How to play neo-soul chords

Learning to use chords is a huge part of the neo-soul guitar style – it's crucial that you learn how to build chords and their extensions.

How chords apply to neo soul

Chords serve as a foundation for extended techniques (slides, trills, hammer ons, and pull offs).
These techniques are what we call ‘ornamentation’ and help to make the chord really come alive.
Chords help beef up a melody by harmonizing it with double stops or block chords.
This is similar to how a jazz guitarist might play chord solos or how a country guitarist uses double stops and harmonized 3rds.
Extended chords (using 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th tones) add a rich, flavorsome sound to basic progressions.

What are neo-soul chords?

Most often, neo-soul chords are extended chords that contain extra sonic flavor compared to basic major and minor chord shapes.

For example, check out these two more "colorful" variations of the basic C chord below.

Chordal music theory

To understand today's chord progression, we need to look at some basic music theory to understand why the chords work so well together.

In the key of A major...

The A major scale is created using seven notes.
We can build seven chords from each note of the scale.

When Sam refers to the IV chord in the key of A major, we need to take 4 steps along the A major scale to find out which chord lives on the 4th degree of the scale.
Hot tip: A quick rule to memorize for the major scale is that the IV and V chords are always major.

We'll look at the music theory behind this chord progression in greater detail as you move through the learning pathway.

The neo-soul progression

Follow along with Sam in the video as he walks you through this neo-soul chord progression. Take your time to get some of these chord shapes under your hands so that they feel comfortable and familiar.

Let’s get into some exercises.

‍

Exercise 1. Chord shapes

Take this one nice and slow to start.

‍

Exercise 2. Track

Now you’ve got it! This time you’ll work with the track.

Sam’s top tip: Once you’re comfortable with the chords, the goal is to make it feel good. Don’t worry about adding any extra notes or techniques just yet. Excellent feel is the goal!

‍