• 2022 Issue 1 /
  • Guitar Lesson: R&B Acoustic Guitar, Round 2

Guitar Lesson: R&B Acoustic Guitar, Round 2

Scroll Down

Music educator and pro player Kerry “2 Smooth” Marshall shares three new video lessons to help you add soul to your sound.

By Kerry "2 Smooth" Marshall

The acoustic guitar has a rich heritage across a wide spectrum of styles, and nothing helps you grow your skills like diving into new musical territory.

Though you may not think of the acoustic guitar as an R&B instrument, players like Kerry “2 Smooth” Marshall are changing the game by bringing acoustic sounds to new genres. Along the way, Kerry has built a dedicated following as a music educator, session musician, and producer, showing the world how the acoustic guitar can make genres like R&B, gospel and neo-soul sound fresh and surprising.

In this series of guitar lessons, Kerry expands on his video lessons from the previous issue of the magazine, where he covered basic R&B chord progressions, the double-stop technique, and using diminished 7th chords to capture that quintessential R&B flavor.

First, Kerry dives into the importance of barre chords in R&B acoustic guitar, showing how a couple of simple chord shapes can open a new range of sounds in your playing.

Next, Kerry explores uses for hammer-ons, a common guitar technique that players can repurpose in R&B to add variety and flair.

Finally, Kerry showcases a few bluesy, soulful R&B licks in the key of D that you can add to your toolkit to bring more spice to your playing style.

Discover more of Kerry “2 Smooth” Marshall on his YouTube channel.