R&B fills, licks, intervals, double stops, chord voicings

[Guitar Storage]

I'm looking for a good book on R&B type fills or something on intervals that show patterns across the fretboard. R&B chord voicings would be nice too but really looking for those interval type fills that were so often used. Would love to see how they progress across the fretboard on various strings.

For some reason, I can't find anything like that. Someone who knows what they're doing ought to write a book. They'd be cornering the market. Something similar or part of the same with Double Stops would be helpful too. And there's no book of double stops that I can find.

[McGlamRock]

These are two really common double stop patterns. I tabbed the full chords in parenthesis so you can see how this pattern fits over an A Major chord. It's also very common to add a C natural and D sharp at the 8th fret to add some chromaticism when playing these types of double stop fills.


e--5---7----9----------------------
b-(5)------(10)--------------------
g--6---7----9---------------------
d-(7)------(11)--------------------
a----------------------------------
E----------------------------------


This example is over a D Major chord
add an F natural and a G# at the sixth fret for more chromaticism in this example.

e-(2)-------(5)--------------------
b--3---5----7---------------------
g-(2)------(7)---------------------
d--4---5----7----------------------
a-(5)-------(5)--------------------
E----------------------------------

[JulianPrimeaux]

The double-stops are mostly fourths and thirds. I typed these up real fast to show you the voicings, not actual licks. Example in E:

===E F#m E F#m G#m B C#m E C#m B E
E: --4----2----0----2----4----7----9----12----9----7----4
B: --5----2----0----2----4----7----9----12----9----7----5
G:
D:
A:
E:

Another example involving 3 notes per chord voicing:
====E B C#m B A E G#m F#m E
E: --12----11----9----7----5----4----4----2----0
B: --12----12----9----7----5----5----4----2----0
G: --13----11----9----8----6----4----4----2----1
D:
A:
E:

[JulianPrimeaux]

Sorry it's not lining up the chord name directly above the chord. It keeps readjusting it for some reason. Just line them up directly over the chord. Essentially, you want to walk these up and down the neck and end the fill on the appropriate chord. Sliding in and out of these chords adds a lot to it. Also try playing some of the voicings multiple times, short and staccato, that's a big part of it.

[Guitar Storage]

Well its not the book I'm lookin for but every little bit helps. Thanks guys. Keep it comin

[soul-o]

Cornell Dupree published a really good book about that subject and, more recently, my buddy Thaddeus Hogarth published a Berklee textbook on R&B guitar that is really good.

[thunderbyrd]

i've been looking for a book that sums up R&B guitar, too, and haven't yet found one. i'd really love to play like Teenie Hodges on Al Green's records.

but one way to get a handle on some R&B stuff is to swipe licks from Jimi Hendrix's ballads. little wing, castles made of sand, wind cries mary, etc all have lots of R&B, Curtis Mayfield Gospel guitar licks.

[Guitar Storage]

This is close to what I was looking for but more complete.

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/lesson.php?id=226

[Big John Studd]

I have always thought Steve Cropper is a master at this. I don't know if there's any material out there that specifically covers his style. I do have some Hal Leonard R&B song books that include accurate transcriptions of Cropper's guitar parts on Dock Of The Bay, Soul Man, etc., and those songs are chock full of R&B double-stops and the rest.

[Guitar Storage]

I've got a steve cropper book and the cornell dupree book mentioned before, but they really don't go into any depth about this stuff (they are mostly transcriptions) and there is no fretboard layout similar to the link I showed above. I think someone could make some money if they put something out in depth on this stuff and tied it all in together.

[FatTeleTom]

I found Dave Rubin's "Birth of the Groove" book helpful

http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Groove-G...9326585&sr=1-3

It gives you some foundational examples you can build on, and provides some nice historical context as well.

If you're looking for a large catalog of riffs, it's probably not the right choice. But for some really focused examples that will help you work out your own stuff, it's very good.

Although I haven't seen it, I suspect this book, also by Rubin, would be helpful, as it breaks down parts from some soul/r&b classics

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Method-...t_at_ep_dpt_10

To some extent, you can just "follow the dots" as Cropper likes to say. But it's one of those deals where you really want to learn your fretboard and basic theory, i.e. know your 4ths, 6ths, and mixolydian (root and flat 7) intervals all over the neck.

[Guitar Storage]

Originally Posted by FatTeleTom

I found Dave Rubin's "Birth of the Groove" book helpful

[url]http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Groove-Guitar-1945-1965-
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Method-...t_at_ep_dpt_10

Got that one too but still, for my own learning preferences, I would like to see these (intervals visually laid out across the fretboard so that I can visually see the patterns. Don't know why none of these books seem to want to do that. I learn better looking (also seeing and remembering) visual patterns. Then maybe see examples in songs where those visual patterns are applied.

[pdxjoel]

Originally Posted by soul-o

Cornell Dupree published a really good book about that subject and, more recently, my buddy Thaddeus Hogarth published a Berklee textbook on R&B guitar that is really good.

I'll second Mr. Dupree's book. The best method I've found for picking this stuff up is to just play along with all those songs. At its heart, that kind of R&B playing is highly melodic and usually pretty linear, based off the chord forms. Go out and learn all your triad inversions in major, minor, dominant 7 and diminished and you've got it covered. It sounds like a big task, but given how many repeat and how fast your fingers start to learn, it's not too bad.

[FatTeleTom]

I'm not sure what one could really do in terms of presenting a more comprehensive fingerboard diagram. If you tried to include all the 6ths/3rd interval pairs in every key on a single chart, you'd have dots everywhere. Same with the root/7th interval pairs, and 4ths interval double-stops.

To a great extent, most everything you need to know is laid out in McGlam and Julian's first replies here. To really be apply to apply this stuff, I'd suggest that you take what they've written, think about what the notes/intervals are in each case, and how those apply to a given key, and then write out some fingerboard charts showing all of those pairs in each of a few keys. The process of charting them out yourself will probably burn them into your brain much better than reading an existing chart.

For example, the Hubert Sumlin riff in the Howlin Wolf blues tune "Killin Floor" is basically McGlam's first example but in reverse (descending from 9th fret, to 7th fret, then the 6th/5th fret notes over the I chard (an A chord in the key of a A).

Then the same riff repeats starting on the 14th fret over the IV chord (D).

So, think about what each of those notes/intervals are in relation to those two chords. For example, the first riff ends on the 5th fret first string and 6th fret third string. That's the root and major third (A and C#) of the A chord.

Same intervals apply for the end of the riff over the D chord, at the 10th/11th frets.

So, if you know your 6th-string root bar chards (i.e. E shape, or F shape at the first 1st), you also know the position of that root/major 3rd pairing for any chord/key.

And conveniently enough, the main riff in Soul Man is basically that Kilin Floor riff moved down two frets. I think the Soul Man riff adds the note on the 2nd string as well, but the 1st/3rd string notes work the same way. Of course, Soul Man has those ultra tasty intro licks too, but those are just the same intervals (6ths) as the first notes in the Killin Floor riff, moved around to fit different chords.

Get those two shapes down and you're halfway home.

Tabs for comparision:

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/h/ho..._floor_tab.htm

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/sa...ul_man_tab.htm

[jefsut]

+1 on Dave Rubin's book. Very useful.

[Guitar Storage]

Originally Posted by FatTeleTom

I'm not sure what one could really do in terms ......

Thanks for the continued advice and I'l certainly get a practice session in using it but as I mentioned before, here something from a guy who has the idea. http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/lesson.php?id=226

Obviously I agree that it would be way too complex if one chart included everything. That's not what I'd want to see. It could be done individually for 4th's, 6ths, etc. It could be broken up even further to 6ths using different sets of strings and so on.

[FatTeleTom]

Just take McGlamRock's two examples and walk them both all the way up the fretboard and you've got most of it. You just need to think about the notes in each key.

Most often, you hear these as mixolydian (i.e. with a flat 7th), fitting in with the tendency towards dominant 7th chords in blues and soul.

So, extending MGR's example in A mixo, which consists of the notes a, b, c#, d, e, f#, g, you get

e--5---7----9---10-12-14-15-17-------------
b-(5)------(10)--------------------
g--6---7----9---11-12-14-16-18-------------
d-(7)------(11)--------------------
a----------------------------------
E----------------------------------

Keep in mind that 5th fret note on the top string is your "root", so you can just shift the whole pattern up or down accordingly (i.e. for the key of G, move everything down 2 frets).

(someone check my work--doing this without guitar in hand is hard!)

[Chase TM]

Honestly man, i'm not trying to be an ass or anything, but wouldn't lifting RnB tunes be a much more direct and organic approach?

[McGlamRock]

Originally Posted by Chase TM

Honestly man, i'm not trying to be an ass or anything, but wouldn't lifting RnB tunes be a much more direct and organic approach?

+1 someone can write out all the double stop patterns in the world but it still won't help with implementing them. Transcribe the beginning of "Soul Man" to get started. It's an easy one and I bet you can already sing that lick in your head (and like me professor use to tell me, "if you can sing it, you can play it!")

[JulianPrimeaux]

Originally Posted by FatTeleTom

To a great extent, most everything you need to know is laid out in McGlam and Julian's first replies here. To really be apply to apply this stuff, I'd suggest that you take what they've written, think about what the notes/intervals are in each case, and how those apply to a given key, and then write out some fingerboard charts showing all of those pairs in each of a few keys. The process of charting them out yourself will probably burn them into your brain much better than reading an existing chart.

+1

Just sit there and play with some of this stuff and it'll get you very close. Let your brain do a fair amount of the work understanding how it all correlates and send the magic down into your fingers. Also, a lot of low string, major key country licks are really, really similar to the lower riff-like parts and fills those r&b guys used to play. I spent 6 years in an all black band, playing old juke-joints & chitlin' circuit clubs in the deep South. Trust me, this is a big chunk of it. You just have to take the time to work with this stuff. I didn't look up charts and buy books and neither did the older guys. Just get down and dirty with it and you'll get it.