Guitar Etudes Vol. 1 – 7th Arpeggios by Sam Bell

Guitar Etudes Vol. 1 – 7th Arpeggios, taught by Sam Bell, is a focused and highly musical course designed to unlock one of the most essential tools in modern guitar playing: 7th arpeggios. Whether you play rock, fusion, metal, blues, or jazz-influenced styles, understanding and mastering minor 7th, major 7th, and dominant 7th arpeggios is critical for developing melodic clarity, harmonic awareness, and fretboard freedom.

This course moves beyond static scale shapes and instead teaches you how to outline chord tones with precision and musical intent. Through structured etudes and practical studies, Sam guides you through visualising and performing 7th arpeggios across the entire neck, helping you break out of box patterns and develop fluid, expressive lead and rhythm playing.

Each section builds progressively, ensuring that you not only understand the shapes themselves, but also how to apply them musically in real-world contexts.

About Sam Bell and His Influence

Sam Bell is one of the most respected modern guitar educators, known for his deep understanding of technique, fretboard visualisation, and musical phrasing. Drawing influence from fusion legends, modern progressive players, and classic rock stylists alike, Sam combines technical precision with real musical application.

His teaching style focuses on helping players understand the why behind the notes, not just the how. This approach allows guitarists to move beyond memorised patterns and instead develop genuine fretboard fluency. In this course, his clear explanations and structured etudes ensure that players can confidently integrate 7th arpeggios into their improvisation, composition, and soloing.

A Minor 7th Arpeggios Around the Neck

This section introduces A minor 7th arpeggios across multiple string sets and positions, helping you visualise the chord tones throughout the entire fretboard. Instead of being confined to a single shape, you learn how the same arpeggio connects horizontally and vertically.

Learning minor 7th arpeggios improves your ability to outline minor tonalities with clarity, making your solos sound more intentional and harmonically accurate. This also strengthens fretboard knowledge, improves position shifting, and builds confidence when improvising over minor chord progressions.

Study One – Minor 7 Arpeggios

Study One applies minor 7th arpeggios in a structured etude designed to develop timing, articulation, and phrasing. By performing these arpeggios in a musical context, you learn how to transition smoothly between shapes and create flowing melodic lines.

This study enhances picking accuracy, strengthens left-hand coordination, and teaches you how to turn technical exercises into expressive musical phrases. The result is smoother, more professional-sounding lead playing.

A Major 7th Arpeggios Around the Neck

Major 7th arpeggios introduce a more sophisticated and expressive harmonic colour, often associated with fusion, jazz, and melodic rock styles. This section teaches you how to visualise A major 7th arpeggios across the entire fretboard.

Mastering major 7th arpeggios allows you to create more emotional and harmonically rich melodies. It also improves your understanding of chord tones and enhances your ability to target strong notes when improvising, resulting in more refined and musical solos.

Study Two – Major 7 Arpeggios

This etude focuses on applying major 7th arpeggios in a musical setting, helping you develop smooth transitions, precise articulation, and expressive phrasing.

Working through this study improves fretboard navigation, builds technical control, and helps you integrate major 7th sounds naturally into your playing. It also strengthens your ability to move between chord tones seamlessly, creating more fluid and connected solos.

A Dominant 7th Arpeggios Around the Neck

Dominant 7th arpeggios are essential for blues, rock, fusion, and jazz guitar. This section teaches you how to visualise and perform A dominant 7th arpeggios across multiple positions, unlocking the full fretboard.

Learning dominant 7th arpeggios improves your ability to outline chord changes clearly, especially in blues and functional harmony settings. This enhances improvisational accuracy and gives your solos stronger harmonic direction.

Study Three – Dominant 7 Arpeggios

Study Three combines dominant 7th shapes into a flowing musical etude, helping you develop precision, timing, and fretboard fluency.

This study improves right-hand picking consistency, strengthens left-hand efficiency, and teaches you how to connect arpeggio shapes smoothly. It also enhances your phrasing, allowing you to create solos that sound structured and intentional.

Study Four – Combinations

This advanced etude combines minor 7th, major 7th, and dominant 7th arpeggios into a single musical study. This is where fretboard visualisation and technical control truly come together.

Combining multiple arpeggio types strengthens your ability to navigate chord changes effortlessly. It also improves improvisational flexibility and allows you to create more complex and sophisticated melodic lines.

Performances

The performances allows you to see and hear the etudes played in full musical context, demonstrating how these arpeggios function in real musical settings.

Watching and playing along with these performances helps develop timing, phrasing, and musical confidence. It reinforces everything learned throughout the course and shows how technical exercises translate directly into expressive guitar playing.

Techniques Covered

Arpeggios

Alternate Picking

Hammer-ons

Pull-offs

Slides

Legato

Sustain

Guitar Etudes Vol. 1 – 7th Arpeggios by Sam Bell is an essential course for any guitarist looking to master fretboard visualisation, improve technical control, and develop more musical, expressive solos. By learning how to connect minor 7th, major 7th, and dominant 7th arpeggios across the entire neck, you gain the tools needed to navigate chord progressions with confidence and precision.