Master the art of modern R&B guitar.
Intermediate guitarists
Has your guitar game gone stale? This R&B-fueled class will breathe new life into your rhythm playing and songwriting.
7 days
Melanie will guide you through 7 days of step-by-step instruction with interactive TAB and daily assignments.
Play R&B like Melanie
You'll leave this class with a fresh batch of R&B-fueled techniques to spice up your rhythm playing.
Take the next step
Once you've mastered R&B, keep progressing with advanced Master Classes and guided practice plans.
Over the next seven days, you'll use real chord progressions to get a grip on the expressive techniques that fuel Melanie's R&B-inspired playing.
In this 7-day Master Class, you'll learn how to write chord progressions full of expressive embellishments, colorful chords, and entrancing fills.
Melanie's R&B Toolkit
Before you dive into the Master Class, you'll learn Melanie's approach to fundamental playing techniques through the lens of R&B to add greater expression to your playing. These fundamental technique lessons are perfect for players of any style.
R&B Embellishments
Start the class off right with some iconic R&B vibes! The chord progression you'll learn today features classic R&B embellishments and a must-know inversion.
Thumb Slap & Open-String Voicings
Chances are, you've seen this popular technique from your favorite Instagram guitarist.
In today's lesson, you'll learn how to add a percussive backbeat to your playing and add some colorful open-string bar chords to your vocabulary.
Fuel your chordal songwriting by learning the music theory behind Melanie's compositions.
Today, you'll s t r e t c h out your fretting hand with a series of colorful chord shapes. Then, Melanie will challenge you to write your own tune with the same chord voicings.
Hone your fingerpicking skills with an advanced composition featuring rhythmic variation and a classic R&B backbeat feel in your picking hand.
Develop the ability to flesh out your chord progressions with beautiful altered-scale fills in this deceptively difficult tune.
Time for your R&B graduation! Learn a variation of Melanie's most viral video and develop the ability to shred legato altered runs.
Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.
Melanie's R&B Toolkit
Take an R&B-fueled intensive with this handy breakdown of essential playing techniques..
Before you dive into Melanie’s songs, you’ll work your way through her R&B Toolkit. This extensive resource features 11 lessons where Melanie breaks down fundamental techniques and concepts that she uses to fuel her playing style.
After a brief lesson on the roots of R&B, you’ll learn Melanie’s approach to touch, singability, whammy, the backbeat thumb slap, pull offs, hammer ons, picking-hand tapping, vibrato, sliding bends, dramatic slides, and extended chords.
Even if you’re already familiar with these, it’s crucial to learn Melanie’s approach to them, as they form the stylistic foundation of the rest of the class.
Days 1 - 3
Ease into the class by learning infectious chordal compositions that'll help you learn essential R&B techniques.
Day 1. R&B Embellishments
Day 1 marks the start of Melanie’s 7 chord progression breakdowns that will help you understand and learn her playing style. You’ll start by learning a composition that features an iconic inversion and some essential R&B embellishments.
Day 2. The Thumb Slap & Open-String Voicings
On Day 2, you’ll use the thumb-slap technique to add a backbeat to a chord progression featuring colorful open-string bar chord voicings.
Day 3. Writing R&B Chord Progressions
On Day 3, Melanie breaks down the music theory behind one of her chord progressions. This lesson will help you fuel your own songwriting as you navigate the diatonic chord scale and spice it up with chord extensions and the altered scale.
At the end of this lesson, Melanie will challenge you to write your own song based on her progression in a different key.
Days 4-5
Dive into two new grooves that'll give your fretting and picking hands a workout.
Day 4. Stretch Chords
On Day 4, you’ll take your fretting hand to the yoga studio with a series of colorful stretch chords. Then, your homework is to incorporate two of those shapes in your own progression.
Day 5. R&B Fingerpicking
Day 5 will help you hone your fingerpicking skills! This backbeat-driven tune involves a lot of rhythmic variation in the picking pattern, so buckle up!
Days 6 & 7
Put your skills to the test! These last two lessons will challenge you to incorporate some advanced melodic vocabulary into your playing.
Day 6. Melanie's Signature Altered-Scale Runs
On Day 6, you’ll dive into a progression that’s deceptively difficult. You’ll stay in one barred position as you play advanced embellishments, shift through changing inner voicings, and work on the altered scale.
Day 7. Melanie's Viral Video Vibe
Cap off the class by tackling Melanie’s most advanced composition yet! This one is based on her most viral guitar video and will help you shred through the altered scale with a legato feel.
After that, we’ll wrap up with some parting thoughts and next steps. Then, the real work begins as you incorporate your learnings into a daily practice routine!
Hear from REAL students
Your Instructor
Melanie Faye
Learn how to play neo soul from the ground up. Melanie's lessons will equip you with techniques to give your playing a boost of R&B flavor.
Explore LessonsChoose your plan. Cancel anytime.
Unlimited guitar lessons
Personalized feedback from pro instructors
Weekly live lessons
Monthly practice groups
800+ songs in modern styles
New releases every week
Unlimited guitar lessons
Personalized feedback from pro instructors
Weekly live lessons
Monthly practice groups
800+ songs in modern styles
New releases every week
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.
Get your 14-day free trial.