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I play mostly rhythm in my band of the last 2 years. I came to this 5 piece band from a four piece where I was the only guitarist and I developed my own "unique" style over that 15 or so years that meant I could cover whatever was needed of me because of the lack of rhythm guitar or keys or whatever. I have a very choppy, slightly messy style that I have (unbelievably) been complemented on....... but this style doesn't seem to fit in with the band I am in now - where im strictly rhythm even if I did want to make it cry or sing.....
Truth of the matter is i'm bored to tears and just seem to revert to playing basic open or barre chords because I don't know the alternatives, I'm on the brink of leaving the band - I used to just "invent" chords in my old band - they were probably the right actual named chords - I just didn't know it!!
I've watched few videos on "being a better rhythm guitarist" and the general consensus "learn all the different chord shapes for each chord"
But where do I find this info? I need a big poster with all the shapes for each chord on it. I don't just mean D Dm D7 D# etc etc. I mean a poster that says you can play D major here, here, here, here and here, so I can mix it up a bit
otherwise im going to go mad with boredom. I have either got to start crafting the rhythm guitar role or just give up. Its killing my love of playing and seeing as there seems to be no chance of playing any lead at all because of our Mr Ego McShowoffpants lead player
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Also you don't necessarily have to play the big chunky barre chord for everything, if you play funk for example the thinnest three strings is best to get that clippy muted sound.
Drop and alternate tunings can be a way to freshen up the intervals in chords to make it sound different, if you check out Coldplay's "Yellow" the guitar is actually tuned to EABGBD# and those chords ring so lush! The Foo Fighters have 3 guitarists now and I'm pretty sure all 3 don't play the same stuff!
I mostly play rhythm too in bands across many rock styles and I know what you mean about either open or barre but I've slowly learn to compliment the song/band by altering a few shapes. I'm also a tutor now so I've learnt about the CAGED system and stuff like that.
I was lucky enough to attend ACM about 10 years ago and one of the units on the course was Live Performance Workshop. Here we studied guitar parts usually split across 2 guitarists in bands so you know exactly how each guitar worked in context with one another. Also I do composition and arrangement for a band so I help with chord voicings and melodies in conjunction with the harmony.
- Eddie Van Halen
rhythm guitar isn’t just strumming backing chords, it is playing rhythm like what the bass and the drums do. It has nothing to do with chords (well, ish)
for what my meagre views are worth, ignore different ways of playing the same chords, and instead concentrate on developing and practising a range of different rhythmic picking and strumming patterns
Experiment.
Try more things.
Alternate between open/barre/hybrid chords.
If you have a style on which you have been complimented, stick with it and build on it.
Don't diss your own style. Even SRV thought he was only an average player.
Failing all this, leave the band and start afresh!
For example, you can play D major as:
'C'-shape, 2nd fret
'A'-shape, 5th fret
'G'-shape, 7th fret
'E'-shape, 10th fret
'D'-shape, open position
You don't need to play all notes in the chord - often just three or even two.
HTH,
R.
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Another way to look at them are 6th string root chords G and E shapes, 5th string root chords C and A shapes and 4th string root chord shapes F and D. That way you can think of alternative ways to play chords in different registers fairly easily.
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if you play 2 string chords (double stops) you can pretty much play slo g to anything anywhere on the neck
which allows you to concentrate on groovy rhythms
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Otherwise just stop playing block chords. Let the bass and drums provide the rhythm, and add chords when needed for power or emphasis. There are a lot of songs where the rhythm guitar plays single note parts: BeeGees’ Staying Alive, and anything with Nile Rodgers as examples.
- learn some basic theory. It’s not hard, certainly not as hard as trying to remember huge lists of chord shapes. If you can find notes on the fingerboard ( know, find or look up) and apply some basic formula you can find chord shapes. If you are learning stuff for a band you can do this in your own time, you don’t need to be able to do it on the fly ( unless you’ve joined an improvising jazz quintet).
- work on your muting and damping. Being able to control your timing and have sharp rythmn ties Freddie Green in the Count Basie Band to Metallica and everything else between and beyond.
- it’s not all about the notes. Learning when not to play or just percussive strumming are all part of the rythmn guitar toolbox.
- if all else fails mess around with pedals.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Different styles lend themselves more to more 'creative' rhythm playing. If you're playing funk or jazz the options are endless. If you're playing Oasis type britpop stuff you're gonna be more limited.
I always remember seeing Oasis gigs on the telly back in the day and looking at the rhythm guitarist (I forget his name). There he was playing rock music to tens of thousands of adoring fans, probably earning millions in the process, living out everyone's childhood dreams, and the poor bloke looked so bored that he was contemplating suicide...
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27170-how-to-use-triads
However, I'm assuming you've got a fair bit of work with this lot so go out in style and use every remaining gig as an opportunity to up your game for your next band.
From what you've said you would absolutely, definitely, no maybe, benefit big time from:
1) learning all the notes of the fretboard so they are totally familiar, as known as the alphabet, as known as your name, so you can "see" the notes all over the fretboard. It doesn't take long. Took me 5 minutes a day for 6 weeks. Best thing ever. Because...
2) chords are made up of notes; solos are made up of notes; and now I think of it, music is made up of notes <<-- #Cptn Obvious. But once you see all the notes you're winning because even a small bit of theory makes sense because you know all the notes.
So while I totally agree with @EricTheWeary that it's not all about the notes, I gotta say that learning them, (like 3 decades after first picking up a guitar), was the biggest bang for the buck ever. Literally, Bminor, B, D, F#... stick it anywhere, any how, "see" it shares the D and the B with Gmaj and see interesting ways of connecting them, sort of thing.
The advice about CAGED shapes, triads, knowing some simple inversions, and knowing the fretboard (as notes) is all great.
But with that knowledge, you still need to decide what you want to hear.
For example, I really like the way that RnB and country-soul players play rhythm -- using inversions, triads, double stops, etc. -- and also rock playing that derives from that. Also, the way that funk and gospel influenced players like Mark Lettieri play. So, if I was playing in a band with relatively 'straight' chord progressions, and quite tight constraints, that's the sort of sound I'd be trying to cop in my head. You might have other people in mind, and want to cop that instead.
So, here's Eric Haugen (great channel, btw) demoing an RnB style part on 'A Change is Gonna Come':
- draw a guitar fretboard out and mark the fret positions of the root, third, fifth and seventh notes of, say, the A major scale [with one of the roots noted at the fifth fret of the sixth (bass) string obviously, in this case]
(All other scales can then be translated by envisaging the specified notes moved either up or down the fretboard)
- (separately) note to memory the scale degrees when one plays a ‘barre’. From the bass to treble strings one would get:
root (bass string) - fourth - flat seventh - flat third - fifth - root (treble string)
- from both the above then it’s easier to get to a point of knowing where the important tone centres are and where fingerings are required for the particular chord one wants to construct.
- and, yes, learn inversions and open (like jazz players play - ‘four on six’) and closed three-note [R,3,5 or R,3,7 or some-other, as is one’s want] and four-note [R,3,5,7]) chords.