Jazz-Metal Fusion: How To Add Sweep Picking Over A Jazz Chord Progression

If you’re a metal guitarist, consider yourself lucky. You were born with an attraction to the most powerful, fun, and diverse style of music out there. Metal, more than any other style I know, has the most subgenres and draws influence from most genres outside of its own. It’s a style rich with blues, rock, and even classical elements fused into it. In this lesson, we are going to see how one of the most underappreciated, yet one of the most influential, genres of music can carry over into metal. That genre, of course, is jazz. We’ll use the ii-V-I chord progression, a staple in jazz music, and integrate sweep picking using corresponding arpeggios. Prepare to be challenged and develop yourself into a more well-rounded player by seeing how these two worlds collide.

ii Chord (Am7)

The first chord in our progression, the ii chord, is an Am7 chord. It is constructed of a root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th, and minor 7th.

Over the Am7 chord, we'll play an A minor arpeggio. The A minor arpeggio fits especially well over the Am7 chord because it uses nearly all the same notes found in the chord except for the minor 7th scale degree.

V Chord (D7)

Next in our progression is the V chord. We will play a D7 chord which is typically constructed of a root, 3rd, perfect 5th, and minor 7th. In this case, however, we omit the perfect fifth interval due to the chord variant. This chord can also be referred to as a dominant 7th chord.

Over the D7 chord, we'll play a D major arpeggio. The D major arpeggio sounds good over the D7 chord because it uses nearly all the same notes found in the chord except for the minor 7th scale degree. The A note of our arpeggio "fills in the gap" of the perfect fifth that is omitted from our D7 chord variant.

I Chord (Gmaj7)

Lastly, we are going to bring it home to our I chord by playing a Gmaj7 chord. This chord is constructed by a root, third, fifth, and seventh.

Over the Gmaj7 chord, we'll play a G major arpeggio. The G major arpeggio sounds killer over the Gmaj7 chord because it uses nearly all the same notes found in the chord except for the 7th scale degree.

Conclusion

Now you’ve got an authentic jazz progression you can sweep into your metal playing. Jazz is so influential to metal, yet it doesn’t seem to be recognized too much in our community. The use of the major arpeggios alongside the ii-V-I progression can help you stand out if you choose to bring them into your playing. Be sure to start at a tempo where you can play each note cleanly before working your way up to a faster speed. These techniques take time but stick in and you’ll be shredding them up and down the neck in no time.

Watch the full lesson here: Jazz-Metal Fusion: How To Add Sweep Picking Over A Jazz Chord Progression