E♭ minor arpeggio on DADGAD guitar

E♭ · G♭ · B♭

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

The notes

  1. E♭1
  2. G♭♭3
  3. B♭5

The E♭ minor arpeggio is E♭, G♭, B♭.

You may also see it called 1 ♭3 5.

On the staff

E♭FG♭A♭B♭C♭D♭E♭

On a treble staff, the E♭ minor arpeggio is written E♭ G♭ B♭.

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

Why the E♭ minor arpeggio has these flats

  1. E♭1
  2. T+S
  3. G♭♭3
  4. 4
  5. B♭5
  6. 5
  7. E♭8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T+S 4 5: a tone and a half, 4, 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 E♭ minor 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 E♭ natural minor, 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 E♭, two letters cannot keep up:

  • G♭ — the flat third. The pattern needs a tone and a half from E♭, but E♭ to G is only 4, so G has to fall to G♭.
  • B♭ — the fifth. The pattern needs 4 from G♭, but G♭ to B is only 5, so B has to fall to B♭.

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 E♭ minor arpeggio is written with E♭, G♭ and B♭. E♭ has its accidental because that is the key, and the other notes need theirs because the T+S 4 5 pattern of steps cannot be spelled from E♭ 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

CDE2FGA♭6C♭CDE2FGA♭6C♭CDE2FGA♭6C♭CDE2FGA♭6C♭C♭7D♭1E♭♭3G♭4A♭5B♭♭7D♭1E♭♭3G♭4A♭5B♭♭7D♭1E♭♭3G♭4A♭5B♭♭7D♭1E♭♭3G♭4A♭5B♭C2C3C4C5C6

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

E♭ minor arpeggio on the whole neck

DADGAD123456789101112131415E♭1G♭♭3B♭5E♭1B♭5E♭1G♭♭3B♭5E♭1G♭♭3B♭5E♭1B♭5E♭1G♭♭3B♭5B♭5E♭1G♭♭3B♭5E♭1G♭♭3B♭5E♭1

35 notes of the E♭ minor arpeggio are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the E♭ minor arpeggio fall on the DADGAD 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
DADGAD1234561♭351♭3551♭3
Position 2 — starts on the ♭3
DADGAD456789♭351♭3511♭35
Position 3 — starts on the 5
DADGAD89101112135♭351♭3♭35

The E♭ minor arpeggio has three playable positions, at frets 1–5, 4–8 and 8–12.

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

DADGAD1234567891011121314151617181920211♭351♭351♭351♭35TAB14164881113181620

The climb runs from fret 1 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 five frets.