Simple Arpeggio Superimpositions

This is a quick note on two superimposition strategies that are quite common in jazz, and that enable you to use your triad and seventh arpeggios to create more sophisticated sounds without having to memorize anything new.

Building on the 3

These are often called "3 to 7" or "3 to 9" superimpositions; the idea is to build a triad or seventh on the third of the chord you're playing over. For example, if the chord is C major, the third is E so you'll play an E-rooted arpeggio of some kind; if the chord is C minor, the third is Eb (a flat third) so we'd build on that.

The trouble is, what kind of arp should we choose? Here's a quick crib:

Matt Warnock, who knows the jazz vocabulary very well, gives the following recommendations:

• On a Minor 7, use the Major 7 built on the b3 (2 b3 5 b7)
• On a Dominant 7, use the Half diminished built on the 3 (2 3 5 b7)
• On a Major 7, use the Minor 7 built on the 3 (2 3 5 7)

These are very "vanilla" options, since they just outline all the notes of the unaltered ninth chord minus the root. This is very useful. We could also add:

• On a Half Diminished, use the Minor 7 built on the b3 (b2 b3 b5 b7)

which, although it contains the b9, is a pretty plain and simple sound. So our table looks like this, with these very safe but still useful sounds coloured green:

The others are all worth experimenting with to see what you can find. I would highlight just a few others:

Dominant 7 built on the 3 gives you a cheap way to get that Harmonic Major sound of a b6 against a Major 7, which is quite popular among some modern players. On the b3 it gives a Phrygian sound, while Diminished built on the 3 implies Phrygian Dominant, a common sound on a dominant 7 that acts as the V to a minor chord (e.g. E7 -> Am). These ideas alone give you more than enough to play on almost any jazz tune.

Building on the 7

Another typical scheme is to build an arpeggio on the 7th of the chord, which is often known as playing its "upper structure" since you almost always end up with some combination of 7, 9, 11 and 13. Because they're symmetrical it makes a bit less sense to do this with diminished and augmented arpeggios so we'll just look at the four main seventh chord qualities here:

The most "vanilla" sounds here are:

• On a Minor 7 and Dominant 7, use the Major 7 built on the b7 (b7 9 11 13)
• On a Major 7, use the Half Diminished 7 built on the 7 (7 9 11 13) or the Minor 7 for a Lydian sound
• On a Half Diminished, use the Minor 7 built on the b7 (b7 b9 11 b13)

Here they are shaded:

Of the others, the ones built on the 7 give usable altered sounds over a Major 7 chord, especially in a non-functioning context (where the chord isn't clearly a tonic or subdominant), and the ones built on the b7 can work over an altered dominant chord (again, one that's acting as V7 to a minor chord).

These aren't the only options available to you by any means -- check out my free ebook for full tables of all the possibilities.