How Wes Montgomery Uses Arpeggios: 8 Ideas From His "Misty" Solo

Short answer: Wes Montgomery's go-to arpeggio move in his "Misty" solo (Smokin' at the Half Note, 1965) is playing a major 7 or major 9 arpeggio from the 3rd of the chord. Over A-7 he plays a CMaj.9 arpeggio, over D minor an FMaj.9, and over E-7 a GMaj.7: the relative major of the minor chord. He also starts and ends phrases with arpeggios, mixes them with scale runs, plays them in triplets (it's a ballad played double time), and moves through diatonic triads to build a melody on top.

All eight examples come from Wes Montgomery's solo on Misty from the album Smokin' at the Half Note, a 1965 recording. He plays it with a double-time feel, so listen to the record for his exact tempo. They go from simple to more complex: number one is easy, and number eight is pretty difficult. ▶ 0:31

The notation and tabs for all eight are in the free PDF: download the Wes Montgomery arpeggio ideas PDF. ▶ 1:04

The 8 ideas at a glance

Idea 1: a major 9 arpeggio from the 3rd of the ii chord

The first one is a ii-V, A-7 to D7, and Wes just uses a basic CMaj.9 arpeggio: C, E, then he slides into the B and goes up to D. To end it on the D7 he goes back to the B, the 13th of D7, and skips down to D. ▶ 1:04

It shows how you can use a major 7 arpeggio in a bluesy way. That slide almost sounds like it wants to resolve to G, but it doesn't. It goes to D, and that extends the phrase, because it feels like there's still something left to be said. ▶ 1:40

How to use it yourself: think of the relative major of the ii chord. A-7's relative major is C major, so that's where the arpeggio comes from. Or think of it as starting a major 9 arpeggio from the 3rd of the ii chord (C), which works on any ii-V. ▶ 2:12

Idea 2: a descending FMaj.9 over D minor

Same idea, now over D minor, and this time descending. The F major 9 arpeggio is F A C E G. Wes starts on the G, the 11th of D minor, and really targets the 9th, E, at the beginning, then gets the lower octave of the E at the end. The little slide into that last E gives it a bluesy feel again. ▶ 2:51

Idea 3: a scale run that connects into an arpeggio

This is a double-time line over the same A-7 to D7, and it's interesting because Wes uses a scale first and then connects it to an arpeggio. The arpeggio isn't the first part of the lick. ▶ 3:29

He starts on G♯ to anticipate the A, a common way to approach the root that you'll want to know for any minor sound, then goes up the scale. From the 5th of A minor he connects into an E-7 arpeggio, and coming back down he treats it like a C major arpeggio (CMaj.7 or CMaj.9), ending on the D7. ▶ 4:05

It's starting to get trickier because there are more upsweeps: rotate your wrist a little. This is beginner-to-intermediate territory. ▶ 4:45

Idea 4: triplets on a ballad (GMaj.7 over E-7)

This one is on the turnaround of Misty. Misty is usually played as a ballad, and on ballads you tend to hear either a double-time feel with lots of 16th notes or a lot of triplets, so the line has speed even though the tune is slow. That's why it's worth practicing arpeggios and triads in triplets as well as regular 8th notes. ▶ 4:58

Wes plays a two-octave GMaj.7 arpeggio over E-7, starting on F♯, the major 7th of G or the 9th of E. Two sets of triplets, then he stops the triplets so he can land on that 9th, a really nice note to end a phrase on. Coming back down is an E-7 arpeggio, with a little hammer-on to finish. ▶ 6:33

Notice how often the major 7 arpeggio shows up even when the chord isn't a major 7 chord: here it's the ii chord.

A note on technique: I play these with a pick, not my thumb like Wes. That's only because I play with a pick, so that's how I learn the lines. ▶ 6:01

Idea 5: making a plain C major chord sound good

On a CMaj.7 chord, with no sharps or flats, it can be hard to come up with ideas that don't sound lame. This one gives you a way, using only diatonic notes. ▶ 7:46

It's triplet-based and starts with an enclosure, D B C, enclosing the C, then the same kind of C major arpeggio as before. Then comes the interesting part: descending 4ths in triplets, like D down to A, C down to G. ▶ 8:18

Wes does this a lot in his solos, and it's not a concept you can just be told and then play. You need to work out the fingering and shed it. Most people's first instinct is to roll one finger across the strings; I've found it's more effective for playing fast and accurately to use a single finger for each note. The fingering is written next to it in the PDF. ▶ 8:48

Idea 6: sidestepping and whole-tone sounds on the altered V

Back to the A-7 to D7 ii-V, this time resolving to G, with a lot happening on the D altered chord. ▶ 9:21

It starts with an E minor triad. I think of it as a CMaj.9 arpeggio he's targeting, played back and forth in 3rds, in triplets. ▶ 9:49

On the D altered, he does what a lot of people call sidestepping (or side-slipping): instead of A minor, he goes up for a moment to B♭ minor and spells out a B♭-7 arpeggio. Then comes an augmented sound, like D7♯5, from the whole-tone scale: you hear the natural 9, the ♯5 and the major 3rd. It lands on G with a bluesy ending, like something you'd hear on a G blues. ▶ 10:21

Idea 7: a melody on top of moving triads

Wes uses major and minor triads from the key of C. First a G triad (or think of it as outlining E-7), then an F triad, then an E minor triad. The top note of each one makes a descending melody: D, C, B, A. There's an inner melody happening on each of those peaks. Then there's a nice bebop ending over C. ▶ 11:47

It also shows how to use the 4th of a major chord, which people usually call an avoid note. The first time, he lands on F as part of an F major triad, inside a bigger moving pattern of G, F, E minor triads, so your ear hears it as part of the pattern. The other time is on the way down: the F resolves to E, and the E lands on the strong beat, which gives it almost a G7-to-C sound. If the F had landed on the strong beat, it wouldn't have worked. ▶ 12:35

Idea 8: a long upsweep (EMaj.7 over C♯-7)

The most complex one: a really long upsweep arpeggio. Think of the rhythm as really fast 16th-note triplets. Leading into C♯-7, Wes plays an EMaj.7 arpeggio across a couple of octaves. ▶ 14:11

Practice it in pieces: triplet, triplet, then one more triplet, then an 8th-note rest. Once you have that, there's a 16th-note pattern (1 e & a), then it goes back to 8th notes, stretching to the A♯ for F♯7 and ending on E. If you were using this as a regular ii-V going to B major, you could go to D♯ instead. ▶ 14:42

Frequently asked questions

What arpeggios did Wes Montgomery use?

In his "Misty" solo he leans on major 7 and major 9 arpeggios, often played from the 3rd of a minor chord: CMaj.9 over A-7, FMaj.9 over D minor, GMaj.7 over E-7. He also uses minor 7 arpeggios, diatonic triads, and a B♭-7 arpeggio as a sidestep over D7 altered.

Why play a major 7 arpeggio over a minor 7 chord?

Think of the relative major of the minor chord, or start a major 9 arpeggio from the minor chord's 3rd. Over A-7 that's CMaj.9 (C E G B D), and because it's built from the ii chord, you can use the same idea on any ii-V.

Which Wes Montgomery album has "Misty"?

These examples come from his solo on "Misty" on Smokin' at the Half Note, a 1965 recording, where he plays it with a double-time feel.

How should I practice jazz arpeggios?

Practice them in regular 8th notes and in triplets. Ballads like Misty are often played with triplet or double-time lines, so you need both to use arpeggios musically.

Is the 4th an avoid note on a major 7 chord?

It can clash, but Wes uses it in two ways that work: as part of an F major triad inside a moving pattern of triads, and as a passing note that resolves down to the 3rd on a strong beat.

Keep learning

• Corey Christiansen's two shapes for scales and arpeggios: simple fingerings for playing arpeggios like these across the neck
• How to play over ii-V-I progressions without memorizing licks: build your own ii-V-I lines the way Wes connects arpeggios here
• How to play faster on jazz guitar: picking technique for fast double-time lines and upsweeps

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