If you love listening to rock, you know that killer guitar riffs are a fundamental part of what makes these styles of music so great. Any average song can instantly become classic with the addition of a cool rhythm guitar riff. To get started, you will likely need to think about rhythm guitar playing in a totally different way than the way you are used to. In order to make cool riffs for rhythm guitar, you need to think less about the specific notes you are using and more about HOW you play the notes you use.
You’ve likely considered practicing at least some of the factors that are important for becoming a better rhythm guitar player. However, if you are currently having trouble with making your own rhythm guitar riffs, this means that you are struggling in multiple areas of your guitar playing as well. By mastering the following musical skills you will be able to quickly enhance your rhythm guitar playing:
1. Think about the way the actual rhythms you play work together to make the entire guitar riff. Like lead guitar, many guitarists ‘overdo it’ when playing guitar riffs.
By stripping your guitar riffs of any excess notes, you will force yourself to think more about the actual rhythms being played. To practice this, start by writing down four measures worth of 8th notes on a piece of paper. Then remove 6 of these notes at random and replace them with rests. After doing this, play the rhythm you created using only a single note or chord on guitar. Once you give this exercise a try, you will quickly notice that you can create nearly endless rhythm ideas for your guitar riffs.
2. Practice making your rhythm guitar playing as clean and TIGHT as you can. Being able to do this is necessary for playing great sounding guitar riffs.
An easy way to test your rhythm guitar timing is to record yourself playing quarter note rhythms using a single note. To keep the beat, use a metronome that is playing quarter notes. If you are playing the rhythm with perfect timing, you will start to notice how the click of the beat seems to blend together with the notes of your guitar, creating the illusion that the click has been turned off. However, if your timing is off, the click will sound like it happens slightly before or slightly after the notes you are playing.
3. Use a single rhythm to create many new guitar riffs.
Take an interesting rhythmic pattern and use it with 5-15 different groups of chords or notes. This will expand your capacity to play creative rhythm guitar. Additionally, you can use this idea from the opposite perspective: Use a single chord or note to play 5-15 different rhythmic patterns. This will give you a lot of material to use for new guitar riffs.
To discover more about improving your rhythm guitar playing abilities, go to this page and get a free guitar player studio recording guide.
You’ve likely considered practicing at least some of the factors that are important for becoming a better rhythm guitar player. However, if you are currently having trouble with making your own rhythm guitar riffs, this means that you are struggling in multiple areas of your guitar playing as well. By mastering the following musical skills you will be able to quickly enhance your rhythm guitar playing:
1. Think about the way the actual rhythms you play work together to make the entire guitar riff. Like lead guitar, many guitarists ‘overdo it’ when playing guitar riffs.
By stripping your guitar riffs of any excess notes, you will force yourself to think more about the actual rhythms being played. To practice this, start by writing down four measures worth of 8th notes on a piece of paper. Then remove 6 of these notes at random and replace them with rests. After doing this, play the rhythm you created using only a single note or chord on guitar. Once you give this exercise a try, you will quickly notice that you can create nearly endless rhythm ideas for your guitar riffs.
2. Practice making your rhythm guitar playing as clean and TIGHT as you can. Being able to do this is necessary for playing great sounding guitar riffs.
An easy way to test your rhythm guitar timing is to record yourself playing quarter note rhythms using a single note. To keep the beat, use a metronome that is playing quarter notes. If you are playing the rhythm with perfect timing, you will start to notice how the click of the beat seems to blend together with the notes of your guitar, creating the illusion that the click has been turned off. However, if your timing is off, the click will sound like it happens slightly before or slightly after the notes you are playing.
3. Use a single rhythm to create many new guitar riffs.
Take an interesting rhythmic pattern and use it with 5-15 different groups of chords or notes. This will expand your capacity to play creative rhythm guitar. Additionally, you can use this idea from the opposite perspective: Use a single chord or note to play 5-15 different rhythmic patterns. This will give you a lot of material to use for new guitar riffs.
To discover more about improving your rhythm guitar playing abilities, go to this page and get a free guitar player studio recording guide.
