As much as guitarists love to solo, the reality is that, for most of us, the majority of time spent in a band setting is applied to playing rhythm guitar.
As much as guitarists love to solo, the reality is that, for most of us, the majority of time spent in a band setting is applied to playing rhythm guitar.
While most serious guitarists have devised plenty of effective ways to practice and hone their soloing skills, the same cannot be said for the art of playing rhythm guitar. Focusing practice time on rhythm takes a different kind of discipline, which is why, unfortunately, one rarely hears someone say, “Wow, that guy’s an amazing rhythm player!” In my experience, time spent learning to improve one’s rhythm guitar chops reaps many different benefits, from solidifying your sense of time to instilling yourself as an integral part of the rhythm section.
In this column, I demonstrate two creative approaches to playing rhythm guitar–style accompaniment over a static one-chord funk groove in E. I use the term “rhythm guitar–style” because I take liberties with the concept by including sliding sixths, single-note melodic lines, allusions to other chords, rhythmic syncopations and more. These rhythm parts are played over a funk-style backing track with an implied tonality of E7 (or E9).
I encourage you to practice playing rhythm guitar over all kinds of backing tracks (these days there are zillions on YouTube), but you should also spend time practicing rhythm guitar just to a metronome, so that you’ll be able to focus on the tempo and the time alone, without the support of bass, drums and other instruments.
FIGURE 1 illustrates a 12-bar rhythm part that describes an E7 tonality by remaining rooted in the E Mixolydian mode