When many people think of classic rock and rock in general, they think of the catchy guitar rifts, lightning fast guitar solos, and amazing lead guitars. Because of this, rhythm guitar are given less emphasis and rarely get the spot light.
Rhythm guitarists are often placed in the background with the lead guitarists and vocalists in the forefront getting all the recognition. Because of this, some view being called a rhythm guitarist as, almost an insult. They think that being a rhythm guitarist just means you are not good enough to play lead guitar.
Is this true? Does being a rhythm guitarist mean that you are not good enough to play lead?
Most certainly not! Many seasoned guitarists choose to play rhythm guitar. Why? You might ask. Many guitarist choose to play rhythm for a simple reason, they enjoy it. But why do people view rhythm guitar as less important than lead guitar?
Lead guitar is usually considered the more difficult of the two, but does that make it less important? Not really, in many cases the background rhythm guitar is just as important as the complicated lead guitar. The rhythm guitarist has the important role of setting the underlying theme and structure of a song.
Comparing lead guitar to rhythm guitar is much like comparing a drummer to a vocalist. They cannot really be compared because they play two entirely different roles. Each fulfills a purpose that the other cannot do quite as well. This is like wise true with rhythm and lead guitarists, they each serve a purpose that the other cannot serve quite as well.
Because rhythm guitar is usually more simplistic than lead guitar, beginner guitarists usually start by playing rhythm. This is not a bad thing; because rhythm guitar is often not as complicated lead guitar, this makes it is easier to focus on the rhythm and beat of a song, instead of just the individual notes. For this reason it best even for lead guitarists to play some rhythm guitar, doing so will help them to become a better lead guitarist in the long run.
So if you are a rhythm guitarist don’t fret and don’t let anyone tell you it is unimportant. It is very important and can even make you a better lead guitarist.
Next lesson we will talk about how you can become a great rhythm guitarist and some techniques that will help you on your way
Today the term guitar solo is commonly taken to refer specifically to the rock music genre. Although solo passages for guitar are found in many musical genres, the 'guitar solo' has become a characteristic part of rock music. Guitar solos are usually performed with electric guitar with the timbral effect known as distortion. Rock bands sometimes have two guitarists, designated 'lead' and 'rhythm', the 'lead' player taking the solos while the 'rhythm' player accompanies. Lonnie Johnson was one of the first, if not the first, musicians (in modern music especially) to play single string guitar solos.
Most examples of rock music are based around songs in very traditional forms. The main formal features are therefore verses, choruses, and bridges. The guitar solo is usually the most significant instrumental (that is, non-vocal) section of a mainstream rock song. In other rock-related genres such as pop and dance music, the keyboard synthesizer usually plays this melodic role.
This use of an instrumental interlude to a song is influenced by blues musicians like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters, who were influential in the development of rhythm and blues (e.g., Bo Diddley), rock and roll (e.g. Chuck Berry) and hence more modern forms of rock music. In most cases, the rock guitar solo is a short instrumental section of the song. In the classic verse-chorus form it quite often falls between the second chorus and third verse. As well, extended guitar solos are sometimes used at the end of songs, such as Guns N' Roses's November Rain, Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird ,Van Halen's Eruption and Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven.
The use of the guitar solo in heavy metal music was especially notable during the 1980s, where guitar solos were common, and a lead guitarist of a band might be as well-known as the singer. During this time the use of techniques such as harmonics became more widely used. Later, guitarists who had developed considerable technical facility began to release albums which consisted only of guitar compositions.
Guitar solos in popular music went out of fashion in the mid 1990s, coinciding with the rise in popularity of Nu metal which did not feature guitar solos prominently. Following nu metal, the guitar solo in pop and popular rock music also declined in popularity. In recent years it has come back into fashion in heavy metal music with many bands showcasing solos in many of their compositions. Guitar solos remain important in rock, heavy metal, blues, and jazz music
Begin each slide from the 1st fret
Quickly slide your finger up to the fret # specified
Be sure to keep the pressure on the guitar string as you slide
The whole left hand should move when you slide the finger
Let the note that you slide to ring for 1 to 2 seconds
Some of these slides are 2 frets long, others are just 1 fret
Practice the E blues slide notes first, then each guitar lickE Blues Slide Notes
Guitar Scale - Guitar Lessons - The Thrill of Soloing
Guitar Scale - Guitar Lessons - The Thrill of Soloing
In this guitar lesson, not only will you learn about the concept of soloing, but you will learn a great guitar scale which you will use in soloing.
Think of soloing as snowboarding, pool skating, rollerblading, or ski jumping. In a split second, you use moves and tricks to create your own unique style.
The idea of soloing or improvising began with composing. Composing is to form musical phrases (similar to sentences) into a melody that is pleasing to the ear. Soloing is just composing on the spot, spontaneously.
Composing music and writing a short story are almost the same process except one uses musical note phrases and the other word phrases. A good composition (song) as well as a good solo should tell a story.
Some of the best story tellers were and are blues musicians. Rock guitar heroes like Jimmy Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton studied and borrowed from the blues masters Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Albert King, and Robert Johnson to name a few.Scales
A Scale is a series of notes between 5 and 12 notes long. Scales are used for:
Guitar Solos
Developing finger coordination, speed, and accuracy
Writing melodies(Songwriting)
It is possible to play the same scale in many different places on the guitar fingerboard. I will refer to this as playing in a position(1st position, 4th position etc...)
Usually, when practicing scales, we play the scale from the lowest note to the highest note.The E Blues Scale
This is the first scale you will learn on this site. It is a great scale to start soloing with because it gives you many more choices for cool and easy guitar licks and guitar techniques than other open position scales. You will learn to play all of the beginning to intermediate guitar techniques (bends, vibrato, etc..)with the notes of the E Blues scale.
Looking for an excuse to buy an iPhone? This might be it. No, it's not ready for prime time yet, but it might impress your low-tech guitar playing buddies. Video after the jump...
