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Verified buyer
09/05/25
R&B Guitar Pocket Guide
ALL i CAN SAY ,IN A SHORT WAY . IS SOME SWEET STUFF. .
R&B Guitar Pocket Guide
Essential Chords, Techniques & Grooves for Modern R&B Guitar
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About this course
In R&B guitar, the magic lies in the feel, groove, and chord voicings.
Whether you’re laying it down in the studio, playing live, or developing your own sound, locking into the pocket is everything.
In R&B Guitar Pocket Guide, Callum Bair breaks down the core techniques and concepts behind that smooth, soulful sound — helping you develop the touch, tone, and timing that define modern R&B guitar.
Through short, focused lessons and real-world performance etudes, you’ll build a strong foundation and learn to apply it musically over stripped-down drum grooves. From basic triads to lush extensions, and plucking techniques to subtle whammy bar effects, Callum shows you how to craft parts that feel as good as they sound.
“Looking to master the pocket and quickly level up your R&B skills? This guide is a fast track to the chords, progressions, and techniques that define the genre,” says Callum.
You’ll explore:
Grab your guitar, feel the pocket, and let’s play some R&B with Callum Bair.
Whether you’re laying it down in the studio, playing live, or developing your own sound, locking into the pocket is everything.
In R&B Guitar Pocket Guide, Callum Bair breaks down the core techniques and concepts behind that smooth, soulful sound — helping you develop the touch, tone, and timing that define modern R&B guitar.
Through short, focused lessons and real-world performance etudes, you’ll build a strong foundation and learn to apply it musically over stripped-down drum grooves. From basic triads to lush extensions, and plucking techniques to subtle whammy bar effects, Callum shows you how to craft parts that feel as good as they sound.
“Looking to master the pocket and quickly level up your R&B skills? This guide is a fast track to the chords, progressions, and techniques that define the genre,” says Callum.
You’ll explore:
- Essential Chord Vocabulary: triads, 7th chords, minor 9ths, diminished voicings & more
- The 2-5-1 Progression: learn this key R&B staple inside and out
- Embellishment Techniques: hammer-ons, top voice fills, and tasteful flourishes
- Pocket Development: refine your timing and feel to lock in with the groove
- Performance Etudes: apply each concept musically over stripped-down beats
- Advanced Techniques: including altered chords, double stops, and whammy bar textures
Grab your guitar, feel the pocket, and let’s play some R&B with Callum Bair.
What you'll learn
- Navigate diminished chord inversions up and down the neck
- Create harmonic movement using symmetrical chord properties
- Apply hammer-on embellishments to diminished voicings
- Move between upper register voicings smoothly
- Understand how to create space in ensemble settings by playing higher voicings
Release date: 05/21/2025 • 3h 47m runtime
Sample lessons
Pocket Study 5 | Upper Structure Voicings
Performance
Pocket Study 5 | Upper Structure Voicings
Breakdown
What's included
43 lessons • 31 charts • 5 Jam Tracks
R&B Guitar Pocket Guide
Hey, it's Callum Bair. Looking to master your pocket and quickly level up your R&B guitar skills? This R&B Pocket Guide is your fast track to nailing the essential chords, progressions, and techniques that define the genre. We'll start with the basics: triads, seventh chords, and must-know progressions like the 2-5-1.
Then we'll add depth and color with minor ninths, major ninths, and diminished chords. You'll also learn how to bring your playing to life with hammer-ons, top voice fills, and smooth R&B embellishments. Each lesson is short and focused, making it easy to build your skills step-by-step. After every few lessons, you'll lock it all in with performance etudes played over stripped-down drum grooves, perfect for helping you feel the pocket and refine your timing.
I'll guide you through every technique, from plucking methods and double stops to altered chords and whammy bar tricks. This isn't just a guide to R&B guitar — it's your blueprint for mastering the pocket and flowing through any jam or gig with confidence. So grab your guitar and let's get started.
Then we'll add depth and color with minor ninths, major ninths, and diminished chords. You'll also learn how to bring your playing to life with hammer-ons, top voice fills, and smooth R&B embellishments. Each lesson is short and focused, making it easy to build your skills step-by-step. After every few lessons, you'll lock it all in with performance etudes played over stripped-down drum grooves, perfect for helping you feel the pocket and refine your timing.
I'll guide you through every technique, from plucking methods and double stops to altered chords and whammy bar tricks. This isn't just a guide to R&B guitar — it's your blueprint for mastering the pocket and flowing through any jam or gig with confidence. So grab your guitar and let's get started.
Quick Review: Intervals
We're kicking things off by digging into what I think is the most important concept in all of harmony and melody: intervals. No matter how deep you are into music theory—or if you mostly play by ear—understanding intervals is something that connects all musicians. In this course, we'll get familiar with how intervals work, using a simple C major scale to hear the different sounds between notes and start building a personal connection to harmony. We’re not aiming for perfection right away; instead, we'll introduce the language, like flat twos and sharp fours, and let it naturally become part of how we hear and play. As we move through different chord progressions, we'll keep coming back to these ideas, giving us a strong foundation to build from.
Quick Review: Triads
In this section, we’re laying the groundwork for R&B by getting familiar with the most essential chords: triads. Since R&B is so chord-heavy, it makes sense to start with the basics—major, minor, and diminished triads—so that we can recognize the ingredients behind everything we’ll be playing later. We’ll explore each triad in a couple of movable shapes (no open chords here), and break down the intervals that make them up, like the major third in a major triad or the flat third in a minor one. We’ll also start training our ears to hear the emotional differences between them—major as happy, minor as sad, diminished as tense—so that we can form a personal connection to each sound. Even if we don’t use these exact voicings later, understanding them will make everything we play throughout the course feel a whole lot clearer and more intuitive.
Maj 7 & Min 7 Chords
If we want to really get into R&B guitar, we’ve got to understand seventh chords—they’re everywhere, from the old-school sounds of Al Green and The Temptations to modern R&B tracks. In this section, we’ll start by building on the triads we’ve already learned and explore major 7 and minor 7 chords in movable shapes that we can use all over the neck. We’ll break down the intervals that give these chords their signature color—like the major 7 that adds that jazzy, pensive flavor, or the flat 7 that gives minor 7 chords their cool, laid-back vibe. We’ll also talk about voicings, fingerings, and how to get comfortable with these shapes so they feel less like theory and more like music we actually want to play. Along the way, we’ll make personal associations with the sounds to help lock them in, and set ourselves up to add embellishments and expressive touches later on.
Dom 7 & Half Dim 7 Chords
Now that we've got major and minor 7s under our fingers, it’s time to add a little more flavor with dominant 7 and half-diminished chords—two essential shapes that really bring out the color and personality in R&B progressions. We’ll see how dominant 7 chords build off a major triad by adding a flat 7, creating a sound that feels energetic and expressive—think James Brown and those classic funk grooves. Then we’ll dig into the half-diminished chord, which adds tension and a longing for resolution, perfect for more emotional or gospel-inspired movements. We’ll learn both shapes in a couple of movable positions, explore some right-hand technique, and talk about how to control the space and voicing so these chords don’t get muddy. As always, we’re not just memorizing shapes—we’re building a personal connection with the sound so we know when and how to use these chords musically.
Pocket Study 1 | C Major
In this first example, we’re keeping things simple by playing through all the seventh chords that naturally occur in the key of C major—but we’re not just playing them flat. We’re going to start adding some subtle R&B flavor with light embellishments like hammer-ons, trem bar swells, and other small touches that give the chords more personality. This is where rhythm guitar really starts to shine. Unlike in rock where rhythm might take a backseat to lead, in R&B, rhythm is the star of the show—it’s where the vibe lives. So as we go through this progression, we’ll focus on making the chords groove and feel expressive, which is really at the heart of playing great R&B guitar.
Pocket Study 1 | C Major
In this lesson, we’re diving into a simple chord progression built from the C major scale—but we’re using it to explore something much deeper: how the number system and embellishments can turn basic chords into expressive, soulful R&B. As we move from the I chord (Cmaj7) through all seven chords in the key—including that beautifully tense half-diminished chord—we’ll see how each one falls into place numerically and emotionally. Along the way, we’ll start to experiment with embellishments like right-hand rolls, hammer-ons, and trem bar swells to give each chord more vibe and character. This is where rhythm guitar really comes to life. It’s not about complexity—it’s about feel, detail, and connecting personally with the harmony. Even the simplest progression can feel rich and emotional when we add our own flavor, just like the greats we’ve heard on classic R&B records.
+ 36 more lessons
Reviews
4 results
ke z.
07/03/25
amazing course
I enjoy every part of it.
wford313
Verified buyer
06/30/25
Love it! Professional instructional video. I’ll take it.
Prof. M.
06/26/25
Extremely helpful!!!
Great balance of theory and emotionally engaging musical attitude. Learned a lot.
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