A major 7th arpeggio on 6-string bass

A · C♯ · E · G♯

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 13 · Sevenths.

The notes

  1. A1
  2. C♯3
  3. E5
  4. G♯7

The A major 7th arpeggio is A, C♯, E, G♯.

You may also see it called 1 3 5 7.

On the staff

ABC♯DEF♯G♯A

On a bass staff, the A major 7th arpeggio is written A C♯ E G♯.

The solid notes are the A major 7th arpeggio. The pale notes are the rest of A major, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the A major 7th arpeggio has these sharps

  1. A1
  2. 4
  3. C♯3
  4. T+S
  5. E5
  6. 4
  7. G♯7
  8. S
  9. A8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is 4 T+S 4 S: 4, a tone and a half, 4, and so on. S stands for a semitone, the distance of one fret or one key. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. 4 stands for a step of four semitones. The pattern is what gives A major 7th its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only four notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on A major, and the notes it shares are spelled the same way as they are there.

The pattern still does not fit the plain letters. If you walk the pattern up from A, two letters cannot keep up:

  • C♯ — the third. The pattern needs 4 from A, but A to C is only a tone and a half, so C has to rise to C♯.
  • G♯ — the seventh. The pattern needs 4 from E, but E to G is only a tone and a half, so G has to rise to G♯.

None of those accidentals was a choice. Once you pick the note to start on, the pattern decides the rest, and a key signature is a record of the result.

The A major 7th arpeggio is written with C♯ and G♯, because the 4 T+S 4 S pattern of steps cannot be spelled with plain letters from A.

The pattern of steps is the part of a scale that never changes. The letter names take sharps or flats to fit that pattern, and a key signature is a record of those sharps or flats.

On the piano

C4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯C0C1C2C3C4C5

The keyboard shows the same four notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the A major 7th arpeggio, the pale keys are the rest of A major, and you can click any key to hear it.

A major 7th arpeggio on the whole neck

BEADGC123456789101112131415C♯3E5G♯7A1C♯3E5G♯7A1C♯3E5A1C♯3E5G♯7A1E5G♯7A1C♯3E5G♯7A1C♯3E5G♯7A1C♯3E5G♯7A1C♯3

50 notes of the A major 7th arpeggio are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the A major 7th arpeggio fall on the 6-string bass, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

Position by position

Position 1 — starts on the 3
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Position 2 — starts on the 5
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Position 3 — starts on the 7
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Position 4 — starts on the 1
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The A major 7th arpeggio has four playable positions, at frets 2–6, 5–9, 9–13 and 10–14.

Each shape starts on a different degree of the scale and fits inside five frets, so your hand can play all of it without moving.

One climb up the neck

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The climb runs from fret 10 to fret 20 and plays twelve notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes two notes on every string. The widest stretch on any one string is four frets.