The EXACT Way Pros Play R&B Neo-Soul (Copy This)

[00:00:00][music] [music] [music] >> In this lesson, we are going to learn a simple, yet very complete [music] neo-soul riff.

[00:00:18]Complete because it really contains all of the essential elements of this style.

[00:00:23]So, stick [music] till the end of the lesson cuz we're going to explain all of the aspects behind a simple, [music] yet efficient riff like this one. We're going to start with a single note arpeggio on an E-flat minor 7 chord like this one. [music] Now, when we play this chord, the root note is on the A string.

[00:00:42]I'm playing a barre chord and then these two fingers as an A minor 7 type of shape that we're moving around through the caged system, essentially. And what we want to do is a four-note arpeggio with all downstrokes and a little bit of palm muting.

[00:00:56]And when you get to the B string, you do a typical hammer-on pull-off between the ninth of the chord and the minor [music] third.

[00:01:07]And then, you continue with the last two notes of the arpeggio, which are going to be two upstrokes.

[00:01:14]>> [music] >> And this already sets the move. It gets you into the actual groove of this simple neo-soul riff. And then you continue with a slightly more advanced chord movement, which happens on the F chord. And this time, we're going to play an F7 sharp nine.

[00:01:32]This is also known as the Hendrix [music] chord. You need two one three to play the shell voicing of this chord.

[00:01:38]And then the pinky here on fret nine is going to give you the sharp nine of this chord. And straight after doing that, you will do the flat nine, which essentially means you're moving from fret nine to fret seven with the top note on the B string. But, it's very convenient to do cuz you don't move these three fingers. You just lift >> [music] >> the pinky off really, and you bar the first finger down to get the flat nine of this chord.

[00:02:05]And then you go to your B [music] minor seven, which I like to play this way with the second finger and the ring finger, but you can use any other fingering or position that you know for this chord. And while the F seven sharp nine flat nine was just played as a single strum, again on the sharp nine and then on the flat nine, here we play again a single note arpeggio or note arpeggio, which you can play either with four down strokes >> [music] >> or three down strokes and an up stroke if you want to help yourself with the next movement needed, and maybe you can also play a little staccato on the last note of the arpeggio. And then like I said, you keep these two fingers here, but then you add the pinky here and the first finger on fret four to play a B minor 11, which essentially is still the same chord of B minor seven, but you're now you're extending it to the 11th doing this sort of melody on the top note. So, So so far the elements that we have, and the reason why I said it is a really complete riff for the relatively simple, is that you've got a palm muting with a hammer-on pull-off um embellishment on a single note arpeggio >> [music] >> followed by two dominant seven altered chords, and then a minor seven extended to the 11, [music] and you can finish all this with a single note line with a very pentatonic flavor.

[00:03:37]You essentially play all of the notes of a B flat minor pentatonic, essentially starting from the minor third at D flat, then E flat, F all on the same string, I do hammer-on and then slide, and then A flat B flat on the D string with another hammeron.

[00:03:54]Like this. In this way, you've combined your embellishment, single note arpeggios, altered dominant seventh chord, extended chord with a minor 11, and then a little pentatonic phrase that ties all together because when you finish this, >> [music] >> you can anchor this ring finger down, and you're very [music] comfortable, ready to go with another loop of this chord progression. And now, just a quick pause from the lesson to let you know that this video is brought to you by Guitar Pro. Guitar Pro is a notation software that most of you are probably already aware of, and I've personally used for over 10 years. It's how I made the tab for this very lesson that you see on screen, and you can find on my Patreon page, as well as any other tab that you've ever seen on my channel or on my guitar courses. And the great thing about Guitar Pro is that you don't just read, look at tabs, but you can actually hear them. You can play them, and they sound great. Like I said, I've been using it for many years, but I must say that in the last two, three years, the updates that they released really brought this software to the next level.

[00:05:03]Some of the best features are that you can now import your audio file into Guitar Pro to help yourself while you transcribe, and your tabs now are more complete than ever cuz you can have chord diagrams and even scale diagrams on top of your tabs. This is great for remembering licks and riffs that you learn, but also for transcribing, and even to develop ear training. It's great for composing, for songwriters, obviously, but also for guitar students or guitar teachers, and even for content creators. And lastly, I want to mention Guitar Pro's official library with My Songbook, where you have thousands of tabs ready to play along to. By far, the best way to learn new songs, new repertoire. Check out Guitar Pro. I'll add the link in the description below.

[00:05:53]And right now, there is a special summer sale offer where you can get 25% off Guitar Pro 8 and 50% off the 1-year subscription to My Songbook. And with every purchase, the Overdrive Legends ToneX collection is included. So, if you were waiting for the best time to get Guitar Pro, it's right now. Check it out at the link in the description below.

[00:06:18]And now, back to the lesson. So, the first part was >> [music] >> And the second part >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> We are in the key of B flat minor.

[00:07:09]>> [music] >> The melody is on the B flat minor pentatonic. So, this is the four minor chord, the E flat minor seven. [music] And this is the one minor chord, the B flat minor seven. And essentially, you can look at this progression as just as a two chord chord progression. However, to connect the four minor to the one minor, which is a great movement, you go through the secondary dominant, the five seven essentially, of that one minor. And instead of doing just four minor one minor, I do four minor tension with the >> five [music] seven.

[00:07:47]Going to the one minor. And if you guys like these chord progressions and you want to learn everything about this style, all of the techniques involved, and even the music theory behind it, the most complete course on neo-soul guitar is linked in the description below. So, yeah, simple chord progression in B flat minor for today's lesson. Let me know in the comments how you like it or if you have any questions. And if you enjoyed this lesson, watch this video next cuz both YouTube and I think that you will love it.