Funk up your rhythm and lock into the groove.
Intermediate
This course will help you tighten up your existing rhythm skills through the lens of funk, soul, and R&B guitar.
3 months
Kelyn and co. will guide you through six grades of instruction with daily practice plans and assessments.
Rock-solid rhythm
This course will turn you into a lean, mean rhythm machine who can sit comfortably in the pocket of a groove.
Take the next step
Once you've built your soloing foundation, take your skills to the next level with genre-specific pathways.
In this pathway, you'll take a deep dive into the world of rhythm and groove as it relates to funk, soul and R&B.
In this six-week program, Kelyn Crapp, Sam Blakelock, and Karl Kerfoot will break down essential rhythm guitar concepts as you grow from an intermediate guitarist to a master of rhythm guitar. With guided jams, daily practice exercises, and straightforward lessons, you'll know exactly what to work on at every step of the way.
The 4 Pillars of Funk
Welcome to the genre of joy.
To kick off the Learning Pathway, you'll dive deep into the 4 pillars of funk as they relate to rhythm guitar:
Funk Pioneers
With your 4 funk pillars locked in, we'll move on to an exploration of the earliest funk guitarists and study their genre-defining techniques.
By the end of this grade, you'll be able to groove on straight funk grooves, build your own funk part, and navigate swung funk.
Modern Funkateers
After paying tribute to the origins of funk, we move into the modern era.
Here, you'll explore funk as it relates to the late 70s and beyond.
We'll start with classic techniques like bubble picking and move all the way up to jazz-funk (think Roy Hargrove).
With funk mastered, we'll move onto the sweet sounds of R&B and soul guitar. First stop: Motown.
Here, we'll explore the buttery-smooth sounds of neo soul with essential chord progressions and embellishments to help you capture one of the most popular modern guitar sounds.
Cap off the pathway with a smorgasbord of fun lessons that didn't quite fit into previous grades. You'll learn Chili Peppers funk, fingerstyle grooves, Brazilian rhythms, and so much more.
Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.
Grade 1. The 4 Pillars of Funk
Begin your groove journey by mastering the simplicity of funk guitar.
We're with you every step of the way in this Learning Pathway. In every lesson, Kelyn will break down a new concept and run through mini drills with you so you can lock it into your muscle memory. To cap off each day's work, you'll put what you learned in a musical context with a guided jam session.
Day 1. Feel the 1
Just like a planet orbiting the sun, the groove always comes back to the 1. You'll work on feeling a quarter note rotation to strengthen your sense of time and access deeper layers of a groove through eight and sixteenth notes.
Day 2. Less is more (rhythm)
Sometimes the gateway to grooving is not through clobbering every rhythm, but laying out and creating space for other instruments to bloom. Here, you'll explore how keeping it simple can actually be profound.
Day 3. Less is more (chords)
Day 3 takes you deeper into less-is-more headspace with some voicing-specific approaches. Day 2 saw us pairing down the rhythms we’re playing, and now we’ll thin out voicings to create even more harmonic space.
Day 4. Dynamics (fretting hand)
Your fretting hand is capable of great nuance that helps get more tone from your touch. Muting strings you don’t want to be heard and controlling the length of chords gives you control over your sound and the space you utilize. You'll work on this with some Prince-inspired exercises.
Day 5. Dynamics (picking hand)
You’ve gotten control of your fretting hand. Now, you'll explore the picking power of picking-hand dynamics via palm muting and volume control.
Day 6. Pocket
The term pocket is loosely interchanged with words like groove or rhythm. When a band is "locked in" to the same rhythmic dance without overplaying, they're "in the pocket". Kelyn will teach you how to enter this magical space via a series of groove-based exercises.
Performance pieces
Cap off your hard work by learning real songs that put everything you worked on into a musical context.
Here, you'll have the opportunity to jam with a live-recorded band of pro musicians.
Plus, you can submit your performance to the Pickup Music team for personalized video feedback – who said online learning wasn't interactive?!
Final quiz
Finish the grade with a quiz to make sure you've adequately absorbed the core concepts involved.
Grade 2. Funk Pioneers
Pay tribute to the origins of funk by learning from the genre's earliest pioneers.
Day 1. Must-know dominant moves
Ready to make your chords dance? You’ll spend some time with the C9 chord today. Kelyn will show you how to turn one static chord vamp into a moving and grooving entity.
Day 2. Slept-on dominant moves
Tackle some lesser-known techniques to highlight the dominant sound. Today’s variations on the C9 chord come from the blues. You’ll utilize both the major and minor 3rd of C and add in the sound of 6ths.
Day 3. The 16th flow
As the guitarist, you’re part of the groove section and your rhythm playing needs to be locked in. Today, you'll work on a steady stream of 16th notes while maintaining dynamic control of your sound.
Day 4. Melodicising in A minor
Think a 1 chord groove can’t sound melodic? Think again! You'll use one chord voicing and notes on the top three strings to add melodies to the groove. You’ll learn how to embellish the A minor chord all while sticking to one position on the guitar neck.
Day 5. Funk from scratch (how to build a part)
Imagine you’re at a funk jam session and the drummer has already started playing. Other instruments start chiming in and all eyes are on you. What are you going to do? Today’s exercises will show you how to assemble an original guitar part on the spot.
Day 6. Cissy Strut-ish
Today, you’ll learn two guitar parts that could easily take you through a whole song. You’ll practice combining melodic riffs with chords and intervals.
Day 7. Swung funk
Today’s lesson will give you the tools to manipulate the rhythm of a groove. This will come in handy when you want to match the feel of other musicians or when you want your groove to embody a certain mood.
Performances
Put your skills to the test with three tasteful songs. As always, you'll have the live-recorded Pickup Music band backing you up while you let it rip.
Get feedback
Get personalized video feedback on your playing from the Pickup team.
Final quiz
Make sure you're ready for Grade 3.
Grade 3. Modern Funkateers
Ready to bring funk into the modern ages and spice up your funk foundation?
Day 1. Bubble picking
Today, you'll learn how to use bubble picking: a textural technique used to accent a repeated rhythmic pattern. The rhythmic picking pattern is more of a feeling that a melodic effect. Depending on the mood that you’re trying to set, bubble picking can be both picked while palm muted or open-string picked.
Day 2. The funky 4-3
Here, you'll tackle the funky 4-3 technique. It's a real ceiling raiser and useful for guitarists across all genres of music. By briefly suspending the chord tones and resolving them, this chordal technique paints each chord in the progression with a rapid fire tension-and-release sound.
Day 3. The funky octave thing
Octaves are a simple melodic device that guitarists can use to add an extra intensity and density by doubling an original idea an octave above or below. Today, you'll work on some octave exercises inspired by Kool and the Gang.
Day 4. The suspended sound
In Day 2, you’ll have learned the 4-3 suspended chords that were used to create a funky rhythm guitar part. Today, you'll tackle slash chords, which are closely related to suspended chords as both are used to create an unresolved but dreamy sound quality.
Day 5. Muted 3rds and 4ths
Similar to bubble picking, intervals can be used to create rhythmic and textural interest when comping along with a band. Think of muted 3rds and 4ths as two bubble-picking melodies stacked together. Using the classic jazz-funk track Chameleon by Herbie Hancock, you’ll learn how to build slick comping riffs.
Day 6. Jazzy modern funk
Roy Hargrove and Herbie Hancock are two pioneering musicians who merged jazz concepts with funk music sensibilities. Jazz-funk is a marriage between the one-chord vamps, rhythmic feel, and song structure of funk music with the harmonic sophistication, improvisation, and arrangement style of jazz music.
Today, you’ll introduce some jazz concepts into the funk style.
Day 7. Putting it all together
In this final lesson, you’ll combine everything that you’ve learned and put it to work. Groove is a feeling and philosophy, the only way to find out is to start livin’ by the four pillars of groove.
Performances
Demonstrate what you've learned in a musical context by learning original songs.
Get feedback
Get personalized video feedback on your playing from the Pickup team.
Final quiz
Make sure you're ready for Grade 4.
Grades 4-6.
Turn your sights to soul and R&B guitar
With your funk education complete, it's time to shift gears to the world of soul.
Day 1. The Motown sound
Motown changed the game for guitarists. The main role was to support the rhythmic patterns played by the drummer. The rhythmic "chank" strum was a key tool that guitarists used for this. Today, you'll learn how to keep your chanks fresh, interesting, and groovy.
Day 2. Old-school hammer ons and pull offs
A great chef knows every flavor in their spices rack, and when to use it. Turns and flurries can transform a good chord progression into a great one. This lesson is all about seasoning your chords with the correct flavors.
Day 3. Groovy voice leading
Voice leading is a big topic to tackle, but a basic understanding of it will help you become a better rhythm player. In a nutshell, voice leading is about how you connect your chords. For these upcoming exercises, you’ll use a more basic chord voicing to work on voice leading through a chord progression.
Day 4. The 6/8 soul feel
The stroll is a common 6/8 time feel that you’ll definitely need in your arsenal of rhythm. Think of it like a slowed-down version of the 12/8 blues shuffle rhythm. Learning the 6/8 soul feel is a useful playing technique for creating more motion over a ballad or song with a slower tempo.
Day 5. Old school triad embellishments
Today, we'll turn back around and check out triads. Triads are simple chord voicings that can be used as the basis for all embellishment and decoration. The beauty of triads is that they're easy to form and even easier to decorate.
Day 6. Double-stop slides and fills
Slides, bends, and double stops are three unique techniques that are exclusive to the guitar. Today, we'll explore sliding double stops as a way to add motion to your chord progressions. This is a truly iconic sound in old-school R&B.
Day 7. Let’s put it all together
For your last lesson of Grade 4, this final lesson day is about combining all of the sweet ideas, techniques, and playing tips into one performance.
Performances
Demonstrate what you've learned in a musical context with more songs that synthesize what you've been working on.
Get feedback
Get personalized video feedback on your playing from the Pickup team.
Final quiz
Make sure you're ready for Grade 5.
This grade is all about giving you a buttery-smooth set of rhythm skills in the modern R&B and neo-soul style.
Day 1. Modern pocket
Learn how to feel neo-soul grooves from the inside out. This lesson is about internalizing a groove by focusing on feeling the downbeat.
Day 2. Anti-Instagram neo soul
Showing off for social media? Nah, let’s play pocket. The groove rolls on into Day 2 with a look at how classic jazz harmony locks into the neo-soul groove.
Day 3. Harmony & touch
This is an important point in the pathway. We’re covering two essential elements of grooving: Harmony – the chords and theory that create the mood and environments on songs we love – and touch – the dynamics and physical approach to how the chords are played.
Day 4. Be a sample
It’s time to access your producer's mind. Let’s keep the groove going with Day 4’s look into how to emulate sampled guitar stylings that are so prevalent in hip hop.
Day 5. Those R&B chords
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Today, we’re going to add some classic R&B chordal concepts to your bag of tricks by exploring why different R&B cliches are so popular. Something that is considered classic and connects with generations of listeners is worth dissecting.
Day 6. Straight feel with the feels
Here on Day 6, we’ll explore how the harmony we’ve learned so far can be applied to high-energy straight grooves. Just like the rest of this grade, we’re helping you get perspective on both the chords and soloing side of the groove.
Day 7. Shimmer guitars
Who doesn’t love a clean guitar tone glistening like the clear night sky? We’ve got just a bit more to share with you before you move on. Let’s crank up the reverb and get into the glory of shimmer guitar.
Performances
Tackle new tunes to apply what you've learned in a musical context.
Get feedback
Get personalized advice on your playing from the Pickup team.
Final quiz
Make sure you're ready for Grade 6.
This grade is all about giving you a smorgasbord of groove-tastic techniques.
Day 1. Frusciante funk
Californicate your playing with funk rock flavors. Today, we’ll explore the playing of John Frusciante – the iconic guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Day 2. Fingerstyle groove
Drop that plectrum and discover the fingerstyle spectrum. You’ll cross familiar ground in this lesson by revisiting slash chords and some pentatonic riffs to fill the gaps between chords.
Day 3. Brazilian partido alto
Brazil has a rich musical history and a wide variety of genres and dance styles. The rhythm that you’ll study in this lesson originates from a subgenre of samba music called partido alto.
Day 4. Tezeta minor groove
Today, we’re exploring Tezeta – a music tradition that originated in Ethiopia. The rhythmic playing style of tezeta music shares some likeness with Motown rhythm guitar parts. This lesson will help you discover some new uses for triads, basslines, and the return to the Motown chank.
Days 5. Afrobeat
Today, we explore Afrobeat: a popular West African style of music originating from Nigeria. Afrobeat was designed for the people to enjoy. This lesson prioritizes having a stable and consistent rhythmic feel.
Days 6. Wah-wah 101
Nowadays, it seems like the wah-wah pedal is on everyone’s pedalboard. Cringey effect or timeless classic? The jury’s out, but we’re fans. This lesson will address the ways that the wah pedal is used for rhythm guitar purposes.
Days 7. Montuno-ish triads
Montuno is usually a highly syncopated, rhythmic piano style heard in Cuban salsa music. It's written to be a repeated rhythmic motif that the band can integrate with. To get the most out of today's material, we'll drop the pick and switch to the fingers to imitate the syncopated rhythms that the piano usually plays.
Performances
Finish out the Learning Pathway with one final challenge.
Get feedback
Get personalized advice on your playing from the Pickup team.
Final quiz
Cap off your hard work and make sure you're ready to move on.
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Annual Plan
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Follow along with every note.
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Monthly Plan
All-access to online guitar lessons to level up your playing.
$14.99
/mo
1,426 people started a free trial in the last 30 days.
Monthly plan includes:
See what a Pickup Music membership is all about.
14-day free trial
Guided learning
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Personalized feedback
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Progress tracking
Monitor your guitar gains.
New releases every week
Never run out of lessons to work on.
Interactive TAB
Follow along with every note.
Multiple HD angles
Get an up close and personal learning experience.
Supportive community
Workshop your playing, get feedback, and perform live in our online practice groups.
Members-only forum
Unlimited personalized learning support from our team of pro guitarists.
SAVE 17%
All-inclusive access to every course.
If your questions aren’t answered below, please chat with us.
Is Pickup Music right for me?
Do you feel like your guitar playing has hit a plateau?
Are you stuck in a guitar rut where you're just playing the same old chords and licks?
Are you looking for fretboard freedom?
At Pickup Music, we specialize in:
How do we do it?
Finally, we give you support and feedback through an exclusive members community and live practice group sessions with other members. This focused approach to learning guitar will help you bust through the beginner basics, break out of the intermediate plateau, and level up your playing.
This guided learning approach is the fastest way to make real progress on the guitar.
What makes Pickup Music better than other guitar lesson sites?
We're glad you asked! So many things:
What's included in my Pickup Music membership?
Everything! You’ll have unlimited access to every lesson on Pickup Music from every instructor. That means every Learning Pathway, Master Class, SongSquad, Licks Package, 5-Minute Lesson... we could go on, but you get the idea. It's an all-inclusive membership for one affordable price.
How long are the lessons? How long will it take me to complete them?
Pickup Music's lesson plans are designed to suit the amount of time you have available to practice.
Only got a few minutes? Try our 5-Minute Lessons to quickly add a new skill to your toolbox.
Got half an hour? Try one of our Essential Lick Packages or SongSquads to expand your vocabulary in different genres.
Got a couple of days? Try a Master Class with one of our world-renowned artists. Each class is broken up into short, digestible modules focused on one topic. We encourage you to complete the exercises for each lesson video before moving on to the next one because the lessons typically build on each other.
Ready to really commit to a multi-week program? Try one of our Learning Pathways. Over 6 weeks, these detailed courses will take you on a day-by-day journey to master each level in the genre. Learning Pathways include daily practice exercises so you know exactly what to focus on. These courses are the best way to make lasting progress.
Whichever approach you choose, we recommend building the exercises you learn into your daily practice schedule. The best way to improve as a guitarist is through a consistent practice routine rather than sporadic, longer sessions. Learning guitar is a day-by-day, life-long journey!
I'm brand new to guitar. Is Pickup Music the right choice for me?
Absolutely! We make learning the guitar made fun & simple – the way it should be.
Too many people get frustrated with guitar because they develop bad habits and poor technique. Avoid these costly and time-consuming mistakes by taking Pickup Music's structured and step-by-step approach to learning guitar.
You'll start with Pickup Music's introductory program Beginner Learning Pathway. Over three weeks, we break down everything from simple chords and melodies to rhythm and lead playing. By the end of the program, you'll be able to play any simple pop or rock song (and even write your own).
Most importantly, we make sure you don't get stuck in the beginner's plateau - a common pitfall for guitarists who are just starting out. You'll keep making progress through Pickup Music's guided Learning Pahtways. These programs are designed to quickly take you from a beginner player to an intermediate one who feels comfortable across the whole fretboard.
What the difference between the annual and monthly plan?
The only difference is that the annual plan saves you $30 a year.
Both options come with a free 14-day trial. That means, we won't charge your card for the first 14 days - you can cancel anytime before then.
With an annual membership, we bill you once a year up-front, and you save 17% as a result. We'll send you reminders before we bill you each year so that you don't accidentally forget about it.
With the monthly membership, you pay month to month. It's a subscription, so we bill you each month until you cancel.
Cancelling your plan at any point is very easy to do online - no tricks, emails, or phone calls required. Just click a button on your account page.
Is a Pickup Music membership worth the money?
When you first start learning guitar, it's okay to bounce around with random free lessons on YouTube and searching for TABs online.
That approach is going to make you an OKAY guitar player, but it's not going to help you take that leap to becoming a serious guitarist - a player who can:
To become a serious guitarist, you need a clear learning pathway to get to the next level. You need to free your mind and unlock your fret board - you can do this with Pickup Music's expert step-by-step instruction. Having this clear learning pathway is key to making real progress on the guitar.
What about the price? Is it worth it?
Private lessons will cost you about $50 per lesson or $2,600 a year. Going to a music academy will cost you about $40,000 a year.
A Pickup Music membership costs just $150 for the whole year. That works out to 41 cents a day!
Signing up for a Pickup Music membership also means that you can stop wasting your time and effort trying to guess what you should practice next. Our guided programs eliminate the guess work so you know exactly what you need to focus on each day and week to make lasting progress with guitar. This will increase your efficiency and speed up your progress.
Is it easy to cancel?
Absolutely! You can cancel at any time (although we'd be sad to see you go). Cancelling is easy, no tricks. Just go to your account page and click a button.
You won't be charged anything if you cancel during your 14-day free trial.
If you cancel after your 14-day trial, you won't be billed again at your next billing cycle. Your membership will remain active until it expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
Once your membership expires, you will no longer have access to the classes you were enrolled in during your time as a member, but you can easily restart your membership at any time. Just log in to your account and renew a monthly or annual membership to pick up where you left off.
Can I buy lessons individually?
We don’t sell lessons individually. But the good news is you get access to every single lesson on Pickup Music through the one membership. If you’re only interested in one lesson, you could purchase a monthly membership and cancel when you’ve finished it – we have a hunch you’ll want to stick around though :)
Can I cancel my membership at any time?
Yes! All you have to do is click a button on your account page. No tricks, no emails, no calls. It's a straightforward process.
You won't be billed again at your next billing cycle. Your membership will remain active and you'll continue to have access to the site until your membership expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
You can easily restart your membership at any time. Just log in to your account and renew a monthly or annual membership to pick up where you left off.
Note: Once your membership expires, we'll save your progress on your Dashboard if you decide to rejoin at a later date.
How does the 14-day free trial work? What is your refund policy?
Your credit card won't be charged for the first 14 days
When you first sign up to a Pickup Music membership, your credit card will not be charged for 14 days. That means that if you decide to cancel within 14 days of signing up, you won't pay anything.
If you decide to cancel after that, you won't be charged at your next billing cycle
That means: if you’re a monthly member, you won’t be charged for the next month. If you’re an annual member, you won’t be charged for the next year.
We don’t offer refunds for payments that have already gone through. But if you choose to cancel, you will retain full access to the membership until it expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
Will I be automatically charged each month / year?
The membership is a subscription. After the 14-day free trial, you'll be automatically charged monthly or annually (depending on which plan you choose). We send you reminders before your annual subscription renews so you don't accidentally forget about it. You can easily cancel by turning off auto-renew at any time in your account page.
How do I restart my membership?
It’s easy to rejoin Pickup Music and we’d be thrilled to have you back! We even saved all of your lessons for you while you were gone on your Dashboard.
To restart your membership, simply head to this page, select the plan of your choice, and sign up with the email address you used to sign up the first time around.
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