The Summer of Rhythm Guitar 2024

[Webby]

At 3:50 or so he solos out the guitarist and I notice he rakes the dead strings sometimes, but not all the time. Is that standard?

Since someone pointed out I was raking every upstroke I've been trying to cut it entirely. I'm wondering if I'm cutting too much now.

Thoughts?

I can't claim to have the "right" answer to this, but to me it sounds appropriate.
He's getting mainly the 4+, which is more or less in line with the cymbal pattern.
At 3:58, where he plays every upstroke it accents the chromatics he's playing. To me it sounds like how a drummer would prepare them if they were horn stabs, so I think it fits with that "drums playing Chords"-approach.

As far as you are worrying: It's always good practice to make everything you do a conscious choice, so I guess it's worth practicing to be able to get rid of it (if you want to), but I don't feel like it would bother anyone too much. Especially in a context with a drummer.

I'm also guilty of playing a fair amount of upstrokes by the way.

[mr. beaumont]

I have a complicated relationship with upstrokes. Comes from being told I was playing "le pompe" wrong by some hack gypsy jazz player who had some cred for some reason. Guy was a big dick about it, even when I had other players tell me they liked my rhythm. I took it personally. There's an upstroke in that style that people are very particular about.

Then I met a better player who said "just leave it out, most of these guys are only listening to themselves anyway" and nobody ever bitched about my rhythm again.

I think it sounds fine (done sparingly) I just don't do it. I'm sure I'll change my mind at some point.

[AllanAllen]

I’m mostly paying attention because I was doing it all the time non-purposely

[mr. beaumont]

I think Webby's advice as to "if it's on purpose, it's cool" is spot on.

Actually, regarding rhythm guitar I'd certainly refer to him over me!

[supersoul]

a little bit of rhythm playing.
If I were playing with a group I would have played it differently of course. The main thing is being the timekeeper, keeping that pulse chugging along, and making the rest of the band sound good.

[pawlowski6132]

a little bit of rhythm playing.
If I were playing with a group I would have played it differently of course. The main thing is being the timekeeper, keeping that pulse chugging along, and making the rest of the band sound good.

Love it Andy. I like that a lot. I didn't get to see the headstock though what do we have here looks like a modern design but the top looks like it has age to nicely

[mr. beaumont]

a little bit of rhythm playing.
If I were playing with a group I would have played it differently of course. The main thing is being the timekeeper, keeping that pulse chugging along, and making the rest of the band sound good.

Well I enjoyed that a whole lot.

[AllanAllen]

[mr. beaumont]

Today's musings: full chord vs single notes, and Dinah.

[supersoul]

Love it Andy. I like that a lot. I didn't get to see the headstock though what do we have here looks like a modern design but the top looks like it has age to nicely

It's a German archtop from the 50s. Hand carved solid wood. No name or symbol on the headstock or written anywhere inside. It's probably from East Germany, because it uses a single (Stauffer) bolt to hold the neck onto the body.
Definitely an acoustic instrument, designed to project. It's really loud if I strum it with a pick!

[pawlowski6132]

Today's musings: full chord vs single notes, and Dinah.

My take

[supersoul]

Today's musings: full chord vs single notes, and Dinah.

For the B section, the first thing you played sounded the best to me. It brought out the decending line the best.

I hear what you mean about the sound kinda choking up higher, when you're playing the x 8 10 10 9 x voicing. How about if you ditch the F root on the A string, so it's just xx 10 10 9 x -> xx 10 9 9 x -> xx 10 8 9 x. Just stick to the triad shape. It also lets the augmented sound come thru a little better, perhaps because there's not a root mucking it up.

Or you could try x 8 6 5 x x -> x 7 6 5 xx -> x 6 6 5 xx -> x 5 6 5 xx

It all sounds good. I like how you keep it simple and don't do a bunch of fast changes. I've been meaning to check out Louis Armstrong!

Is that a cicaeda visitor nearby?

[mr. beaumont]

My take

That VI7 happens on approximately zero of the old recordings I checked out, but I 100% agree it should be there...I left it out but boy did I want to put it in

[mr. beaumont]

For the B section, the first thing you played sounded the best to me. It brought out the decending line the best.

I hear what you mean about the sound kinda choking up higher, when you're playing the x 8 10 10 9 x voicing. How about if you ditch the F root on the A string, so it's just xx 10 10 9 x -> xx 10 9 9 x -> xx 10 8 9 x. Just stick to the triad shape. It also lets the augmented sound come thru a little better, perhaps because there's not a root mucking it up.

Or you could try x 8 6 5 x x -> x 7 6 5 xx -> x 6 6 5 xx -> x 5 6 5 xx

It all sounds good. I like how you keep it simple and don't do a bunch of fast changes. I've been meaning to check out Louis Armstrong!

Is that a cicaeda visitor nearby?

Definitely agree, ditching the 5th string sounds better. Lots of things to play with...in a bigger group I'm probably not playing the CESH, but I sure do like it

The cicadas are almost gone, well, the periodical visitors...the annuals are arriving now, much bigger but there's not thousands in one tree, so much quieter as well...they sing much later in the day too, it seems.

[pawlowski6132]

That VI7 happens on approximately zero of the old recordings I checked out, but I 100% agree it should be there...I left it out but boy did I want to put it in

I went rogue

[PMB]

I still would as long as tempo allowed.

What I'm starting to work on is varying finger pressure so that, say in a 5x45xx D7, the 4th string note sounds clearly while the 6th and 3rd are fretted, but with less pressure. This is surprisingly difficult.

That's how I hear FG's playing - the other strings are there but ghosted. Kind of like Clyde Stubblefield's snare technique with James Brown...

[mr. beaumont]

That's how I hear FG's playing - the other strings are there but ghosted. Kind of like Clyde Stubblefield's snare technique with James Brown...

Yep. So many relationships to drums it's not even funny!

[pawlowski6132]

How 'bout a little Friday morning 'I can't give you anything but love" ?

[AllanAllen]

How 'bout a little Friday morning 'I can't give you anything but love" ?

What kind of Epiphone is that?

[pawlowski6132]

What kind of Epiphone is that?

So, it's a 1935 Triumph. It's a 16" model.

I think my '36 L10 sounds MUCH better but, I just end up picking this up because it's so light and it plays really well. I feel really comfortable playing it. Really light, small neck, good action...

[mr. beaumont]

How 'bout a little Friday morning 'I can't give you anything but love" ?

Sounding great. Would definitely like to hear the L-10 for comparison.

Part of what has been fun about this thread has been hearing different people's guitars. I still hope I can get more people to play along...maybe the lack of rules is a problem...people seem to like "assignments"

I'll definitely do a run on this tune sometime over the next few days...rainy today, puts the kibosh on any backyard playing, which is part of the fun for me

[pawlowski6132]

Sounding great. Would definitely like to hear the L-10 for comparison.

Part of what has been fun about this thread has been hearing different people's guitars.

It's prolly hard to hear the difference with mobile phone recording but, it's pronounced from where I sit. Anywho...

[AllanAllen]

Unusual cut with Freddie Green taking the intro.

[pawlowski6132]

That last ballad was cool. It inspired me:

[AllanAllen]

Wonderful job on that ballad!!!

That’s the comping I hear on these 30’s Billie Holiday tunes.