be higher than 2 semitones.
Example with the bars 1 & 2 of the C blues below. We will play two dominant 7th arpeggios, respectively C7 and F7. They are connected by the third (E) of the C dominant 7th arpeggio and the tonic (F) of F dominant 7th arpeggio.
The distance between E & F is 1 semitone, the process of linking two notes close to each other produce a fluid sequence.
Another example, in bars 4 & 5. The minor seventh (Bb) of C7 is connected to the fifth (C) of F7. Once again Bb and C are separated by 2 semitones. You can also connect notes using a semitone, this is the case between Eb and E in bars 6 & 7, respectively minor seventh of F7 and third of C7.
Guitar Arpeggios - Lesson With Shapes and Formulas

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Guitar Chord Dictionary
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172 Arpeggio Shapes For Guitar
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126 Triad Chord Shapes
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30 Minor Arpeggio Licks
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II V I Bundle - 170 Exercises
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Diatonic Licks Bundle
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30 Smooth Jazz Guitar Licks
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40 II V I Jazz Guitar Licks
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50 II-V-I voicings
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40 Minor 2 5 1 Chord Voicings
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40 Minor II V I Licks
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40 Mixolydian Jazz Guitar Lick
PDF guitar method with tabs, audio files and theory providing 40 dominant jazz guitar lines for teachers and students. -
40 Minor Jazz Guitar Licks
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40 Major Jazz Guitar Licks
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Guitar Walking Bass Lines
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101 Dominant Arpeggio Patterns
This printable PDF method offers 101 dominant arpeggio exercises with tab, theory and standard notation for the jazz, blues and rock guitarist. -
49 Essential Jazz Lines
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11 Jazz Blues Studies
11 jazz blues chord studies with tabs, standard notation, analysis, and audio recordings and PDF. -
10 Easy Fingerstyle Blues
This PDF with Tabs and audio files provides 10 easy acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar studies for kids and beginners. -
25 Altered Jazz Guitar Lines
This PDF eBook method contains 25 altered jazz guitar licks with tabs, patterns, scale charts and audio files to master, apply and develop the altered scale. -
40 Blues Dominant Patterns
This printable method is available as a PDF file containing 40 easy dominant jazz-blues guitar lines with tabs, standard notation, analysis, audio files and scale charts. -
Mastering Pentatonic Scales
This jazz guitar method is an eBook available as a PDF with standard notation, guitar tabs, diagrams, analysis, audio files and backing tracks. You will find in this booklet 25 easy jazz guitar lines with theory using common and rare pentatonic scales. -
25 Soul Jazz Guitar Licks
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25 Diminished Patterns
This eBook PDF with audio files contains 25 dominant diminished jazz guitar patterns using the half-whole diminished scale and diminished 7th arpeggios. -
6 Tritone substitution licks
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10 Minor 7 Arpeggio Patterns
This printable PDF eBook offers 10 easy minor 7 arpeggio patterns with its related YouTube video for beginner guitarists.
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Guitar Scale Dictionary
This E-book is a printable PDF method including over 700 scale diagrams and formula charts for guitarists. -
Guitar Chord Dictionary
This PDF eBook provides over 550 guitar chord shapes. This is the perfect reference guide to understand how chords are built and how to play them on the guitar neck. -
172 Arpeggio Shapes For Guitar
This printable PDF is a method dedicated to guitarists of all styles who want to learn the most important types of arpeggios. -
126 Triad Chord Shapes
This handbook for guitar players is intended both for teachers and students. It includes 126 guitar shapes for mastering triads. -
30 Minor Arpeggio Licks
This package includes a printable PDF method containing 30 exercises with tabs, staves and audio files for practicing minor arpeggios on guitar. -
II V I Bundle - 170 Exercises
This bundle contains 4 PDF methods for a total of 170 exercises with tabs, staves & audio files for practicing scales, licks & chords over the 2-5-1 progression. -
Diatonic Licks Bundle
This package contains 120 jazz guitar lines based on diatonic modes as Mixolydian, Dorian and Ionian. PDF format with tabs, audio files and analysis. -
30 Smooth Jazz Guitar Licks
In this package you'll get a printable PDF Method with tabs, notation, analysis, scale shapes and audio files for practicing 30 smooth jazz guitar licks. -
40 II V I Jazz Guitar Licks
This pdf method for guitar contains fourteen 2 5 1 jazz guitar lines with tab, standard notation, analysis, scale charts and audio files. -
50 II-V-I voicings
This printable PDF guitar method provides 50 exercises with audio files, analysis, tab and staves for learning major 2-5-1 chord voicings. -
40 Minor 2 5 1 Chord Voicings
This PDF method contains 40 exercices with tabs, scores and audio files for practicing jazz guitar chords over the minor 2 5 1 progression. -
40 Minor II V I Licks
This guitar method is a printable PDF with tabs, diagrams, theory and audio files providing 40 minor 2 5 1 jazz patterns. -
40 Mixolydian Jazz Guitar Lick
PDF guitar method with tabs, audio files and theory providing 40 dominant jazz guitar lines for teachers and students. -
40 Minor Jazz Guitar Licks
This printable guitar method in PDF format contains 40 easy minor jazz guitar lines based on the Dorian mode. -
40 Major Jazz Guitar Licks
Printable PDF eBook method containing 40 major jazz guitar licks with tab, standard notation and audio files for beginners and intermediates. -
Guitar Walking Bass Lines
This jazz guitar method about walking bass lines and chords is available as a PDF files containing 35 exercises with tabs, analysis and audio files -
101 Dominant Arpeggio Patterns
This printable PDF method offers 101 dominant arpeggio exercises with tab, theory and standard notation for the jazz, blues and rock guitarist. -
49 Essential Jazz Lines
This printable eBook method in PDF format provides 49 jazz solo transcriptions of the greatest jazz musicians. Tab, standard notation, audio files & analysis. -
11 Jazz Blues Studies
11 jazz blues chord studies with tabs, standard notation, analysis, and audio recordings and PDF. -
10 Easy Fingerstyle Blues
This PDF with Tabs and audio files provides 10 easy acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar studies for kids and beginners. -
25 Altered Jazz Guitar Lines
This PDF eBook method contains 25 altered jazz guitar licks with tabs, patterns, scale charts and audio files to master, apply and develop the altered scale. -
40 Blues Dominant Patterns
This printable method is available as a PDF file containing 40 easy dominant jazz-blues guitar lines with tabs, standard notation, analysis, audio files and scale charts. -
Mastering Pentatonic Scales
This jazz guitar method is an eBook available as a PDF with standard notation, guitar tabs, diagrams, analysis, audio files and backing tracks. You will find in this booklet 25 easy jazz guitar lines with theory using common and rare pentatonic scales. -
25 Soul Jazz Guitar Licks
You will find here an eBook available in PDF containing 25 soul jazz and hard bop guitar licks in the style of Grant Green, Melvin Sparks, George Benson. These jazz lines come with tabs, standard notation, guitar neck diagrams, backing track for practice and 25 audio files for each riff. -
25 Diminished Patterns
This eBook PDF with audio files contains 25 dominant diminished jazz guitar patterns using the half-whole diminished scale and diminished 7th arpeggios. -
6 Tritone substitution licks
This Printable PDF eBook available for free download contains 6 easy jazz guitar licks with tabs/notation, youtube video link and analysis about the tritone substitution. -
10 Minor 7 Arpeggio Patterns
This printable PDF eBook offers 10 easy minor 7 arpeggio patterns with its related YouTube video for beginner guitarists.
Dominant 7th arpeggios arpeggios jazz Blues progression
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