Rhythm guitar playing is not really any different from playing solos on the guitar, but let me leave that discussion for somewhere else, for this blog I will concentrate on the art of playing rhythm guitar and how you can improve your own rhythm playing.

Rhythm guitar playing is nothing more than holding down the chords of a song with a particular rhythm. When playing a song you do not have to stick to one rhythm all the way through the song, listen to songs you like, do most of them have just one groove, or do they have different parts in them which use various rhythm parts? Guitar playing is not really any different: See youself as a drummer in a band, for the intro of the song you are lightly playing the Hi-Hat, for the verse you may have a heavy feel on the snare while the chorus receives the heavy cymbol treatment.

You may say at this point: “Playing drums on the guitar?” “Where is the snare, I only have six strings here?” Various chordshapes give you different sonic possibilities, you can also mute your strings while you strum to mimick a more rhythmic approach of playing the guitar. Listen to some funk and soul, and try to hold down the rhythm of those songs while using the muted strums. It will open up your eyes (and ears) to what you can actually do with your strumming.

Most beginners and intermediate guitar players seem to build up a repertoire of strums and variations and they will use these for any song they want to play. Good, but what about listening to the song and let the music decide what kind of strumpattern you need to play? This may be more a natural way of how to approach your rhythmplaying.

When it gets to playing solos working with the rhythm and how to hold back on particular beats within the songs is a very effective way to start building up your solo, but  let me leave that discussion for the material of another blog.

 

Happy Strumming and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie