Members ShatteredMindofBob Posted January 14, 2003 Members Posted January 14, 2003 so...once again...I find myself unsatisfied with my rhythm playing. I find people who aren't me usually sound much more 'lively' playing rhythm parts...so I come to you my dear forumites for advice on sounding more lively... I really dunno how to describe what I'm talking about, since I actually can't think of any recorded examples of what I'm talking about, so I will just ramble on and make an attempt to make sense... ringing open strings and such I think are probably a big part of the bigger more lively sound I'm thinking of...I have started doing this thing where I arpegiate a chord and strum upwards at different points in it, so I have kind of a combination of picking and strumming going on in an attempt to get a bit of a 2 guitarist kinda sound going...through, I haven't quite perfected it yet (I still sound like one sloppy guitarist) is this the kinda thing you guys do? also, listening to the Velvet Underground live discs, I've been trying to get down Sterling Morrison's slidy chord thingy (that's only way I can think of to describe it...he's basically arpegiating triads on the three top strings and sliding around a lot...) though, I'm not quite asking for help with that one, I think I've got, just kinda trying to give an example of the style of playing I'm going for... another thing is the Chuck Berry root 5th/root 6th pattern, I hear people playing not nessesarily that, but something really similar, but there's like...ringing open strings or something involved in it and I have no clue what they're doing....is there a different way of playing that kind of pattern besides the normal power chord-power chord stretch form? or are people just being sloppy and hitting wrong strings? Neil Young does a lot that catches my ear too...like, I hear a lot of embellishments in Powderfinger, bit I keep watching videos of him playing and can't quite see what he's doing and I dunno, for all I know I'm dumb and he's doing regular embelishments that I already know but with a {censored}load of distortion but for some reason, it sounds a little different and then there are power chords, lets talk about power chords! I always hear about songs "It's just three power chords!" well...with the exception of a lot of lame pop-punk, it usually doesn't SOUND like it's just three power chords....I know there are lots of ways of playing them....adding the 5th on the E string when the root is on the A string...adding the 5th-root on the high E and B strings when the root is on the E string but what are some other ways of making power chords a little more interesting? I have played around with switching betwen root/5th and sus2 (moving my pinky that's on the octave note up 2 frets to the 2nd) which is interesting but, does anyone have any other ideas? Though, I think what I perceive to be 'power chords sounding more interesting' are probably just full chords played with heavy distortion..... anyway...uhhh..thanks for reading my rambling and if you have any suggestions for me...please...suggest away!! oh yeah...and, I'm looking for actual advice...please don't tell me who to listen to unless you say, have a link to a TAB (not a chord sheet) of their stuff....
Members Terje Posted January 14, 2003 Members Posted January 14, 2003 You want rhythm guitar? Here it is!http://www.freddiegreen.org/
Members Triton Posted January 14, 2003 Members Posted January 14, 2003 My advice if you want to improve your rhytm playing would be to sit down and learn some of your favorite rhytm parts. Pick a few out that you like and work on them until you really know them inside and out. If you do that those things you learn will soon start to creep up in your own playing. When it comes to improving rhytm playing it all depends on what style you want to play. I play many styles of music and what improved my rhytm playing more then anything else was to learn some funk rhytms. But then again it all depends on what style you want to play. My funk rhytm playing won't help me much when playing downstroke only Metallica rhytms like Master Of Puppets. It is also good to practice at home against a metronome or a drum machine is very good. Being tight and be able to lock in with the drummer is one of the most important things and that is why a metronome or drum machine is so good. Go to this site and you can view some video lessons on rhytm guitar.It might give you some ideas or things to work with.http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/ Wholenote has many different lessons that might help you.http://www.wholenote.com/ If you need tabs to some rhytm part you can find a lot here.http://pta.bandtabs.com/http://www.beepworld.de/members12/guitar-steve/http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk/ Another idea would to buy a book on the subject. Here's some sites where you can find info about different books.http://www.musicsheet.biz/store/sheet_music/guitar/default.asphttp://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_exactresults.html?cart=32515270169810955&select=artist&more=Guitar%20Intermediate/Advanced%20Suggestions
Members thelonius74 Posted January 14, 2003 Members Posted January 14, 2003 rhythm playing...my favorite. I still don't think I'm good enough, but it is what I think is most important AND most difficult. First off, although it's probably been reccomended to you a gabillion times......PLAY SOME PETE! And forgive my lack of knowledge on your exact style or playing experience, because I should know with us both being in the 5000+ in posts.... So bear with me if I'm stating the obvious to you.....but I would definitely pick up some Townsend stuff and learn the crap out of it. Not just the chords he plays....that's important, but the rhythmic structure with which he strums...like on Pinball Wizard..the heavy riff....[powerchords...B B A D and then falls into this huge full open E]. Things like that are SO vital for the dynamic of the song.The other problem is that if you're going to be an interesting rhythm player, you can't use gobs and gobs of gain. Not suggesting that you do...I dont' know On the power chord front...there's nothing that sounds worse to me than that rumbling 5th a string lower than the root, unless you're using it higher up (like Smoke on the Water using the G and D strings). But some people dig it. a lot of times for power chords, I use them for accentuation like the example I mentioned. Another great thing you can do with power chords (although it actually makes it not a power chord) it like a full barre chord and hit that 3rd on the G string. It won't be so pronounced to take away the 'power chordness' of it because you'll actually be hitting the root and fifth first. On "Hard to Handle" by the black crowes you have one guy comping, doing a chuck berry 5th/6th thing, and the other guy is doing the power chord plus the 3rd on the g string...but he's doing a 3rd/4th thing with the g string. Also, you can throw in 6ths interval power chords mixed in with your 5th ( I know it's not really a power chord if it's a 6th). But you could take a Major chord and play the inversion of it as a power chord.....so it would be 3rd-1st. Like if you were to play Highway to Hell like this (although this is not the way I play it)---2--2---2---------5-5-5-------0--0---0---------2-2-3-----One other thing on power chords.....you can try playing open position power chords. where you play the open position but only include the roots and fifths. I like the dissonance of thirds and such, so I don't use them much but here's some examples. E E C G A D--0----0------0------3------5-------5------------------------------0----5------1------3------5-------3-----------------------------x----4------0------0------2-------2----------------------------2----2------x------0------2-------0---------------------------2----2------3------x------0------------------------------------0----0------x------3-----------------------------------------
Members desmoines_bluesman Posted January 14, 2003 Members Posted January 14, 2003 Along with Pete...learn Keith (Keef) Richards. He's generally an underrated rhythm player, but he really has some subtleties that set him apart. Listen to what he does during the verses of Satisfaction compared to Brown Sugar or Painted Black. You can also borrow a Hendrix trick (a HIGHLY underrated rhythm player in some circles): Take the "Hendrix" jazz chord: E -- B 8 G 7 D 6 A 7 E -- This chord shows up in Fire and Purple Haze, among other songs. Picture him playing in fire, where he's hitting the "bass" or root note of the chord (7th fret, A string) a couple times, then he slams the whole chord at once. Many applications for this trick. You can intersperse something like this with double stops, power chords, or single-string lead lines.
Members StratKat Posted January 16, 2003 Members Posted January 16, 2003 I see two different types iof rhythm guitarist. The first one is the guy who chunks down straight rhythm feom beginning to end in a song. He is the launch pad for the soloist and singer to rely on. His purpose is top p[lay the boring simple chordwork song after song and not be noticed. Then there is the minimalist who doesnt play that much in each song at all. The minimalist is usually playing fills while the lead singer/guitarist sings. Then polays straight ahead rhythm when the lead player/singer shows off his chops. In both instances i consider the best guys in this field to be the ones you never notice much. Thats because they are doing exactly what is needed and nothing more to clutter it up. And remember, sometimes the best rhythm is NONE! Just because you have four or five guys on a stage doesnt mean they all have to play all the time on every song...
Members TeleCastrMaster Posted January 16, 2003 Members Posted January 16, 2003 Another guy who I think is underrated- Bob Weir. Particulalry if you listen to live recordings from the later days (say, mid-80s on). He really worked well with the rhythm section, and contributed a great deal of subtlety and substance to the overall music.
Members ShatteredMindofBob Posted January 18, 2003 Author Members Posted January 18, 2003 Originally posted by StratKat I see two different types iof rhythm guitarist.The first one is the guy who chunks down straight rhythm feom beginning to end in a song. He is the launch pad for the soloist and singer to rely on. His purpose is top p[lay the boring simple chordwork song after song and not be noticed.Then there is the minimalist who doesnt play that much in each song at all. The minimalist is usually playing fills while the lead singer/guitarist sings. Then polays straight ahead rhythm when the lead player/singer shows off his chops.In both instances i consider the best guys in this field to be the ones you never notice much. Thats because they are doing exactly what is needed and nothing more to clutter it up.And remember, sometimes the best rhythm is NONE! Just because you have four or five guys on a stage doesnt mean they all have to play all the time on every song... I totally get what you're saying, but usually playing solo, or when I do get a band together, I'm aiming for a trio, so I am trying to work out a slightly busier rhyhthm style to make things a little more interesting anyway...I don't suppose anyone has any answers to my specific questions? Do I need to clarify anything?
Members mc5nrg Posted January 20, 2003 Members Posted January 20, 2003 Learn and use different inversions and partial chords.One important shape that escaped me for years is a variation on the common D shape--but xx423x instead of xx0232.The inner shape is movable and you can add grace notes.I'm sure you are familiar with these variations on the common A shape x4222x and xx2255 also movable.A really useful Dom7 shape that omits the root but allows you to reach all sorts of extensions is xx565x, a variation of 5x565x(A7)
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