constM6_4={rootStr:4,offsets:['x','x',0,-2,0,-2],fingers:[0,0,3,1,4,2]}// R-♭3-6-R (the borrowed iv)
constTOP3_MAJ={rootStr:1,offsets:['x','x','x',1,0,0],fingers:[0,0,0,2,1,1]}// plain triad, top strings
exportdefault{
styleIntro:
'Against keys-heavy neo-soul arrangements the guitar is a colourist: small rootless grips on the top strings, double-stop fills between vocal phrases, and chord stabs placed just behind the drums. Agree on extensions with the keys player, stay out of their octave, and treat silence as part of the part.',
comping:[
{
label:'Pluck and mute',
rhythm:'fingerstyle stabs + muted ghost 16ths',
description:'Pluck the grip with thumb and fingers, release fret pressure instantly for the staccato, fill between hits with muted ghost strums. Per-note dynamic control is why the genre is fingerstyle.',
},
{
label:'The neo-soul slide',
rhythm:'grip formed a half-step away, slid in on the beat',
description:'Assemble the full chord shape a half-step below (or above) the target, pluck, slide the whole grip in. The signature move — most common on the m9 and maj9 grips.',
},
{
label:'Mayfield hammer vocabulary',
rhythm:'one finger moves inside a held shape',
description:'Hold the barre, hammer single embellishments: 9→3 on the B string (A-shape), 5→6 on the B string (the My Girl move), ♭3→11 on the G string (minor shapes). Little Wing is this vocabulary at ballad tempo.',
},
{
label:'Cropper 6ths',
rhythm:'diatonic 6ths slid in from a fret below',
description:'Double-stop 6ths on the G+e string pair walking the scale — the Soul Man hook. One ladder per fill, then get out of the vocal\'s way.',
},
{
label:'The Dilla feel',
rhythm:'everything a hair behind the grid',
description:'Lay stabs slightly behind the drums and keep ghost 16ths even — displaced by less than a subdivision, drifting back across the phrase. Never rush a fill; "perfectly imperfect."',
},
],
plays:{
'rnb-mediant-circle':[
{
label:'m9 circle, slid into',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'iii9 — slide in from a half-step below'},
{shape:M9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'vi9'},
{shape:M9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'ii9'},
{shape:DOM13_6,extensions:['13'],note:'V13'},
],
tips:'One grip walks the whole circle — the move IS the slide into each new root. Keep every stab behind the beat; the drums are ahead of you on purpose.',
},
{
label:'m11 colour set',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M11_C,extensions:['11'],note:'iii11'},
{shape:M9_6,extensions:['9'],note:'vi9 — 9 on top'},
{shape:M11_C,extensions:['11'],note:'ii11'},
{shape:HENDRIX,extensions:['#9'],note:'V7♯9 — the soul exclamation'},
],
tips:'The 11 grips are darker and hollower than the 9s — use this set on the verse, the m9 set on the hook. The ♯9 V is the once-per-chorus spice, not the default.',
},
],
'rnb-6251':[
{
label:'Stevie cadence (9s and the 9sus)',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'vi9'},
{shape:DOM9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'II9 — the secondary dominant'},
{shape:SIX9_5,extensions:['6','9'],note:'I6/9 — resolve without a leading tone'},
],
tips:'The 9sus never sharpens into a plain dominant — it melts. Resolve to the 6/9 rather than a maj7 and the cadence lands like a sigh instead of a full stop.',
},
{
label:'Verse set with the ♯9 lift',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M11_C,extensions:['11'],note:'vi11'},
{shape:HENDRIX,extensions:['#9'],note:'II7♯9 — grit before the suspension'},
{shape:TOP3_MAJ,note:'plain triad on top — let the bass own the root'},
],
tips:'Ending on a bare high triad after three extended chords is the dynamic trick: the simplest chord in the progression hits hardest because of what preceded it.',
},
],
'rnb-maj7-vamp':[
{
label:'maj9 pair',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:MAJ9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'Imaj9'},
{shape:MAJ9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'IVmaj9 — same grip, five frets up (or string set over)'},
],
tips:'Two grips, four bars, infinite patience. Vary the pluck pattern, not the harmony — and if a keys player holds these voicings, drop to double-stop 6ths fills instead.',
},
{
label:'Embellished barres (Mayfield/Hendrix)',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:MAJ7_BARRE_6,note:'Imaj7 — hammer 5→6 on the B string, 9→3 inside'},
{shape:MAJ7_5,note:'IVmaj7 — answer with the A-shape hammers'},
],
tips:'The chord is a house and the hammers are someone moving around inside it. One embellishment per bar maximum — Castles Made of Sand is mostly air.',
},
],
'rnb-dorian':[
{
label:"D'Angelo pair",
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'i9'},
{shape:DOM9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'IV9 — the raised 6th lives here'},
],
tips:'Same dyad as the funk vamp at two-thirds the tempo: drag every hit behind the kick, ghost the 16ths unevenly, and let the pocket wobble — that wobble is the genre.',
},
{
label:'Barre wash (m11 + 13)',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:M11_BARRE,extensions:['11'],note:'i11 — one finger, lay it across'},
{shape:DOM13_6,extensions:['13'],note:'IV13'},
],
tips:'The lazy-looking version that sounds the deepest. Half-press the barre between hits for the pitchless scratch — texture first, harmony second.',
},
],
'rnb-gospel-amen':[
{
label:'The Amen cadence',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:MAJ7_5,note:'IVmaj7'},
{shape:M6_4,note:'iv6 — the borrowed minor, one semitone falls'},
{shape:MAJ9_5,extensions:['9'],note:'Imaj9 — home, with the 9 glowing on top'},
],
tips:'Voice-lead the 3rd of the IV down a semitone and hold everything else — the whole cadence is one finger\'s journey. Slow it down further than feels right.',
},
{
label:'Barre version with the high iv',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:MAJ7_BARRE_6,note:'IVmaj7'},
{shape:M6_4,note:'iv6 on the top four strings'},
{shape:MAJ7_5,note:'Imaj7'},
],
tips:'For the gospel walk, insert a passing diminished between any two diatonic chords a step apart (I→♯i°→ii) — same borrowed-from-the-choir logic as the iv.',
},
],
},
improv:{
scales:[
{over:'i9 / m9 vamps',scale:'dorian',why:'The neo-soul default — Brown Sugar is pure E Dorian. ("Neo-soul scale" in lesson jargon ≈ minor pentatonic + the 9; an alias, not a different scale.)'},
{over:'maj7 / maj9 vamps',scale:'major',why:'Major pentatonic with the 9th and 6th emphasized — land on colours, not roots.'},
{over:'V9sus / II9',scale:'mixolydian',why:'Mixolydian of each dominant; over the 9sus avoid the 3rd entirely — the suspension is the point.'},
{over:'i–iv minor vamps',scale:'minor',why:'Aeolian when the iv is minor (Didn\'t Cha Know) — the ♭6 differentiates it from the Dorian vamps.'},
],
targetNotes:
'Target the 9ths and 13ths, never the roots — over a m9 land on its 9, over a 13 land on its 13. The melodic vocabulary is double-stops (3rds, 4ths, 6ths) slid in from a fret below, and pentatonics stacked in 4ths for the modern sound.',
licks:[
{
over:'rnb-maj7-vamp',
description:'Curtis Mayfield figure (standard-tuning adaptation — Mayfield tuned to open F♯): hammer cells inside the held shape, landing on the 3rd and the 9th. The direct ancestor of Little Wing.',
tab:' Figure A (land on the 3rd) Figure B (land on the 9th→7th)\ne|---5h7p5--------| e|--5-------5------5------\nB|----------7-----| B|-----5h7-----p5---------\nG|----------------| G|---------------------6--\n A B A F# (A) E F# E C# (in D major)',
character:'Extended chords as the baseline (9ths are the floor, not the ceiling), grips slid into from a half-step away, and everything placed slightly behind the drums — the Dilla feel: the precise right amount of wrong.',
songs:['September — Earth, Wind & Fire (rotation family)','the soul turnaround started from the iii'],
tip:'The 1-6-2-5 family entered from the mediant — home is implied for three bars before the V finally points at it. Neo-soul lives in that deferral.',
},
{
id:'rnb-6251',
name:'Soul 6-2-5-1 (with dominant II)',
rn:['vi7','II9','V9sus','I'],
degrees:[9,2,7,0],
qualities:['min7','dom7','sus4','maj'],
bars:[1,1,1,1],
mode:'major',
songs:["Isn't She Lovely — Stevie Wonder"],
tip:'The II is a secondary dominant (not the polite ii), and the V arrives as a 9sus — suspended, never quite dominant, melting into the I. Stevie\'s whole cadence language in four chords.',
},
{
id:'rnb-maj7-vamp',
name:'Two-chord maj7 vamp (Imaj7–IVmaj7)',
rn:['Imaj7','IVmaj7'],
degrees:[0,5],
qualities:['maj7','maj7'],
bars:[2,2],
mode:'major',
songs:['Waiting in Vain — Bob Marley',"Cruisin' — Smokey Robinson (I–ii7 variant)"],
tip:'Two lush chords trading forever — the song is the texture. The same vamp underpins half of modern bedroom R&B; colour it differently every two bars.',
},
{
id:'rnb-dorian',
name:'Dorian vamp (i7–IV9, D\'Angelo school)',
rn:['i9','IV9'],
degrees:[0,5],
qualities:['min7','dom7'],
bars:[1,1],
mode:'dorian',
songs:["Spanish Joint — D'Angelo","Didn't Cha Know — Erykah Badu (i–iv minor variant)","Brown Sugar — D'Angelo (E Dorian loop)"],
tip:'The IV9 carries the raised 6th that makes it Dorian — the same pair as the funk vamp, slowed to 70 BPM and dragged behind the beat.',
tip:'The IV turns minor on its way home — borrowed from the parallel minor, the single most-borrowed chord in soul. One semitone (the 3rd of the IV falling) does all the work.',
},
]
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