Learn How To Instantly Make Your Rhythm Guitar Playing Sound Badass With No Extra Effort

 

Now that you’ve watched the video - Here are some more ideas to help you become a better rhythm guitar player:

Want to improve your rhythm guitar picking technique?

In order to become a better rhythm guitarist, it is important to focus on using motion in the picking hand as effectively as possible. Many guitar players quickly lose stamina while they play rhythm guitar because they use too much motion to pick something that requires much less.

For example, while you are playing a riff using a downstroke, focus on the motion that your hand makes as you return upward to get in position to pick the string again. Or when moving from one string to the next, use directional picking versus strict alternate picking.

Additionally, it is important to pay close attention to the amount of tension you use as you are picking. Make sure that any force you are using to play has a purpose and eliminate any addition tension in your body.

 

Want to play rhythm guitar with more creativity?

To play creative rhythm guitar, you will need to focus more on HOW you play rather than what notes you play specifically.

Fact is, you can get a lot of mileage from basic power chords if you know how to use them creatively.

For example, take any power chord you know…then write down a series of eighth note rhythms on a piece of paper for 4-8 measures.

Next, delete 3 random eighth notes from each measure and put rests in their place. Now play the resulting rhythm using your power chord. You’ll find that you can come up with nearly infinite rhythmic possibilities using this exercise!

 

Are you trying to learn how to play 7 string guitar?

One of the most common problems for people who are learning 7 string guitar is that they do not know how to play creatively.

This often occurs because the guitar player is accustomed to the feel of a standard 6 string guitar. In most cases, new 7 string players will use the instrument only to play rhythm guitar riffs on the bass string.

This causes them to quickly run out of ideas and become bored. As a result, their 7 string guitar becomes “the guitar that never gets played except for special occasions.”

Fortunately, this does not have to be the case.

To become a better , more creative 7 string guitar player, you simply need to take the time to learn what the instrument has to offer.

You get much more out of your 7 string guitar than just an additional string for chugging riffs. The low B string can be used for a variety of purposes including both lead and rhythm guitar playing.

 

Want to play galloping guitar rhythms well?

Make sure that every note is articulated clearly and with the same amount of power (consistency in articulation is VERY important to truly tight rhythm playing).

To do this, slow down while practicing and listen for this element of playing. As you speed up, pay attention to how much tension accumulates in your picking hand’s shoulder.

Tension is one of the common reasons why your articulation becomes sloppy at faster tempos (because your body is trying to compensate for tension by forcing you to pick softer on the notes).

Also, spend more time practicing to a metronome (or drum track) so that you further refine your timing and pay attention to this while practicing rhythm playing.

 

Want your rhythm guitar chords to sound great?

As you work on your rhythm guitar playing, make sure to keep the chords you play stable.

What does this mean?

It means every string is struck with the same amount of force.

To do this, strum the strings in a fast downward motion hitting all the strings quickly.

If you do this, your pick comes to rest on one of the higher strings vs. coming up and away from the strings.

What this does is help you to have all strings vibrate at the same frequencies, keeping it in tune.

To help with this further, it will help you to tune your guitar slightly flat (by 1-2 cents). This will then help you to play in tune when you strum chords hard because it causes the strings to become slightly sharp.

 

Rhythm Guitar Recording Tip:

Double track guitars so that the two sound like one totally tight guitar part.

Practice recording two different guitar parts and then pan them in the opposite speakers (one all the way to the left, the other all the way to the right speaker).

Then listen to the result in headphones and listen for any imperfections that you hear in one speaker but don’t hear in the other. This gets you to notice and become sensitive to nuances of rhythm guitar playing that you have never consciously listened to before.

Fixing these problems then becomes simply a matter of practicing recording rhythm parts and making sure that these flaws are not there.

 

 

Rhythm Guitar Mistake To Look Out For

Watch out for when you fall out of time by either speeding up or slowing down the rhythm of chords as you repeated them.

This sometimes happens because you become distracted by having multiple musical elements within a lick to pay attention to simultaneously (lead playing, rhythm playing, the transition between the two, etc.).

To fix this, simply remind yourself periodically to put your attention back on playing tight rhythm and don't let your mind go on autopilot in this area. Use a metronome to keep you in time and work with just a handful of notes to maintain focus on perfect timing.

 

If you took guitar lessons before, but it didn’t work out… read this:

In most cases after students stop taking lessons with their guitar teacher they feel frustrated by their lack of progress.

If you have ever taken guitar lessons for yourself, you have probably felt the same way. You may have even blamed your lack of results on having a bad guitar teacher.

Unfortunately, many guitar players are slowing themselves down in their guitar progress due to their own inefficient approaches to learning.

While there do certainly exist bad guitar teachers, in order for you to become a better guitar player, you must start by analyzing yourself first.

For instance, many people struggle to make progress on guitar because they think that it is necessary to master musical ideas in a step-by-step linear fashion. This drastically slows down them down since they can only focus on one idea at a time rather than multiple ideas at once.

Working with a guitar teacher helps you efficiently and effectively practice to reach all your goals at once, fast. Just ask some of these students who succeeded with guitar lessons: