Intermediate Lesson THE NEXT STEP
MASTER MINOR SEVENTHS inor 7th chords are among the most widely-employed harmonic structures in all contemporary music—but how many of us have truly taken the time to understand this staple
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vocabulary? After all, these structures appear in 90 percent of every composition we encounter. Let’s rectify this today with these exercises, which should point you in the direction of melodic salvation...
Minor 7th chords appear in 90 percent of every composition we encounter
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EXERCISE ONE
Minor 7th arpeggios are constructed from a formula which consists of three stacked intervals of a third: a root note, minor 3rd, perfect 5th and b7th, as seen here.
EXERCISE TWO
Once you’ve got the formula in Exercise 1 memorized, it’s time to construct a two-octave interpretation. Two-octave arpeggios are fairly straightforward to produce, as they only require you to duplicate the initial notes in a higher register. Remember, the two-octave adaptation still only consists of four pitches! These measures portray a minor 7th arpeggio in a linear fashion. You can play the whole thing with only the index finger and pinky of your fretting hand, which makes the notes very obtainable. Once you’ve got this down, play the exercise in all keys. 70
