The C minor 7 arpeggio (Cm7) is the Cm7 chord played one note at a time: C, E♭, G and B♭. Mellow and versatile, it sits entirely inside the minor pentatonic scale. Below is every Cm7 chord tone on the neck, then the five positions, each sitting inside one box of C minor pentatonic.
Every Cm7 chord tone from the open strings to the 15th fret.
Each position uses only the notes of one pentatonic box, so if you know the boxes you already know where the arpeggio lives. The dashed line shows the order to play it, low to high.
The Cm7 arpeggio shares its notes with C Dorian, C Aeolian, C Phrygian, and with the minor pentatonic (all four notes). Use the arpeggio to land on chord tones and the scale to fill the space between them.
Other arpeggios in C: C7 arpeggio · Cmaj7 arpeggio. The three-note version: Cm triads. All nine arpeggio types: guitar arpeggios guide.
Minor 7 arpeggio in other keys: C#m7 · Dm7 · Ebm7 · Em7 · Fm7 · F#m7 · Gm7 · G#m7 · Am7 · Bbm7 · Bm7.
Guides: pentatonic boxes guide · connecting the 5 boxes · breaking out of the box · learning the fretboard notes · mixing major and minor pentatonic · left-handed scale charts · guitar modes explained.
C, E♭, G and B♭ — the root, ♭3, 5 and ♭7 of Cm7.
C Dorian, C Aeolian, C Phrygian, and the C minor pentatonic (all four notes).
One note: raise the ♭3 one fret to a major 3rd and Cm7 becomes C7 (dominant 7).
Five, one inside each of the five pentatonic boxes, repeating every 12 frets.
