Most guitarists play a maj7 arpeggio the way I pack a suitcase: grab the nearest shape, cram everything into one box, and leap violently to the next position while nobody enjoys the journey. It works, technically. It also sounds like a staircase falling down.
This 40-second clip is the polite alternative. It's exercise #7: melodic voice leading with major 7 arpeggios, cycled through the circle of fourths. Same four notes per chord (1-3-5-7), but instead of jumping, the top voice tiptoes to the nearest available chord tone. It's an arpeggio study that actually behaves like music.
How the voice leading works
Here's the whole trick. A major 7 arpeggio is just four notes: root, major third, fifth, major seventh. When you move to the next chord a fourth away, don't reset to the root every time. Instead, look at your highest note and ask: which chord tone of the new maj7 is closest? Move there by the smallest possible step, usually a semitone or a whole tone. That single decision keeps the top voice singing a smooth melodic line while your hand stays parked in roughly the same region of the neck.
The concrete takeaway: pick the top string as your "melody" voice and consciously voice-lead only that note through all twelve keys. Let the lower notes fall into whatever shape supports it. Do it slowly, name each top note out loud, and you'll murder two birds at once, fretboard knowledge and clean maj7 phrasing, without moving your elbow like a maniac.
Warning: once you hear how good stepwise motion feels, jumping back to root-position arpeggios will physically hurt, like going back to a flip phone. Grab the tab, PDF and Guitar Pro file, then come suffer beautifully with me on Patreon.