R&B & Neo-Soul Guitar Intensive

Lesson 1 - Make Your Chords Sound R&B

Sunday, September 20 - We start with the foundation: how to take basic major and minor chords and make them sound rich, soulful, and modern. We'll cover 7ths, 9ths, extensions, shell voicings, and some of my favorite chord shapes without drowning you in theory. You'll leave class able to take a basic chord progression and instantly make it sound more R&B.

Lesson 2 - Unlock the Fretboard: Triads & Inversions

Sunday, September 27 - Stop being trapped in open chords and barre chords. We'll use triads, inversions, and simple fretboard patterns to find chords everywhere on the neck and create smaller, cleaner R&B voicings. The goal isn't memorizing 100 chord diagrams. It's understanding how to find them yourself.

Lesson 3 - Neo-Soul “Sauce”: Embellishments & Chord Movement

Sunday, October 4 - This is where things start sounding REALLY good. Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, double stops, sus chords, melodic embellishments, Hendrix-style movements, and the little details that make a simple progression sound like Neo-Soul. Plus: Ruben's Bag of Tricks #1 ,some of the movements and chord tricks I use constantly in my own playing.

Lesson 4 - Rhythm, Pocket & Making Simple Parts Groove

Sunday, October 11 - Great R&B guitar isn't just about fancy chords. The difference between sounding stiff and sounding professional is often rhythm. We'll work on 16th-note feel, muting, ghost notes, dynamics, syncopation, accents, leaving space, and playing in the pocket. I'll show you how the EXACT same chord progression can sound completely different depending on how you play it.

Lesson 5 - Connecting Chords Like a Pro

One week break, resume on Sunday, October 25 - Instead of jumping from chord to chord, we'll learn how to smoothly connect them. We'll explore passing chords, chromatic movement, diminished chords, substitutions, and simple ways to create those smooth transitions you hear in R&B. Plus: Ruben's Bag of Tricks #2, my favorite passing chords and shortcuts for making progressions sound more sophisticated.

Lesson 6 - R&B Lead Guitar & Improvisation

Sunday, October 4 - If your solos always sound like you're running up and down a pentatonic scale, this class is for you. We'll turn basic pentatonic shapes into musical R&B vocabulary using chord tones, double stops, slides, bends, targeting notes, phrasing, repetition, and space.

Lesson 7 - Putting It All Together: The Ruben Wan Method

Sunday, November 8 - For the finale, we'll build an entire R&B/Neo-Soul guitar part/riff from scratch. Starting with a basic progression, we'll transform it step-by-step: Chords → Voicings → Voice Leading → Groove → Embellishments → Fills → Lead → Finished Guitar Part We'll finish with an extended Q&A.