D major arpeggio on 7-string guitar

D · F♯ · A

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 9 · The triad.

The notes

  1. D1
  2. F♯3
  3. A5

The D major arpeggio is D, F♯, A.

You may also see it called 1 3 5.

On the staff

DEF♯GABC♯D

On a treble staff, the D major arpeggio is written D F♯ A.

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

Why the D major arpeggio has this sharp

  1. D1
  2. 4
  3. F♯3
  4. T+S
  5. A5
  6. 5
  7. D8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is 4 T+S 5: 4, a tone and a half, 5, and so on. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. 4 stands for a step of four semitones. 5 stands for a step of five semitones. The pattern is what gives D major its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only three notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on D 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 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 major arpeggio is written with F♯, because the 4 T+S 5 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

C1D2EF4G5A6BC1D2EF4G5A6BC1D2EF4G5A6BC1D2EF4G5A6BC1D2EF4G5A6BC7C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯7C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯7C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯7C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯7C♯D♯3F♯G♯A♯C1C2C3C4C5C6

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

D major arpeggio on the whole neck

BEADGBE123456789101112131415D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3A5D1F♯3

44 notes of the D major arpeggio are marked across seven strings.

This is every place the notes of the D major 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
BEADGBE3456781351351135
Position 2 — starts on the 3
BEADGBE7891011123513513351
Position 3 — starts on the 5
BEADGBE1011121314155135135513

The D major arpeggio has three playable positions, at frets 3–7, 7–11 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

BEADGBE345678910111213141516171819202122231351351351351TAB3751091212161419192222

The climb runs from fret 3 to fret 22 and plays thirteen 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.