I was so wrong about rhythm guitar..

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Here's how Jimi Hendrix completely changed the way I look at rhythm vs lead guitar...

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[Ben-Ken]

I started playing guitar because I wanted to improvise so I learned notes, chords, scales, etc. Now I'm realizing that playing interesting Rythm is much harder and sounds more interesting by itself. I want to get to the point where I can make any song my own without copying someone else.

[Dragonblaster]

I started out on rhythm guitar until I joined my third band. I met up with the other guitarist and we had a lengthy jam, mixing rhythm and lead. I thought he was much better than me on lead, but when he finished, he said, “Well, it’s pretty clear that you should be the lead guitarist.” Puzzled, I said, “that was just some old crap off the top of my head, ” and he said, “Exactly I was playing riffs I’d practiced over and over, and you had some tricks down better than me, like those harmonic runs, tapping and sweeping.”

I was in that band for seven years, when I joined a metal band called the Uninvited. I was lead guitar, lead vocalist and songwriter.

But even though I was lead guitar, the rhythm guitarist was invaluable, really filling out the sound and counterpointing the percussion, also great. The drummer, Pete, was a friend of mine, as was the bassist, Graham. The rhythm guitarist, Kirk, is a friend of mine today. The band unfortunately split when Graham died of a rare disease. But I have been in a couple of bands with Kirk since.

[masonhancock]

When I was 14 I was obsessed with lead guitar.

When I got older and learned music theory, I was obsessed with rhythm and structure.

When I got older still, I wished I'd started playing sax or piano instead. Maybe some of us are frustrated violinists. Lol.

Love your video and insights. Cheers!

[artysanmobile]

Jimi Hendrix’s rhythm playing was astoundingly good. Not just the innovative use of harmonic movements we are so familiar with, but his time. His meter was so impeccable we didn’t even think about it. Chances are if someone in the band wandered it was drums or bass. That’s uncommon in a trio. 52 years later his playing continues to educate and illuminate us. His greatest accomplishment in my opinion was his writing and a song writer needs more than anything to accompany the voice. Look to the great writers for great rhythm players. Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Prince, Mark Knopfler, early delta blues players who performed solo. Just a small sampling who demonstrate my thesis.

[Maltloaflegrande]

I've worked with quite a few guitarists who could play me under the table technically but who I still consider to be incomplete as players for the simple reason that they have this idea of rhythm = chords, lead = solos, and don't understand the bits in the middle: jangles, suspensions, drones, double-stopped fills and a lot more. Players like Hendrix, Ronnie Wood, Steve Cropper, and Pete Townshend transcend the rhythm/lead thing and have the same vibe whether they're soloing or chording. It's a beautiful approach.

[alexanderhanksx]

It's crazy that we grew up hearing Jimi, Clapton, Page and so many more amazing guitarist from infancy. I definitely took it for granted as a kid, but the older I get the more I appreciate just how innovate and imaginative these guys were. They made sounds that had never been made before.

[moustachio]

I love what Jimi does. It’s too the same thing a pianist will do with chords all the time. Guitars is melody in rhythm. That’s the best way to explain it.

[williamsporing]

I always played in bands with two guitars.
Then a couple years ago, a friend said he wanted to do a three piece band. I told him I don’t think I’m good enough to be the only guitar, and I’d have to do all the vocals too. Worked and worked….doing Hendrix, cream, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, Trowler and all kinds of fun stuff! If he hadn’t pushed me, I would have never found out I can do it. Thanks Chester!!!!

[BangBangBeefyMacNCheesy]

I’ve been professionally playing for 35+ years (40+ overall) and didn’t start the “Chord Embellishment” model of lead playing until year number 20…. 20 years of wasted time on “scales” … anyone interested in lead playing, should 100% listen to this video because it is, in my opinion, the ONLY true way to learn “lead” guitar. Learn by chord embellishing… dump the scales. Rock on 🤘🏻

[dcjway]

When I started playing my guitar teacher gave me minor pentatonic scales then added the blue notes. I started reading right away, which I am grateful for to this day. He also taught me triads and inverted triads. One song I learned early on was St. Louis Blues, and there was a section that on every beat I had to go from C to C6, F to F6 and G to G6. I struggled for a week using cowboy chords which were a little tricky except for the F to F6 because I only had to add my pinky. At my next lesson he showed me a really easy way to do it, just move the F form up to the 3rd fret for G and the 8th fret for C. I’ve always learned the chords on every song that I learn. By being a well rounded guitar player able to play lead or rhythm and especially being able to read I’ve been able to get more gigs as well as some studio work. Love your videos, I’m always looking to learn more from other players.

[udsahn]

When I started out it was always the same type of thing: chords for rhythm, leads single noted melodies. It wasn't until I picked up finger-style that I realized you could combine the two for absolute magic to occur. The same general technique was applied of course. General embellishments upon chords, but when played simultaneously (rhythm 'and' melody together) it just sounded phenomenally different in a better sense. When learning intervalics things went upwards in a huge way for me though. it was like a whole new world opened up. Especially when combined with alternating between rhythmic play and melody with that knowledge. I'll never forget that 'eureka' moment from those days many moons ago.

[jebsherrill]

Great video, David. This describes one of my biggest problems when it comes to lead because I keep having to drag myself back to rhythm. It took me quite a while to realize how much about music I didn’t understand because of my full concentration on lead.

[michaelw]

It cracks me up when I see people talk about so and so guitarist not being great because they’re “only” a rhythm guitarist and I’m like… bruh, coordinating one or more chord changes per bar while shifting your strumming pattern every few bars while keeping *perfect* time is hugely difficult. For lead there’s a lot of room to fudge up the timing where nobody will notice, but fall off beat as a rhythm guitarist and people start throwing things at you.

It gives me a huge appreciation for people like James Hetfield who can do this at insane speeds while singing, or Eddie Van Halen who could seamlessly dance between rhythm and lead to the point that it all just blurs together (I mean EVH’s live playing, he had separate lead and rhythm tracks for studio recordings).

[lullabies]

When there's only one six string in trio, that guy plays rythyms and leads mixed, and obviously Jimi was superb at that. Chord/quick fill/chord.

[stoneysdead]

How you managed to say all that without mentioning the word triad- I'll never know. For me- the key to learning to play this way was learning how to build triads and other chords by just looking at the notes in that chord when played in its open position. Typically, it's 3 notes- find those three notes anywhere on the neck and there you go. Another thing that helped me- learning that a flat third makes a minor, perfect fifth make a major, etc. and that you can change any scale accordingly- or flavor any chord accordingly.

[robertmazurowski]

Interesting riffs and making progressions more interesting is harder than just playing leads.

[perfectfan]

takes me back a bit.. i remember a band i was in and we attempted to play little wing we did it so bad we always called it broken wing cause it was not gonna fly lol

[eddiepierce]

“An angel came down form heaven yesterday. She came just in time to rescue me” Hendrix was an amazing songwriter, too.

[charizardmaster]

honestly growing up learning guitar the bands that made me realise how hard and fun rhythm guitar could be were bands like the fall of troy and dance Gavin dance. they essentially fused lead and rhythm guitar but made it all rhythmic so it strengthened my timing which is crucial to sounding professional and clean in your playing.

[zirconencrustedtweezers]

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. I never got hung up on the whole lead v rhythm thing. Guitar is guitar.