Chapter 2 - Arpeggio Practice Patterns

(This is a preview of the Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 ebook from

www.mattwarnockguitar.com. Click to view the full ebook page here.)

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
When learning arpeggios for Dominant 7th chords, or any chords for that matter, you
often find yourself at a point where you can outline the chord changes in a meaningful
way by applying different arpeggios to a progression, but that your lines tend to sound a
bit plain after a while if you are only using arpeggios in your jazz guitar solos.

To help bring an added level of interest, and create the “tension and release” sound that
is so important to finding a jazz sound in your playing, I have written out 8 of my favorite
Bebop Arpeggio Patterns in this chapter that will add chromaticism to your arpeggio
based lines and phrases.

As well, there are 10 Practice Tips to start this chapter that will help you get these
chromatic arpeggio patterns into your fingers, ears and allow them to come out in an
organic fashion when you add them to your jazz-guitar solos and lines.

So, let’s begin by looking at how you can practice each Bebop Arpeggio Pattern before
we dive into the patterns themselves.

Bonus Exercise

Though each Bebop Arpeggio Pattern in this chapter is written out over a
7th Arpeggio, to make it easier to read and quickly apply to the guitar, be
sure to apply all of these patterns to 9th, 13th, 7#11, 9#11 and 13#11
Arpeggios to bring these patterns to all of the Arpeggios you’ve explored in
this book.

10 Arpeggio Patterns Practice Tips

Here are 10 of my favorite ways to practice these, or any, Arpeggio Pattern in order to
fully get the sound of each idea into your ears, get the lines under your fingers, and
bring these phrases into your jazz-guitar solo in a natural and fluid manner.

1. Practice 1 Arpeggio Pattern in 1 key over a variety of tempos.

2. Practice 1 Arpeggio Pattern in 12 keys over a variety of tempos.
3. Play the plain arpeggio up and down for a given chord, followed by the arpeggio with
a practice pattern immediately after.
4. Sing the root of any chord while playing the arpeggio pattern on your guitar.
5. Play a chord on the guitar and sing the arpeggio pattern with your voice.
6. Put on a 7th-chord vamp and solo over that chord using only 1 arpeggio pattern.
7. Put on a ii V vamp and solo over the 7th chord using 1 or more arpeggio practice
patterns.
8. Put on a ii V I vamp and solo over the 7th chord using 1 or more arpeggio practice
patterns.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
9. Solo over a Jazz Blues Chord Progression and use 1 or more arpeggio patterns as
the bases for your lines over each 7th chord in the tune.
10. Solo over a tune such as “Jordu,’ or “Rhythm Changes,” and use 1 or more patterns
to outline the 7th-arpeggios that come up during the progression.

Now that you know how to practice these Bebop Arpeggio Patterns, let’s take a look at
each one written out over two-octave 7th arpeggios in various keys on the neck.

Approach Note Below

The first pattern that you will explore is probably my favorite Bebop Arpeggio Pattern to
practice and use in my improvised lines.

Here, you are adding 1 approach note below each of the notes in the arpeggio, 1/2-step
below each note.

This means that if you are playing A7, as in the example below, instead of playing A-C#-
E-G, you play G#-A, C-C#, D#-E and F#-G as you approach each chord tone by a half-
step below.

Audio Example 11

To help get you started with this approach in an improvised setting, here is an example
lick I worked out over a ii-V-I progression with the 1/2-step below approach being used
over the A7 chord in bar 2 of the progression.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
Audio Example 12

Approach Note Above

In this Bebop Arpeggio Pattern, you use the opposite approach as the first lick, as you
will be adding a half-step approach to each note in the arpeggio from above, rather than
below as you did in the previous pattern.

This means that instead of playing Bb-D-F-Ab, a plain Bb7 arpeggio, you will now play
B-Bb, Eb-D, Gb-F, and A-Ab as you bring a chromatic approach note above each note
in the arpeggio.

Audio Example 13

Here is a sample lick using the 1/2-step above pattern over the Bb7 in the second bar of
this ii-V-I progression in the key of Eb Major. Try learning this lick in the given key,
before taking it to the other 11 keys, tunes you know, and finally writing out licks of your
own using this Bebop Arpeggio Pattern as the basis for your lines.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
Audio Example 14

2 Approach Notes Below

A variation of the first pattern in this chapter, here you will be adding two chromatic
notes below each note in the underlying arpeggio.

So, if you are playing C7, C-E-G-Bb, you now add two chromatic notes below each of
those chord tones to build the pattern, ending up with Bb-B-C, D-D#-E, F-F#-G and Ab-
A-Bb as you new pattern, which you can see in the tab and notation below.

Audio Example 15

Here is a ii-V-I lick in the key of F major where I used the two-note approach pattern
over the C7 chord in bar two of the phrase. Because you are now using 3 notes for each
chord tone in the pattern, it takes up more space in your lines when using this pattern.
So you will target few notes within a bar, as I did here, but it is still an effective and
interesting pattern nonetheless.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
Audio Example 16

2 Approach Notes Above

Here is the partner lick to the previous pattern, as here you will be adding in two
chromatic notes above each note in the arpeggio.

If you have a D7 chord, as you do below, rather than playing D-F#-A-C, the plain
arpeggio, you will now be playing E-Eb-D, Ab-G-F#, B-Bb-A and D-Db-C as the Bebop
Arpeggio Pattern over this chord.

Audio Example 17

To get you started with this pattern, here is a sample line written out over a ii V I chord
progression in the key of G Major.

I used the two chromatic-notes above pattern over the D7 chord in bar 2 of the
progression, in this case targeting the 7th and 3rd of the underlying chord.

Practice this lick in the given key at different tempos before taking it to the other 11 keys
and applying it to tunes you know or are working on in the woodshed.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
Audio Example 18

Enclosure 1

Another favorite Arpeggio Pattern of mine is the Enclosure 1, which uses one approach-
note above and one approach-note below each chord tone of the underlying chord.

In the case of the example below, rather than play Eb-G-Bb-Db, the plain arpeggio
notes, you are playing E-D-Eb, Ab-F#-G, B-A-Bb, and D-C-Db to create this Enclosure
pattern over the Eb7 chord.

Audio Example 19

After working this pattern in a number of different tempos and keys around the neck,
you can apply it to your soloing practice, as I did in the ii-V-I lick in the key of Ab major
below.

Here I enclosed the 5th, Bb, and 3rd, G, of the underlying Eb7 chord. Due to the length
of the pattern, you’ll only be able to do a few enclosures per bar before you run out of
room, as was the case in this line where I chose two notes to enclosure rather than try
to force in any more within this short span of time.

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
Audio Example 20

Enclosure 2

The second Enclosure that we’ll explore in this chapter uses a chromatic note below
and a chromatic note above, before finally settling on the target note from the underlying
arpeggio. In the case of the given example, rather than playing the plain arpeggio, F-A-
C-Eb, you are now playing E-Gb-F, G#-Bb-A, B-Db-C and D-E-Eb over the F7 chord.

Audio Example 21

Here is a sample lick written out over a ii-V-I chord progression in the key of Bb major,
where I used the Enclosure 2 pattern over the F7 in the second bar of the phrase.

Audio Example 22

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
 Double Enclosure Below

In our last two Bebop Arpeggio Patterns, we’ll be looking at combinations of Double
Enclosures, as in the first example below which uses one chromatic above and two
chromatic-notes below each note in the arpeggio.

For the given G7 chord, instead of playing G-B-D-F, the plain arpeggio, you will now be
playing Ab-F-F#-G, C-A-A#-B, Eb-C-C#-D and Gb-Eb-E-F as you work this pattern
through the notes of the underlying arpeggio.

Audio Example 23

And here is an example lick written out over a ii-V-I chord progression in the key of C
major, where I use the Double Enclosure 1 pattern over the G7 in bar 2 of the phrase.

Audio Example 24

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com
 Double Enclosure Above

The final Bebop Arpeggio Pattern that we will look at uses one note below and two
above each chord tone in the underlying arpeggio. So, if you have a B7 like the given
example, instead of playing B-D#-F#-A, the plain arpeggio, you now play, A#-C#-C-B,
D-F-E-D#, F-G#-G-F#, and G#-B-Bb-A over the underlying chord.

Audio Example 25

To finish off this chapter on Bebop Arpeggio Patterns, here is an example ii-V-I lick in
the key of E major for you to check out in the woodshed. Practice this line in E major
before moving to the other 11 keys, and as always work it over various tempos and
bring it into your soloing practice ideas as well.

Audio Example 26

Click to Buy the full Building Bebop Vocabulary Vol. 2 eBook From MattWarnockGuitar.com