How to Use Arpeggios in Guitar Solos
A short triad arpeggio (see [[chord-tones-melodic-solo-secret:the article on arpeggios]]) is only the start. Real chords in songs often contain a fourth note, the seventh, and an arpeggio built with it sounds noticeably more mature than one built from a plain triad.
A seventh chord is a triad plus one note
A seventh chord (dominant, minor, or major - see the article on intervals) is a triad plus a seventh. The diagram below shows the notes of G7; to make an arpeggio, play G-B-D-F in sequence rather than simultaneously. Its string-by-string fingering may require separate voice-leading practice.
The seventh gives a pull that a triad lacks
The direction of a seventh depends on chord quality and harmonic context. In G7, B and F form a tritone that strongly leads to C and E when the chord resolves to C; in Cmaj7, B can function as a stable chord color. Learn the actual voice leading between neighboring chords rather than one universal rule for every seventh.
An arpeggio doesn't have to run strictly in order
You don't have to play the arpeggio's notes straight from bottom to top - skipping a note, starting from the third instead of the root, or a short step back makes the arpeggio feel like a phrase (see the article on building phrases) rather than a mechanical drill.
Find the arpeggio inside positions you already know
It is useful to locate seventh-chord tones inside a familiar CAGED zone or full scale, but they do not all belong to every pentatonic: B from Cmaj7, for example, is absent from C major pentatonic. Overlay the four chord tones on the position and note which are already in the pentatonic and which must be added.
Drill: an arpeggio on every chord change in a progression
Take a progression with at least one seventh chord, and on every change play a short arpeggio of exactly the current chord before returning to the regular scale - same principle as with triads, just with a fourth note added.
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