Originally, I thought I could keep up with my Exercise of the Week lesson, but I just don't have the time to be doing that on a weekly basis. So here is a toned down version - the Exercise of the Month. You can expect to see quite a wide variety of exercises here that will help you in many areas of your playing.

Let's face it - guitarists that blaze through arpeggios are a dime a dozen. You don't want to become just another one of the masses, so let's look at an exercise that takes a Dominant 7th Arpeggio and adds some interest to it. Specifically, we are looking at an A Dom7 arpeggio, which would of course sound great over an A Major or A Dom7 chord, or any other chord that can substitute for either of those chords.

Here we see the same Dominant 7th Arpeggio shape that I covered in the 7th Arpeggios lesson. You may want to see that lesson before tackling this exercise.

I find that the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs to be very pleasing when playing arpeggios. It gives a smooth sound as opposed to the choppy sound that you get when sweep picking. In fact, I find myself hardly ever sweeping arpeggios anymore. They just don't sound as harmonically interesting as 7th Arpeggios and other extended arpeggios. So when playing this exercise, take note in the tab where the hammer-ons and pull-offs occur. Also take note of the short, 2 string sweeps that occur throughout the exercise.

After you have become comfortable with this exercise, you may want to play the other 7th Arpeggio shapes similarly. Remember - there are 3 other 7th Arpegio shapes, and they are shown in my 7th Arpeggios lesson.

Have fun with this one!