Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 10:26 AM CST

So I've decided that I really need to improve my knowledge about how things work on the guitar. When I started learning, I just sort of went at it, with no direction. I would say that I am much stronger at playing lead then I am with rhythm guitar.

Anyway-- for you macjams guitar wizards out there-- what is the best way to work on my rhythm guitar playing? I don't have a problem keeping time or anything--but my mental "library" so to speak is pretty limited.

I'm always amazed at some of the basic things I missed along the way. Sometimes I'll be jamming with someone, and they'll say, "Why don't you play this here instead of here--it will make it easier on you"-- and that one little basic, easy thing, will improve my playing drastically. I just know that there are a bunch of little things that I have just failed to learn.

Any tips would be appreciated!

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 10:41 AM CST

Practice your up strokes when you strum. Listen to some reggae or ska and notice how they strum up on the -and- part of the beat. It seems weird at first, but is a great technique.

Watch some live footage of guitar players you like. You can find just about anything on youtube. Pete Townsend of the who is an amazing rhythym player, J Mascis of Dinoasur Jr, Neil Young, I could go on and on.

Listen to guitar players in genres you don't normally listen to. It's a good way to get fresh ideas.

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 10:57 AM CST

I don't have any advice to offer, unfortunately, but your question sparked a discussion I once had with some bandmembers a long time ago. Specifically... are some guitarists born rhythm players and others born to scream out leads?

Myself, I've never been driven to the lead guitar, but was always more intrigued by the rhythm guitarist's oft-underrated contribution. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and listened to a lot of disco (go ahead, say whatever you want) and the grounding pattern of drums/bass/rhythm guitar left a big impression on me. I found that there was a persistant impression among musicians I talked to, that rhythm guitar was just a stepping-stone to being a real guitarist - read, lead. To paraphrase Mark Knopffler, if you couldn't make it cry or sing, then you could always be a 'rhythm guitarist'. But on the other hand, an old guitarist I once met said that lead guitarists played for the benefit of themselves, wheras rhythm guitarists played for the benefit of the song. But lead guitarists get the groupies, so................!

Anyway, I hope you get some good feedback.

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 10:57 AM CST

honestly.....learn as many Beatles/ James Brown and Muddy Waters tunes that you can.....everything else will fall into place

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 11:20 AM CST

Less is more.

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 11:57 AM CST

Quote by: Rik Berryere I don't have any advice to offer, unfortunately, but your question sparked a discussion I once had with some bandmembers a long time ago. Specifically... are some guitarists born rhythm players and others born to scream out leads? Myself, I've never been driven to the lead guitar, but was always more intrigued by the rhythm guitarist's oft-underrated contribution. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and listened to a lot of disco (go ahead, say whatever you want) and the grounding pattern of drums/bass/rhythm guitar left a big impression on me. I found that there was a persistant impression among musicians I talked to, that rhythm guitar was just a stepping-stone to being a real guitarist - read, lead. To paraphrase Mark Knopffler, if you couldn't make it cry or sing, then you could always be a 'rhythm guitarist'. But on the other hand, an old guitarist I once met said that lead guitarists played for the benefit of themselves, wheras rhythm guitarists played for the benefit of the song. But lead guitarists get the groupies, so................! Anyway, I hope you get some good feedback.

Very interesting post with a lot of good observations.

I guess personally I buck the trend of going from rhythm to lead, because when I started out I was very much into playing flashy solos, whereas now I focus almost exclusively on writing and performing rhythm guitar. There was a time when I could play Flying in a Blue Dream front to back, but I wouldn't even know where to begin now. I'd probably be lost after about 3 seconds... That said, I think I'm a much better and more versatile guitarist now than I was then.

In terms of advice for admiralebay - I would suggest listening to Axis: Bold as Love by Hendrix to hear how you he constructs his rhythms with the use of partial chords instead of the typical full bar chords or power chords. Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits is another guy who can hint at a full chord by playing only a few notes. Listen to the interaction between bass and guitar for both of these artists.

If you want power chords, check out Page and Townsend. Page is a great study for rhythm guitar because it's not all about filling every subdivision of beats with notes... he was great at writing a complicated riff but adding stutters and stops to leave some empty spaces for the song to "breathe". Very cool stuff and a lot to learn there.

For modern rock music, check out Adam Jones from Tool and Daron Malakian from System of a down - Jones is an excellent study in precision and also writes very challenging guitar parts with constantly evolving time signatures. Malakian is a master of dynamics in taking the listener through soft and hard portions of a song.

One other thing to try - load up some of your favorite drums loops in your recording program, hit record, and jam away on a couple chords... switch up timings and voicings... just let it run for 10, 15, 30 minutes, whatever... then go back and analyze your performance. Look at the waveforms to see how accurate your playing is with the beats. It doesn't have to be exact, many players make a living playing a bit "behind" or "in front" of the beat, the thing is to be consistent in your approach. You don't want to waver with speed-ups and slow-downs. This approach of recording and analysis really helped me after I took 7 years off from playing.

Hope some of this helps.

Mason

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 12:01 PM CST

Quote by: omnibus11 honestly.....learn as many Beatles/ James Brown and Muddy Waters tunes that you can.....everything else will fall into place

There's a lot of truth in this one, Marcus.

Especially The Beatles. They had a real knack for distilling a lot of their early folk, country and rock influences in often unusual, inventive and interesting ways.

But the *well* is much deeper... this is one of the reasons I've stated aspiring musicians of today are missing out because they don't have as many opportunities to play covers as many of us did when we were starting out. That kind of experience introduces you to a wide array of different styles, techniques and approaches, which you eventually incorporate into your repertoire.

--- Joe

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 12:14 PM CST

A good thing is to look at drummers technique books .

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 12:27 PM CST

Thank you all for the tips / advice! Macjams rocks!

Re:Rhythm Guitar?
Tuesday, December 04 2007 @ 12:44 PM CST

Couldn't agree more with the Beatles and James Brown recommendations. Another good band to check out is the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards is, in my opinion, one of the all time masters of rhythm guitar.