Basic Arpeggios II

If you have not read the first post on arpeggios, go check that out now!

Now that we have a grasp on our Major and minor triad arpeggios, let’s look at the diminished triad. The diminished triad contains the 1st, flat 3rd, and flat 5th of the major scale as shown below. Though diminished chords are not as common as major and minor triads, they serve a very important function, building tension and movement as we head to the tonic or home note in a diatonic sequence. They are also commonly used as a passing chord, something we will explore later in this post.

Now that we have all of our basic triad shapes, let’s construct the diatonic arpeggios of the C major scale. What that means is we will build a triad of of each note of the major scale giving us the chords:

C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bdim - C

Note: Diatonic is a fancy word that essentially means an unaltered major scale, when I see it I think “of the major scale”.

Note: When constructing diatonic chords for a major scale we use the pattern: Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished.

Note: for all of these examples, the diminished chords are written as “minor flat 5“.

Note: Apologies for all of the notes, I’m going to be writing a post all about triads and chord construction soon!

Okay, now let’s put everything together on the neck! In this first example we are moving up the neck on the A string, this let’s you get a good look at the vertical shapes you will see on the E and A strings. Listen to how the B diminished chord (Bmb5) creates tension and pulls us towards the C.

In this next one we are starting with our roots on the A then jumping up to the D string so we can see a few D root shapes, this is also a slightly more contained.

And finally we will play everything in one place using a combination of several arpeggio shapes. This one if by far the most practical for improvisation and melody work, once you have it under your fingers you can easily jump from chord to chord as well as follow most any progression. Notice that we are building this out of a two octave C major scale.

Now getting into application, here is an example of how we might follow a simple chord progression in this position.

Practice tip: Find a song you know well and try and follow along with arpeggios in one position.

Practice tip: Try connecting arpeggios with major scale runs.

Here is another progression using the diminished triad as a passing chord. Try playing the progressions in Ex. 1 and 2 together one after the other to hear what this might sound like in a practical application.

And finally, this example is a little bit more out there, but depending on what style you play this may be very useful, it’s also really fun to play. As I mentioned above, diminished triads can be used as passing chords and arpeggios. In this example I have wedged a diminished triad in between every diatonic triad. You will notice some movements sound better than others, so feel free to alter the diminished triads a bit if it suits your sound or playing better, especially towards the end where we have two diminished chords right next to each other.

Note: I have found an A# Major works pretty nice in place of the A#mb5 here.

Now get to practicing!

Thank you for reading!

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