Rhythm Guitar - Be Good at it
It is even more important to be a good rhythm guitarist than it is to be a good lead player.
Yes, it's true that lead playing is cool.
It also seems to be true that lead guitarists seem to get most of the attention and adoration over rhythm players.
Bur there's more to this than meets the eye.
The people in a band responsible for establishing the rhythm of a song establish the tone and the mood of that song.
No matter how good the lead guitarist is, if the rhythm instruments do not do their jobs well, the song will lose its effectiveness.
In addition, guitars may not be the only lead instruments in a band.
A band may contain keyboards, horns, and/or a violin player or two.
If you are the guitarist in a band that has one or more of those types of instruments, you had better be good at playing rhythm.
If you want to make money as a professional musician, know that the most money goes to the most versatile.
Being good at both makes you more marketable.
This should be your first ideal.
Also, it's much harder in general to be a good lead player than it is to be a good at rhythm.
This of course depends on whether or not you even have a good sense of rhythm in the first place.
Playing rhythm is an art form unto itself.
As I said earlier, it affects the tone and mood of any song.
You should make it your business to be good at rhythm.
If you are good at this, even if you can't play lead very well, you will have more marketability than if you were okay at lead but suck at rhythm.
The best guitarists in the world are great at both of these.
Eric Clapton, who is recognized by many as being among the greatest of all time at lead playing, has played background rhythm for artists such as Jimi Hendrix (All Along the Watchtower), and George Harrison (My Sweet Lord).
If being versatile is good enough for the likes of someone like him, it should be for you too.
If you like Beatles music, listen to to how John Lennon played rhythm.
Many prominent guitarists considered him to be a genius at it.
Don't get too hung up on just playing what you may consider to be the "cool stuff" -- like being a great guitar "shredder".
There's nothing wrong with that, but what counts more than anything else in the real world is musicianship.
And that means learning how to play good rhythm guitar -- on the acoustic as well as on the electric.
Yes, it's true that lead playing is cool.
It also seems to be true that lead guitarists seem to get most of the attention and adoration over rhythm players.
Bur there's more to this than meets the eye.
The people in a band responsible for establishing the rhythm of a song establish the tone and the mood of that song.
No matter how good the lead guitarist is, if the rhythm instruments do not do their jobs well, the song will lose its effectiveness.
In addition, guitars may not be the only lead instruments in a band.
A band may contain keyboards, horns, and/or a violin player or two.
If you are the guitarist in a band that has one or more of those types of instruments, you had better be good at playing rhythm.
If you want to make money as a professional musician, know that the most money goes to the most versatile.
Being good at both makes you more marketable.
This should be your first ideal.
Also, it's much harder in general to be a good lead player than it is to be a good at rhythm.
This of course depends on whether or not you even have a good sense of rhythm in the first place.
Playing rhythm is an art form unto itself.
As I said earlier, it affects the tone and mood of any song.
You should make it your business to be good at rhythm.
If you are good at this, even if you can't play lead very well, you will have more marketability than if you were okay at lead but suck at rhythm.
The best guitarists in the world are great at both of these.
Eric Clapton, who is recognized by many as being among the greatest of all time at lead playing, has played background rhythm for artists such as Jimi Hendrix (All Along the Watchtower), and George Harrison (My Sweet Lord).
If being versatile is good enough for the likes of someone like him, it should be for you too.
If you like Beatles music, listen to to how John Lennon played rhythm.
Many prominent guitarists considered him to be a genius at it.
Don't get too hung up on just playing what you may consider to be the "cool stuff" -- like being a great guitar "shredder".
There's nothing wrong with that, but what counts more than anything else in the real world is musicianship.
And that means learning how to play good rhythm guitar -- on the acoustic as well as on the electric.