BASIC ARPEGGIOS
for Gypsy Jazz

On this page you will find links to a series of pdf files of the basic arpeggios used in Gypsy Jazz (and Jazz guitar playing in general). The exercises are in both notation and tab.

If you know nothing about theory of chord construction and intervals I highly recommend that you seek to learn something. It's not an area I want to go into at present (maybe in the future) but I can recommend a few good websites to start learning:
http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_chord_theory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_names_and_symbols_(popular_music)
http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory16.htm

I have written each one with the chord followed by the arpeggio of that chord in the same position. I have made picking suggestions but not fingering due to the limitations of the programme used to create the notation. If you have any questions feel free to ask via the comments section below each exercise.

The chord shapes given are not necessarily "gypsy jazz" type shapes, instead I have gone for chords strictly made up of the chord tones of the arpeggios, e.g if the arpeggio is a minor 6, then chord will only be made up of 1,b3,5,6 tones.

I have stuck to giving the arpeggios in the common keys for gypsy jazz, but of course you should apply them to other keys! I have covered the main areas of the fretboard so it should just be a matter of moving each shape a couple of frets in either direction.

You can also download the pdf to your computer by clicking on the red "Download PDF" button at the bottom of the page.

Just click the link on the left hand side to go the page.

All the music in this section has been written with the excellent Notion for iPad:
http://www.notionmusic.com/products/notionipad.html

If you like this lesson you might like my “10 Minor Swing Guitar Exercises” course on Soundslice:
https://www.soundslice.com/lessons/10-minor-swing-guitar-exercises/
Soundslice is an amazing piece of technology, all web based. It’s the future of online guitar instruction!

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