Guitar How-To

How To Play Rhythm Guitar

When I first picked up the guitar I took lessons from my local teacher. I was told if I completed a certain number of lessons with him I would know how to play rhythm guitar. That may have been true back then but now if you know how to play rhythm guitar you really know alot more about the guitar than a few chord shapes. The basic function of the rhythm guitar player is still the same – providing a rhythmic backing for the band but the rhythm guitar player’s backing can be quite creative and demanding, not to mention that accompanying the lead guitarist now can mean to all intents and purposes, being a “second” lead guitarist.

The lead guitar player in a band plays melody lines. The melody lines are in the shape of licks, scales and riffs. The rhythm guitar player provides a background to the lead guitarists efforts by playing chords. So in order to do this, the rhythm guitar player must have a range of open chords at his disposal and he also must have the basic movable chord shapes and some idea of what to do with them. So knowing the chords is not enough. You should be able to play them in your sleep if you have to. This takes practice.

As a rhythm guitar player you will know your open chords and power chords. With practice you will be able to know which key a singer is in just by hearing him sing. The first thing you should learn are the open chords. Most of the music you learn will be based on three chords. You will learn about chord progressions and the use of sevenths to add variety to your rhythm guitar playing. Chords that make good music together are called families. The best way to learn and practice chords is to learn one family of chords at a time. In the key of A the chords in the family are A, D and E. In the key of D your chords are D, E minor, G and A. In the key of G the chord family is G, A minor, C, D, and E minor. In the key of C your chord family is C, D minor, E minor, F and G.

To get both hands working as a rhythm guitar player you will need to know some strumming patterns. These are fun to learn and after a while you will be making up your own. As a rhythm guitarist you will be exercising your judgement about when and how to deliver the chords behind the singer and lead guitar, and strumming patterns will be part of how you do it.

Open chords are the basis of your rhythm guitar playing but power chords will add some variety and excitement to your sound. They are easy to learn and sound really cool. You will end up devoting alot of time to learning how to use power chords simply because they yield such a great sound for little effort.

So when can you start playing rhythm guitar in a band? When you can keep time and have a few strumming patterns in your repertoire. Alot of learning how to play rhythm guitar is in doing it onstage with your band.

Here is a YouTube video on rhythm guitar . . .