CHAPTER 65 Arpeggio Exercises ‘OU CAN MASTER YOUR INSTRUMENT by practicing chord/scale sounds in many different ways. There are thousands of ways to practice chords and scales, and you need to start by learning a few of them. In this chapter, I'm giving you 20 exercises to get you started, I wrote them out in the key of C, but you should transpose them to all 12 keys. Be able to play them fluently through the cycle of Sths, and up and down chromatically. Ultimately, you should be just as comfortable in the keys of Db, Abs Gb, and Bas you are in the key of C. Oscar Pettiford loved to play in Db—he had a lot of colorful note choices, available with the open strings! ‘There are eight tracks on the play-along CD for practicing arpeggios: Track 22 con- sists of dominant chords, two measures each, through the cycle of Sths, beginning on C7. I play Ex. 11 with track 22, Track 23 is the same progression at a slightly faster tempo. I play Ex. 12 with track 23. Track 24 is major chords, two measures each, through the cycle of Sths, beginning on Cmaj7. 1 play Ex. 16 with track 24. Track 25 is minor chords, two measures each, through the cycle of Sths, beginning on Cin7, I play Bx. 17 with track 25. You can also use play-along tracks 6 through 9 to practice major and dominant chords, one measure each, through the cycle of Sths ‘These 20 exercises deal with diatonic harmony based on the major scale. When you have mastered these, the next step is to play the same type of exercises with the melodic ‘minor, harmonic minor, diminished, and whole-tone scales. When you run out of things to practice, aska saxophone player or guitar player what they are practicing at the moment. Ex 1: Use this exercise with all of the scales you practice. gz et £ Ex 2: This is the same pattern as Ex. 1, but rhythmically displaced: three-note patterns in groups of four. Ex 4; Alternating the patterns from Ex. 1 and Ex. 3. THE JAZZ BASS BOOKEx 5: Use this exercise with all scales. £ Ex 6: This is the same exercise as Ex. 5, but rhythmically displaced: four-note patterns in groups of three. == Ex 7: Alternating C triad and D triad to imply Cmaj7#11. Ex 8: Alternating Gm triad and F triad to imply C7sus. Ex 9: Alternating C triad and Gj triad to imply a C739. Ex 10: C triad followed by an Ejmm triad to imply a C7#9. Ex. 11 186 THE JAZZ BASS BOOKarpeggio exercises Ex. 13 Ex 15 Ex. 16 Ex. 19 ae wat tS = 2 eS Ex. 20 cam7 AbTiC THE JAZZ BASS BOOK 187