Levi Clay - Soul Grooves
Lessons Included in this Course
Course Content Overview
This comprehensive course is structured to provide a deep and practical understanding of soul guitar. You will learn:
- Melodic Chordal Playing: Discover how to connect chords with melodies, moving beyond static chord shapes to create fluid and musical progressions.
- Hip Intervallic Ideas: Learn to apply sophisticated intervallic concepts to your playing, adding a modern and stylish edge to your soul grooves.
- Classic Soul Guitar Fills: Master the iconic fills and embellishments that have defined soul guitar for decades, inspired by legends like Steve Cropper and Curtis Mayfield.
- R&B Rhythm Techniques: Develop a strong rhythmic foundation in R&B and soul, learning to create grooves that are both tight and expressive.
- Chord Melody and Embellishments: Explore the art of chord melody, combining chords and single-note lines to create rich and complete musical statements.
This Course is Ideal for Players Who...
This course is perfect for intermediate to advanced guitarists who want to expand their vocabulary and explore the nuances of soul and R&B. It is ideal for players who feel stuck in a rut with their rhythm playing and are looking for new ways to express themselves musically. If you are a fan of soul music and want to learn the techniques behind the classic and contemporary sounds of the genre, this course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to do so. This course is also a great fit for songwriters and producers who want to add authentic and soulful guitar parts to their tracks.
What will I achieve from completing this course?
“Levi Clay - Soul Grooves” is more than just a collection of licks and tricks. It is a structured and in-depth learning experience that focuses on the core principles of soul guitar. Levi Clay’s clear and concise teaching style, combined with his deep knowledge of the genre, makes complex concepts easy to understand and apply. The course is packed with practical examples and exercises that will help you internalize the techniques and develop your own unique voice on the guitar. With LickLibrary’s high-quality video
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Levi Clay – Soul Grooves
Levi Clay – Soul Grooves on LickLibrary.com is a deep-dive, note-for-note guitar lesson series dedicated to the feel, tone, and vocabulary of modern soul, funk, and R&B guitar. Designed for players who want more than just shapes and scales, this course focuses on groove-driven musicality, expressive phrasing, and real-world applications that translate directly to band situations, recording sessions, and live performance. Levi Clay’s approach combines theory, fretboard knowledge, and unmistakable feel, helping guitarists develop a confident, soulful voice on the instrument.
Throughout the course, Levi demonstrates how subtle rhythmic placement, melodic awareness, and tasteful technique choices can transform simple ideas into professional-sounding guitar parts. Rather than overwhelming the player with excessive notes, Soul Grooves teaches you how to make every note count.
The One Chord & Two Chord Minor
This lesson explores how to create compelling guitar parts over static harmony, a hallmark of classic and contemporary soul music. Levi shows how one-chord and two-chord minor grooves rely on rhythm, articulation, and melodic variation rather than harmonic complexity.
By learning to develop ideas over minimal chord movement, viewers gain a stronger sense of timing and groove. This approach improves rhythmic confidence and teaches players how to hold interest without relying on constant chord changes, a crucial skill for funk, neo-soul, and modern R&B settings.
Filling Out Melodies with Triads
Triads are a cornerstone of soulful guitar playing, and this section demonstrates how to use them melodically across the fretboard. Levi breaks down how small chord fragments can be moved and combined to create rich, harmonically clear melodic lines.
Understanding triads allows guitarists to outline harmony without sounding bulky or intrusive. The benefit to the viewer is improved fretboard visualisation and the ability to create elegant fills that sit perfectly in a mix, making your playing more musical and intentional.
Using 6ths to Play Melodies
Playing melodies in 6ths is a classic soul and R&B sound, instantly evoking vintage recordings and smooth, vocal-like phrasing. Levi explains how these intervals work harmonically and demonstrates how to apply them across different keys and grooves.
Learning to use 6ths gives players a powerful tool for creating lush, harmonised lines without cluttering the arrangement. This technique enhances melodic awareness and helps guitarists sound fuller and more expressive, especially in band contexts where space is essential.
Classic Fills & Embellishments
This lesson focuses on the small details that separate good guitar playing from great guitar playing. Levi covers classic soul fills, grace notes, slides, and tasteful embellishments that bring rhythm parts to life.
The benefit of mastering these ideas is subtlety and control. Viewers learn when not to play, how to decorate parts without overplaying, and how to support a groove while still adding personality. These techniques are invaluable for session work and groove-based music of any style.
Levi Clay – Style & Influence
Levi Clay is widely respected for his deep understanding of groove-based guitar styles, drawing influence from soul, funk, jazz, and modern R&B traditions. His playing reflects the legacy of classic soul session guitarists while incorporating a contemporary edge informed by modern harmony and rhythm. Levi’s clear teaching style and practical musical mindset make complex ideas accessible, helping players internalise concepts rather than simply memorising licks.
Why Soul Grooves Matters
Levi Clay – Soul Grooves is ideal for intermediate to advanced guitarists looking to refine their feel, expand their melodic vocabulary, and play with greater confidence in groove-focused music. By studying these lessons note for note, players develop better timing, stronger fretboard knowledge, and a more expressive, professional sound that works across multiple genres.
Guitar Techniques Used in These Lessons
About The Tutor
Tutor Profile
Levi Clay
Levi Clay is an English born, Scotland based guitarist who has carved out a career over the last 10 years with a focus on his expertise as a music transcriber, writer, and performer of many styles of music. From his earlier days playing in rock/metal group Hellcat Molly, to his...