Modern Grooves & Retro Rhythms

Tim Stewart (Lady Gaga, Rihanna) teaches R&B, funk, and pop for the modern guitarist.

Having shared the stage with Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, and countless American Idol contestants, Tim Stewart brings seasoned pedigree to the JamPlay team. His course, "Modern Grooves & Retro Rhythms", serves to help you unlock the pocket with your rhythm guitar playing. Learn the tools to create interest and add life with chordal moves, single note lines, swells, double stops and much more.

Suited for guitarists of all skill levels, our emphasis will be on fluidity, timing, groove, and what we as guitar players can add to the mix. Learn more or start the course with membership

Course Details
30 Lessons
6 Hour+ Runtime
Tabs (gpx, pdf)
Playalong Tracks
HD+ Video
90 day guarantee
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Stream online, plus all other courses with membership.

The JamPlay Learning System

Like every JamPlay course, Modern R&B Grooves features world-class instruction and a dynamic learning system to help you succeed quickly.

It's not just videos, and not just downloads. You'll get:

  • Interactive tabs, notation, and fretboard
  • JamTracks for play along practice
  • Ask-a-teacher functionality
  • Speed up, slow down and loop the video
  • Bookmark exact moments in the lesson
  • Note-taking feature
  • 4k video with multiple camera angles
  • Track progress with the progress report
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Meet Tim Stewart

Tim Stewart is a lifelong guitarist, writer and producer. Currently, he is splitting time between Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and his own project for a band called "Knives". Tim has been playing, touring and performing for over 20 years, and recently performed at the half time show for the NFL Super Bowl in 2018.

His performing and writing credits include Lady Gaga, Rihanna, J-Lo, Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, Frank Ocean, Rodney Jerkins, Tricky Stewart, Miguel, Rita Ora, American Idol, Backstreet Boys, Infectious Grooves, and Tiziano Ferro. All told, Tim is a go-to mainstay in the R&B industry for his consistent approach, stage command, and knowledge of song composition, rhythm and adding to the mix.

Find the Pocket & Master the Groove

From chord embellishments to rhythm, Tim will guide you through modern R&B with real-world examples.

If the "bounce" and "vibe" of funk, R&B and pop force you nod along to the beat, this course is right up your alley. Tim Stewart offers 20 years of touring experience to bring you real world applications of these timeless techniques, including a baseline level of the theory needed to unlock your inner style. This course offers 30 lessons covering 6+ hours of material in step-by-step, digestible presentation.

Lessons in this Course
1

Series Introduction

Tim Stewart describes his course and who it is for.

2:56 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Major Triad Inversions

Triads, or three note chords, are a foundational part of music, and especially rhythm guitar. Let's explore some major triad shapes.

9:56 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

3

Minor Triad Inversions

With the major triad inversions in the bag, it's now time to add some minor triads to our toolkit.

7:42 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

4

Combining the Major and Minor Triads

Things get really intense when we start using these major and minor triads together!

8:06 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

5

Embellishing the Major 7 and 9

Let's explore some techniques we can use to enhance a groove that uses major 7 and 9 chords.

9:43 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

6

Embellishing the Minor 7 and 9

Now it's time to explore some minor 7 and 9 chord embellishments just like we did the major ones.

10:17 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

7

Combining the Major 7 and Minor 7

Tim shows you some rhythm magic drawing from what we've learned about major and minor 7 embellishments.

10:17 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

8

Dominant 7 and 9

Tim shows you how to riff out in some dominant 7 and 9 shapes, and add that to your toolkit.

11:45 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

9

Tri Tones in a Dominant Chord

Tri tones have a unique sound full of tension. Tim shows us how they can be useful for finding your groove inside of a dominant chord.

10:28 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

10

Licks and Riffs Over the Dominant 7

Tim takes us in to a further exploration of the dominant 7 with more riffs and some great licks.

11:44 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

11

The 6th Interval

Tim takes us through some ideas using the 6th interval.

15:45 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

12

The 10th Interval

What kind of leverage can you get out of the 10th interval? In this lesson, Tim is going to help us explore just that.

12:44 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

13

Muted Single Notes

Using muted notes is another great tool that can add another layer of texture. Let's explore the possibilities.

12:33 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

14

Double Stop 3rds and 4ths

Playing two notes at once is sometimes just enough to spice up a guitar part. Let's look at double stops in the 3rd and 4th intervals.

13:06 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

15

2 Note Pentatonic

Tim shows us some licks playing the pentatonic scale in two note harmony.

10:46 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

16

Combining 4ths and 3rds

Tim brings some of what we've learned about 4ths and 3rds and doublestops in to a new groove to further develop these skills.

12:53 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

17

Chord Movements

Playing chords is about more than strumming. Check out how we can create movement inside of the chords for more rhythmic flavor.

11:53 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

View this Lesson
18

6/8

Incorporate much of what we’ve covered into a Motown 6/8 groove.

25:04 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

19

Minneapolis

Funk techniques from that city up North.

23:35 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

20

Riff Based Rock/Funk

In this lesson you'll learn how to integrate rock & funk style riffs into your playing.

13:13 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

21

Voicings

We're going to explore some of Tim's favorite chord voicings.

16:22 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

22

Highlighting the Common Note

Tim shows you how to move chords around a common note using a progression that places the common note on top.

17:15 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

23

Cali Groove - Rhythm

Tim brings us along as he develops a rhythm for this California style groove.

11:34 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

24

Cali Groove - Embellishments

Next we add some embellishments to our California groove.

13:17 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

25

MJ Groove - Rhythm

Tim shows us some rhythmic ideas inspired by the King of Pop.

14:50 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

26

MJ Groove - Embellishments

Tim shows us some embellishments for the rhythm part we just learned.

14:52 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

27

Old School Groove - Rhythm

Tim gives us some rhythmic ideas for an old school style of backing track.

9:07 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

28

Old School Groove - Embellishments

Now we are going to add embellishments to that last track.

12:51 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

29

Isley Groove - Rhythm

Tim has one more groove to check out. Let's develop a rhythm part for this track now.

9:27 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

30

Isley Groove - Embellishments

Let's spice this last track up now with some embellishments.

11:26 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty