The conclusion to our survey of triad and 7th-chord arpeggios, moving across all six strings.

BY TOM KOLB

LAST MONTH, WE covered triad and 7th-chord arpeggios, focusing on the top three strings. Here, in the conclusion of our two-part lesson, we’ll start with the lower three strings and combine those shapes with the ones we learned last month. And whereas Part 1 focused mostly on triads, we’ll now explore 7th-chord arpeggios in greater depth. As before, there will be lots of exercises and licks, plus we’ll top things off with a full-blown solo. Let’s get going!

ROOT-POSITION TRIADS ON THE BOTTOM THREE STRINGS 

As you’ll recall, in Part 1 we started with an introduction to the three fundamental types, or qualities, of triads that exist within the major scale: major (1, 3, 5), minor (1, 3, b b 5). These root-position triads were mapped out along the fretboard on the top-three string set (the G, B and high E strings), in the key of C. Now, let’s follow the same procedure on the bottom three strings 

Take a look at the neck diagram in Ex. 16. The three-dot groupings represent the shapes of the harmonized triads of the C major scale: C (C, E, G), Dm (D, F, A), Em (E, G, B), F (F, A, C), G (G, B, D), Am (A, C, E) and Bdim (B, D, F). Solid lines are used to connect the dots that form the shapes of the major triads (C, F and G) while dashed lines conjoin the notes of the minor triads (Dm, Em and Am). Dotted lines are used to connect the notes of the oddball Bdim triad. All triads are voiced in root position — root, 3rd, 5th — with their roots on the low E string. As we discussed in Part 1 with the triads on the top-three string set, these low-string voicings are also playable as chords, but again, the main goal is to play them melodically, one note at a time.