Guitar Guide

Music Theory with the Guitar

Arpeggios and triads

triads

To memorize all major, minor, and diminished triads across all string sets, you should follow these exercises:

And then practice with them by doing the following:

1. Crosspicking through chord progressions
2. Improvising with triads only

Major arpeggios

E shape

The first 2 octave E shape arpeggio is based off the E shape pentatonic and has 4 triad sets going vertically on it.

A shape

This is the A-shape 1-2 octave for the major shape

D shape

This is the D shape which covers one octave but also has 4 triad sets, thus completing the 12 major triad sets, 3 for each of the 4 string sets.

Minor arpeggios

E shape

This is the 2 octave E shape arpeggio

A shape

This is the A-shape 1-2 octave for the minor shape

D shape

This is the D shape which covers one octave but also has 4 triad sets, thus completing the 12 minor triad sets, 3 for each of the 4 string sets.

Major 7th Arpeggios

There are multiple flavors of 7th arpeggios and here you'll learn them all. First, it's important to know the 1-octave shapes, as all the rest of the 2-octave shapes are just built from those.

1-octave shapes

These first four shapes are the most useful arpeggio shapes on all string sets.

• The first two are from the CAGED E arpeggio shape
• The second two are from the CAGED C arpeggio shape

Maj7 arpeggio E string set

Maj7 arpeggio D string set

Maj7 arpeggio B string set

Maj7 arpeggio G string set

These next shapes are based on a widened version of the basic, but still useful. It's translated down 3 sets.

Maj7 widened arpeggio E string set

Maj7 widened arpeggio B string set

Maj7 widened arpeggio D string set

There are two more useful widened shapes, which are also CAGED shapes - more on that in the two octaves section.

Maj7 CAGED G shape arpeggio

Maj7 CAGED C shape arpeggio

two octave shapes: CAGED

for the reset of the article, we'll categorize the CAGED shapes for each arpeggio. Each 7th arpeggio falls into using three main shapes for CAGED:

• E shape, with roots on D, high E, and Low E strings.
• A shape, with roots on A and G strings
• D shape, with roots on D and B strings

However, I will show you all the shapes.

E shape

Now we can start getting into the 2-octave shapes. First off, here's the E shape, based on the the E-shape major arpeggio:

Note how it's just a combination of two single octave Maj7 arpeggios from the E-shape arpeggio.

Maj7 arpeggio E string set

Maj7 arpeggio D string set

A shape

these are the 1-octave shapes from the A-shape arpeggio that make up the full arpeggio

Maj7 arpeggio A string set

Maj7 arpeggio G string set

D shape

The D shape is one octave but important regardless since you need the E, A, and D shapes to fully connect the maj7th arpeggio across the entire fretboard.

This is the most basic version, a single octave.

You can see how this begins to connect here with the expanded version:

C shape

The C shape is impractical, but connects to the A shape and D shape well.

The root on the A string connects with the A shape, and the root on the B string connects with the D shape.

I hope you can see why the C, D, and G shapes are inessential. Many of the notes are repeated between the E and A shapes.

G shape

The G shape is impractical but it connects nicely to the A and G shapes.

Here is the full G shape, connecting naturally to the E shape.

three octave shapes

For 3 octave shapes, you can start with C maj 7, which goes from the E-shape to the D-shape and skips to the A-shape.

Then practice Going from E -> D -> C -> A.

Minor 7th Arpeggios

1-octave shapes

Here are the 4 shapes on the E string set

Min7 arpeggio E string set

Min7 arpeggio E string set

Here are the 2 shapes on the A string set

Min7 arpeggio A string set

Min7 arpeggio A string set widened

Here are the 2 shapes on the D string set

Min7 arpeggio D string set

Min7 arpeggio D string set

Here are the 2 shapes on the G string set

Min7 arpeggio G string set

Chord grips

Spread Triads

1, 3rd, and 5th

Here are the spread triads with the root, 3rd, and 5th

Here are the major ones:

Major Triad, A-string root

Major Triad, G-string root

Major Triad, G-string root

Here are the minor ones:

Minor Triad, D-string root

Minor Triad, D-string root

Minor Triad, G-string root

And here's a diminished one:

Jimi hendrix triads

The jimi hendrix triads are the simple two-note chords with only the 1st and 3rd, with roots on D and G strings:

Jimi hendrix major triad, D-string root

Jimi hendrix minor triad, D-string root

1 and 3rd

Here are the spread triads that omit the 5th, leaving only the 1st and 3rd.

Here are all the major triads as chords, which include only the root and the 3rd.

Major Triad, E-string root

Major Triad, A-string root

Major Triad, D-string root

Major Triad, D-string root

Here are all the minor triads as chords, which include only the root and the flat 3rd.

Minor Triad, E-string root

Minor Triad, A-string root

Minor Triad, D-string root

Shell chords

Although there are a lot of shell chords, they are easy to memorize if you group them by spread version and by string set.

Compact Shell chords

THe compact shell chords always have the 7th on top.

These are the compact shell chords on the E string root, which are related to the the E arpeggio maj7th shape.

Maj7 E string root (compact)

7th E string root (compact)

m7 E string root (compact)

These are the compact shell chords on the A string root, and keep in mind how they are the exact same as the E string roots.

Maj7 A string root (compact)

7th A string root (compact)

m7 A string root (compact)

The ones on the D-root are as so:

Maj7 D string root (compact)

7th D string root (compact)

m7 D string root (compact)

You also have these ones on the D-root but instead of 1-3-7, they are 1-5-7 chords (so not technically shell chords):

Maj7 D string root (compact)

7th D string root (compact)

m7 D string root (compact)

The ones on the G-root are as so:

Maj7 G string root (compact)

7th G string root (compact)

m7 G string root (compact)

Spread Shell chords

These spread shell chords have a much more lush and open voicing and always have the 3rd on top.

Maj7 E string root (spread)

7th E string root (spread)

m7 E string root (spread)

Here are the ones for the A string root

Maj7 A string root (spread)

7th A string root (spread)

m7 A string root (spread)

Here are the ones for the D string root

Maj7 D string root (spread)

7th D string root (spread)

m7 D string root (spread)

Major chord grips

These three major chord grips are made from stacking a D-set major triad on top of a G-set major triad.

Maj D-string root

Maj B-string root

Maj G-string root

• The D-string root grip comes from the CAGED E arpeggio shape, and you can see it make the outline of the E-shape bar chord.
• The B-string root grip comes from the CAGED D arepggio shape.
• The G-string root grip comes from the CAGED A arpeggio shape.

Minor chord grips

These three minor chord grips are made from stacking a D-set minor triad on top of a G-set minor triad.

Minor D-string root

Minor B-string root

Minor G-string root

• The D-string root grip comes from the CAGED Gm arpeggio shape.
• The B-string root grip comes from the CAGED Dm arepggio shape.
• The G-string root grip comes from the CAGED Am arpeggio shape.

7th chord grips

These chord grips are all formed from the 7th arpeggio shapes.

These are the chord grips found from the E CAGED 7th arpeggio:

7th D-string root

7th high E-string root

• The one with the D-string root is just one-added note to the dom 7th shell chord with root on D-sring. The highest note is added. It also comes straight from the one-octave arpeggio from the E-shape.

This is the chord grip found from the CAGED D7 shape arpeggio. It starts on the same root.

7th D-string root

These are the chord grips found from the C caged 7th arpeggio shape:

7th A-string root

7th B-string root

7th B-string root

These are the chord grips found from the A-shape CAGED 7th arpeggio:

7th G-string root

min 7th chord grips

Here are the 4 most important minor chord grips:

Let's break it down:

D-shape chord grips

These are the D CAGED shape chord grips

C-shape chord grips

These are the C CAGED shape chord grips

A-shape chord grips

These are the A CAGED shape chord grips

maj7th chord grips

These are all the maj7 chord grips

• The E shape is just the 1-3-5 major triad with D string root, but shifting the root down one to get the major 7th.
• The A shape one is just the maj7th shell chord with root on G string, and then has one note lower.

maj6th chord grips

Here are the three most useful major 6th chord grips:

min6th chord grips

Here are the three most useful minor 6th chord grips:

Sus2 grips

Sus2 chords are used when you want to use a major or minor chord but without the tonality. It sounds kind of neutral.

• This sus2 triad is just taking the standard 1-3-5 triad with the D-string root, and moving down the major 3rd to a major 2nd.

Sus4 grips

Sus4 chords are used as pulls toward the major and minor of the same root. For example, Esus4 pulls back to E major or E minor.

Here are the three important Esus4 chords:

sus4 E + D string root

sus4 A string root

sus4 E string root

• The first one is just a variation of the E-string root major/minor barchord, so you can easily resolve to that.
• The third one is just the D-string 1-3-5 major triad, moving up the 3rd to the 4th. I hope you can see it.