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How to Play Rhythm Guitar

Written by user on September 29, 2015

(James Chirillo, Photo: Frank Stewart)

If you’ve checked out our playlist on YouTube about how to approach rhythm section techniques, you may notice that the rhythm guitarist is getting a clean, high-intensity sound followed by quick decay. This was a necessary component of playing acoustic rhythm guitar in a big band, and to learn more, you can check out some of James Chirillo’s guitar set-up lessons on our site here.

But once your guitar is set up, how do you approach playing …

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Introduction to Jazz Guitar Chords

Written by user on September 24, 2015

(Tom Dempsey, Photo Courtesy of the Artist)

When you start playing Jazz Guitar, you may find that the chords you learn in a chord book sound too heavy and too bulky. You might also find that it’s too difficult to move about the fingerboard smoothly when you’re voicing such large chords. However, there’s good news: you don’t have to do those voicings. In fact, with a full rhythm section, you can focus on much sparser outlines of chords for your playing …

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Playing Rhythm Guitar like Freddie Green

Written by user on October 8, 2013

To many, Freddie Green serves as the epitome of a big band rhythm guitarist. A member of the “All-American Rhythm Section” of the Count Basie Orchestra (along with Basie on piano and initially Walter Page on bass and Papa Jo Jones on drums), Green developed a comping style so distinctively influential that even today, Jazz guitarists will be asked to play in the style of Freddie Green.

To understand what made Freddie Green’s sound and rhythm sense so unique, check out …

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