What is rhythm guitar and how to play it?

The basis of a modern vocal-instrumental or just an instrumental group of any direction and style is usually 3 or 4 instruments, not counting the drum kit. Moreover, all of them (with the smallest composition) can be electric guitars. One of them plays the bass, the other plays the rhythm, and the third plays the solo. In this article, we will take a closer look at what a rhythm guitar is, how to play it, and how it differs from other electric guitars.

The rhythm guitar belongs to the accompanying musical instruments, being part of the so-called rhythm section, which, in addition to it, is made up of a drum kit and a bass guitar of one or another instrumental formation.

The main function of the guitarist playing the accompaniment is to ensure the clarity of playing a given rhythm within the harmonic basis of the melody. Simply put, the guitarist creates the rhythmic and harmonic structure of a piece of music, against which the song is performed, the solo instruments and bass are played.

From this perspective, it becomes clear that the rhythm guitar is a rather strict instrument in relation to the performance of its part. - she must strictly adhere to the beat produced by the percussion instruments and always play the "correct" chords (harmony).

The rhythm guitar plays not only full chords, but also other accords, for example, double-stops (accords of different intervals) and the so-called power chords (C5, F5, G5). It is on the latter that most of the riffs of modern rock bands are built.Power chords are the same two-sounds as double-stops, but they have a strict interval between sounds - a fifth, in which the tonic and fifth chord sounds participate (in C5 these will be "C" and "G"). The third of the main triad (E in C5) is not played.

Besides, more often the main tone of a power chord is duplicated by an octave analogue (in C5, this will be the sound "C" one octave higher than the bass root tone "C"). It turns out that three sounds are involved in such a construction: 2 basic tones "C" and a fifth "G"). Here are examples of such constructions:

It happens that the rhythm guitarist also plays monophonic constructions in the lower register (during transitions of harmony, rhythm).

In terms of instrument construction, there is no difference between a guitar that performs the function of a solo (playing the main melody or improvisational plays between parts of a piece or verses of a song) and a guitar that creates a harmonic and rhythmic skeleton of a musical composition. You can play both the rhythm part and the solo part on the same electric guitar model. The same number of strings, the same tuning, the same technique of playing with your fingers or a pick.

Often in a group, the same guitarist, without changing the instrument, performs two roles:

1. Plays riffs or chords while accompanying a singer or other solo instrument.
2. performs lead guitar inserts between parts of the melody, leaving the rhythm section (bass and percussion instruments) without harmonic saturation or yielding harmony to the synthesizer.

The main differences are not in the model of the guitar, but in the technique of playing it. A solo guitarist usually has a high skill in high-speed guitar playing, has an excellent sense of improvisation, excellent ear, excellent technique of solo playing with the use of turntables, bends, slides. Not every rhythm guitarist can do this.

There are many examples of this. Here are the facts.

• Guitar virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist, specializing mainly in solo, Andy James (played in the group Sacred Mother Tongue) is known for his not only "killer" but also lyrical solos. But with riffs, he did it much worse.

• James Hetfield (rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for Metallica) He is fluent in rhythm guitar, fills the compositions with catchy riffs, but with a solo he does it much worse than Andy James.
• Ritchie Blackmore (co-founder and guitarist of the hard rock band Deep Purple) did a great job with both rhythm and solos. He is a versatile instrumentalist.

There is one peculiarity about strings. Solo playing usually requires a finer gauge kit (8-10), while rhythm guitar sounds better on thicker strings.

A beginner guitarist aiming to play rhythm on an electric guitar in a group should work very hard not only in terms of mastering the instrument, but also in the field of general music education. That is, he needs such minimal theoretical knowledge:

• musical literacy (sheet music and tablature);
• how chords are built;
• alphanumeric designation of chords;
• rhythm part designations;
• the concept of keys (minor, major) and their construction;
• the ability to use the quarto-fifth range of keys and their transposition;

• parallelism of keys;
• the basics of harmonic relationships of chords in keys.

Music is created according to the laws of harmony, so any musician, especially a rhythm guitarist, must know at least the basics of this science.

The whole theory can be mastered in the process of practical mastery of the instrument. The order of initial learning to play the guitar is as follows:

• exercises for the right hand: on open strings, different types of fingering (arpeggio) are studied, first by playing with the fingers, then by a pick (only downward hit by the pick);
• study of overpicking with a pick with a variable stroke (down-up-down-up) on open strings;
• staging simple chords using 1-2 fingers of the left hand while playing previously learned strokes on open strings (the right hand makes sounds first with fingers, then with a pick);
• setting open chords in position I (within the first two or three frets): Am, C, Dm, E, D, G7, E7, D7, A, A7, Em;
• playing with a simple strike (with a plectrum blow from top to bottom) for every quarter beat in a time signature of 4/4 of the following chord patterns: 1) Am-E-E-Am; 2) C-Dm-E7-Am;
• learning several rhythmic patterns with previously mastered chords, the schemes of which are posted below (play first with the beats of the index finger of the right hand, then with a pick);

• acquaintance with fifth-chords (power-chords) on the example of playing the harmonic link C5-D5-C5-A5 by playing with a pick and hitting strings No. 5 and No. 4 downward for every quarter beat at a time of 4/4;
• the next stage is mastering the half-barre and full barre with the F chords in the first position, D7 and A7 in the second position with the accompanying harmony chords of the open (no barre) construction;

• play several rhythms with previously learned chords according to the schemes below, where the beats fall on the weak beats and all of them are from the bottom up (for the strong beat, you need to put the edge of your palm on the strings in order to muffle them - this is a common practice of the rhythm guitarist);
• playing power chords on three strings: C5-D5-G5-A5.

At this point, the initial classes can be called complete. By this time, the guitarist, diligently studying theory and the proposed version of practical training, will have to understand a lot. Further training should be translated into the mainstream of daily practice of playing a variety of rhythmic and harmonic schemes, which can be taken even from an ordinary songbook.

To help - some rhythm schemes for guitar in different time signatures:

One of the main nuances of learning is the constant control over the sounds of the electric guitar. A clear rhythm obliges you to master a variety of techniques for muting the strings, both all at the same time, and separately, when you need to block unnecessary sounds in chords. At first, the jamming technique may seem like an insurmountable obstacle for a beginner, but after long training everything starts to be performed automatically, the musician does not even have to think about what and how to block sounds.

And the best motivation for patient learning is to listen and watch the play of the greatest guitarists of the past and present century using the video materials available on the Internet during the "quiet" rest from chafing the strings.