D♭ minor 7th arpeggio on 7-string guitar

D♭ · F♭ · A♭ · C♭

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

The notes

  1. D♭1
  2. F♭♭3
  3. A♭5
  4. C♭♭7

The D♭ minor 7th arpeggio is D♭, F♭, A♭, C♭.

You may also see it called 1 ♭3 5 ♭7.

On the staff

D♭E♭F♭G♭A♭B♭C♭D♭

On a treble staff, the D♭ minor 7th arpeggio is written D♭ F♭ A♭ C♭.

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

Why the D♭ minor 7th arpeggio has these flats

  1. D♭1
  2. T+S
  3. F♭♭3
  4. 4
  5. A♭5
  6. T+S
  7. C♭♭7
  8. T
  9. D♭8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T+S 4 T+S T: a tone and a half, 4, a tone and a half, and so on. T stands for a tone, which is two semitones. 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 D♭ minor 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 D♭ dorian, 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♭, three letters cannot keep up:

  • F♭ — the flat third. The pattern needs a tone and a half from D♭, but D♭ to F is only 4, so F has to fall to F♭.
  • A♭ — the fifth. The pattern needs 4 from F♭, but F♭ to A is only 5, so A has to fall to A♭.
  • C♭ — the flat seventh. The pattern needs a tone and a half from A♭, but A♭ to C is only 4, so C has to fall to C♭.

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 D♭ minor 7th arpeggio is written with D♭, F♭, A♭ and C♭. D♭ has its accidental because that is the key, and the other notes need theirs because the T+S 4 T+S T pattern of steps cannot be spelled from D♭ with plain letters.

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

CD♭3F♭FGA♭7C♭CD♭3F♭FGA♭7C♭CD♭3F♭FGA♭7C♭CD♭3F♭FGA♭7C♭CD♭3F♭FGA♭7C♭C1D♭2E♭4G♭5A♭6B♭1D♭2E♭4G♭5A♭6B♭1D♭2E♭4G♭5A♭6B♭1D♭2E♭4G♭5A♭6B♭1D♭2E♭4G♭5A♭6B♭C1C2C3C4C5C6

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

D♭ minor 7th arpeggio on the whole neck

BEADGBE123456789101112131415C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7D♭1F♭♭3

60 notes of the D♭ minor 7th arpeggio are marked across seven strings.

This is every place the notes of the D♭ minor 7th arpeggio fall on the 7-string guitar, 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 1
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Position 2 — starts on the ♭3
BEADGBE5678910♭35♭71♭35♭71♭3♭35♭71
Position 3 — starts on the 5
BEADGBE910111213145♭71♭35♭71♭355♭71♭3
Position 4 — starts on the ♭7
BEADGBE121314151617♭71♭35♭71♭35♭7♭71♭35

The D♭ minor 7th arpeggio has four playable positions, at frets 2–6, 5–9, 9–13 and 12–16.

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 2 to fret 24 and plays eighteen 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.