I guess while we're on the topic.

My main focus for the few first years of my playing was mainly R&B/Soul/Funk.

What I've realized is that these R&B writers a lot of the time take major advantage of chord extensions like 7th, 9th,11th etc. Also there is a lot of sus and dom stuff. Playing guitar R&B guitar not only utilizes these types of chords but there are also a lot of hammer-on/pull off type stuff as well as syncopated rhythm stuff. To me R&B is more about the chord phrasing and syncopation than it is the chords itself. There are some great R&B/Soul songs out there that epitomize the genre with just some simple major minor triads.


For chord stuff I suggest you study a lot of Babyface's writing. He is responsible for a lot of the songs on my list as well as a huge chunk on classic 90's R&B. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are also R&B heavy weights that have written tons on hits. They're chords are awesome.

Also, in my opinion, the best sounding R&B is the kind that incorporates a little bit of jazz. i guess you would call it Gospel.

Musiq's "Love" is a great example of this. This sound is also what a lot of people associate with the Neo Soul movement, D'Angelo, Maxwell, Eryka Badu etc.

IMHO R&B guitar will never fail to be an ear pleaser. I go to GC and sit next to kids playing 64th note triplets at 220bpm in Lydian Dom and get my grown and sexy on and the chicks watching the door always come up to me. And thats what guitar playing is all about isn't it? Girls.

Since I have no idea how to post videos here I'll leave you a link to a guy by the name of Tim Stewart. He breaks into some nice R&B style playing about half way through the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6US_7EhU38A

Here's a link to a guy names Jairus Mozee who I think is great too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIb3WGUrAQ