D dominant 9th arpeggio on guitar

D · F♯ · A · C · E

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

The notes

  1. D1
  2. F♯3
  3. A5
  4. C♭7
  5. E2

The D dominant 9th arpeggio is D, F♯, A, C, E.

You may also see it called 1 3 5 ♭7 2.

On the staff

DEF♯GABCD

On a treble staff, the D dominant 9th arpeggio is written D F♯ A C E.

The solid notes are the D dominant 9th arpeggio. The pale notes are the rest of D mixolydian, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the D dominant 9th arpeggio has this sharp

  1. D1
  2. 4
  3. F♯3
  4. T+S
  5. A5
  6. T+S
  7. C♭7
  8. 4
  9. E♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯2
  10. -2
  11. D8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is 4 T+S T+S 4 -2: 4, a tone and a half, a tone and a half, and so on. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. 4 stands for a step of four semitones. -2 stands for a step of -2 semitones. The pattern is what gives D dominant 9th its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only five notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on D mixolydian, 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 D, one letter cannot keep up:

  • F♯ — the third. The pattern needs 4 from D, but D to F is only a tone and a half, so F has to rise to F♯.

That accidental was not 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 D dominant 9th arpeggio is written with F♯, because the 4 T+S T+S 4 -2 pattern of steps cannot be spelled with plain letters from D.

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

♭7C1D2EF4G5A6B♭7C1D2EF4G5A6B♭7C1D2EF4G5A6B♭7C1D2EF4G5A6B♭7CC♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯C2C3C4C5C6

The keyboard shows the same five notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the D dominant 9th arpeggio, and the pale keys are the rest of D mixolydian.

D dominant 9th arpeggio on the whole neck

EADGBE123456789101112131415E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3A5C♭7D1E2F♯3

59 notes of the D dominant 9th arpeggio are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the D dominant 9th arpeggio fall on the guitar, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

The five boxes

Box 4 — starts on the ♭7
EADGBE5678910111213♭72135♭72135♭72
Box 5 — starts on the 2
EADGBE7891011121314152135♭72135♭721
Box 1 — starts on the 1
EADGBE101112131415161718135♭72135♭7213
Box 2 — starts on the 3
EADGBE12131415161718192035♭72135♭72135
Box 3 — starts on the 5
EADGBE15161718192021225♭72135♭72135♭7

The D dominant 9th arpeggio has five playable positions, at frets 5–12, 7–14, 10–17, 12–19 and 15–21.

There are five shapes, and each one starts on a different note of the scale. Once you know one shape you can slide it along the neck, and once you know all five they join up to cover the whole neck.

One climb up the neck

EADGBE101112131415161718192021221235♭71235♭71235♭71TAB10121412151714161917192119222022

The climb runs from fret 10 to fret 22 and plays sixteen 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 a different number of notes on different strings. The widest stretch on any one string is five frets.

The words on this page were written with the help of AI and may contain a mistake. Its diagrams are drawn by Everyfret’s own software. How Everyfret is made