The Summer of Rhythm Guitar 2026: Take a Walk on the mild side

[mr. beaumont]

Ah so, grasshopper.

What's a good tune to thump on?

The preferred word is "thuck"

As for tunes, anything that swings!

[joe2758]

You wanted it, you got it. This was pretty instant, getting it on the damn channel wasn't

Try playing a new chord every 2 beats

[ragman1]

Try playing a new chord every 2 beats

I was doing that with Rhythm Changes only I was using my fingers instead of thucking so that was banned.

[PMB]

On that topic, I'm working with a student on Take The A Train and we've been looking at changing chords on every beat, a process sometimes described as 'walking' chords. It's a particularly challenging tune as the changes move quite slowly. For example, the IV chord that opens the bridge lasts 4 bars. The trick is to think 'top down' with strong melodic movement in the upper voices and to create different pathways between each chord inversion using related dominants and passing chords.

Here's an example from the ii-V-I (D-7-G7-C6) that starts in bar 5. Two inversions of D-7 are connected via a diminished chord acting as a rootless A7b9 (D-7/F-C#o7-D-7). The move into G7 employs another diminished but this time it's a common-tone diminished (Go7-G7/B) rather than a dominant type. The following G7 is connected by a different variety of dominant, a bV sub (Ab7-G7). Finally, the C6 chord is approached by a dominant situated a chromatic half-step below (B7-C6):

[brent.h]

The trick is to think 'top down' with strong melodic movement in the upper voice and to create different pathways between each chord inversion using related dominants and passing chords.

Yes, I've noticed this too!

Sounds great!

[ragman1]

Well, I've got to tell you I am bored with this. It's foolish and contradictory. It does not make for freedom of expression and it does not make for good music.

So I'm rebelling. I've just looked up Freddie Green and every single site uses the word comping, also occasionally called a rhythm guitar style. So that's that. Of course it's comping.

Another song they like for comping is Blue Bossa and I shan't be thunking it, or whatever it's called, I'll be doing a bossa rhythm with my fingers.

The point is to produce attractive, listenable music and that's what I'm going to do. And my advice to that new poster Ellen girl, or whatever her handle is, is tread carefully because you can get your head in a real mess trying to conform to stupid things.

I don't play with a band, I sit at home. I will probably never play with a band now, let alone a big jazz band, so that's that. There's no point in living in fantasy land playing music that went out in the 40's or 50's and all that stuff.

So here's Blue Bossa played the way I want to play it because I like it that way. If you don't like it, ignore it. And don't tell me I'm not comping because as far as I'm concerned I absolutely definitely am.

Thank you very much.

[mr. beaumont]

Bored with it? You didn't even really get into it yet.

And yes, you're absolutely comping if that makes you feel better. Nobody ever said you weren't.

I definitely don't see it as limiting either...

PMB, I like that move a lot. The trickiest thing is a long stretch of one chord.

Top down is really it. If you listen to Freddie's one string stuff which is in the middle voice, they're really a counter line...you might not even recognize the tune. The top creates a whole different thing. I get why Freddie would leave it out or not accentuate it, but playing this stuff in your living room or a small group is different than in a big band.

Submitted for interest, listen through your phone. Bucky's often playing bigger chords...but what strings do you actually hear?

[Webby]

Well, just for fun, here's a clip from some weeks ago where I've been living in fantasy Land and playing music that went out in the 40's or 50's for around 200 dancers

View this post on Instagram

Paul

[PMB]

I amended my post to 'upper voices'. In Freddie's case (and Bucky's), that inner 'D' string really comes through, more so perhaps than with players such as George Van Eps, Alan Reuss and Dick McDonough.

[brent.h]

30s Freddie Green used big 5-note chords. I heard them all the time whenever I listened to Prez with Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson.

Late 20s to early 30s rhythm guitar players would use a variety of voicings including:
- drop three (strings 6, 4, 3, 2)
- middle 4 (strings 5, 4, 3, 2)
- 5/6-note chords
- barre chords

This 3/2/1-note thing started with later Count Basie / Freddie Green years when bands got bigger and bigger. I understand that the voices that got used in rhythm guitar got fewer for not muddying up the sound or adding busy-ness, but I always felt it such a pity not to play more strings.

Recently, I posted a video of Don Vappie and Steve Masakowski talking about New Orleans legend Danny Barker's playing in the thread '1920s banjo/drum inspired playing'. They discussed how Danny Barker would play 'fat chords' because his philosophy was, "You've got six strings. You might as well play them all!" In my same post, I put another video with Danny Barker with a band and guess what. Those big heavy chords sounded great!

I love my Freddie Green voicings. They are my primary colours in comping/rhythm playing, but after listening to more New Orleans musicians, sometimes bigger chords can be beautiful and maybe, just maybe, the thing about muddying up the sound of the band might be overstated. (I don't know. I don't play in a big band.)

I feel like Danny really understood what the guitar was all about - rhythm, extreme percussiveness, and simple chords.

[mr. beaumont]

There's a place for all of it, in my opinion.

For Freddie, as the bands got bigger the chords got smaller. Others played more, and sounded great too.

There's a lot of connection between what sounds good in the smaller groups and bossa and Hot Club style chords too...isn't that interesting?

[AllanAllen]

Well, I've got to tell you I am bored with this. It's foolish and contradictory. It does not make for freedom of expression and it does not make for good music.

Then move along. This is like Brent's thread on It Could Happen To You. If you don't have an interest in a thread just leave it be. Other people are trying to talk here.

[EllenGtrGrl]

I'm viewing it as a avenue to not only have an excuse to spend more time playing my Eastman AR610 archtop acoustic (instead of the 5 other guitars I own), but to also break out of the musical rut I've gotten into.

At age 62, and 47 years of guitar playing, I've gotten my band fix playing brass instruments in symphonic music and jazz band (until my 2nd year in college/university), lead guitar in rock bands (in the 90s mainly), and nowadays playing acoustic guitar weekly at a local church. I'd love to do the jazz group thing, but I'm not holding my breath, considering my age. This is a way for me to indulge in my hankering to play more jazz guitar in a solo context.

Ellen

[pcjazz]

I'm viewing it as a avenue to not only have an excuse to spend more time playing my Eastman AR610 archtop acoustic (instead of the 5 other guitars I own), but to also break out of the musical rut I've gotten into.

At age 62, and 47 years of guitar playing, I've gotten my band fix playing brass instruments in symphonic music and jazz band (until my 2nd year in college/university), lead guitar in rock bands (in the 90s mainly), and nowadays playing acoustic guitar weekly at a local church. I'd love to do the jazz group thing, but I'm not holding my breath, considering my age. This is a way for me to indulge in my hankering to play more jazz guitar in a solo context.

Ellen

You’re a youngster. Next time you pass through Toronto let me know and you can sit in with my big band, average age late 70s, most senior 93.

[AllanAllen]

Well, just for fun, here's a clip from some weeks ago where I've been living in fantasy Land and playing music that went out in the 40's or 50's for around 200 dancers

View this post on Instagram

Paul

Your band looks like a lot of fun.

[sgcim]

The Charlton Johnson book really changed my approach to playing rhythm guitar. I'll never forget the reaction of the 90 year-old bass player when we locked in on the first big band gig we played together.
I thought he was gonna have an orgasm right on the stand.
I had a similar reaction. It was like we were playing one golden instrument. The beautiful sound of the tenths and the fifths locking in in time was almost too much for us to handle.
And this guy was no jiver. He had played in clubs with Johnny Smith, and worked steady with some famous clarinet player that Chuck Wayne played with. He even had his own big band that he composed and arranged for. He had some type of job in electronics, and if a cable ever went bad, he'd take it home and fix it for me for free, and have it ready for me on the next gig. He was playing gigs with heart failure. He couldn't carry his amp and bass, so he'd get his wife to carry it for him, until they reached a bush near the outdoor stage. Then he'd carry it the rest of the way, so no one ever knew he couldn't carry it himself. He developed CTS, and his doctor told him he was risking his life if he decided to get his hand operated on. He told the doc to operate on it anyway, and he passed on the operating table. RIP. Roy Salanitro, a true music lover .
Lately I've been fooling around with the strum that sounds like it would be more compatible with Gypsy jazz or old time swing and country music. The strum is using an up-stroke on beat one, and a down-stroke strum on beat two, resulting in an accent on beat two.
Freddie Green always used all down-strokes with Basie, so I wouldn't use it on any big band things except up-tempo things, because it makes it easier to strum faster. Still, I don't know if it would work with more modern things like Thad, Goodwin,Mintzer etc...
One things for certain, it doesn't work with a guitar- bass duo I play in. It destroys any attempt at dialogue between the two instruments during bass solos.

[AllanAllen]

Funny, I unusually switch to 4 to the bar rhythm for bass solos so we stay in time with each other.

[mr. beaumont]

Musings on a Freddie transcription.

[sgcim]

Funny, I unusually switch to 4 to the bar rhythm for bass solos so we stay in time with each other.

We react to what each other are doing. This type of strumming is like a metronome. It just keeps ticking.

[ragman1]

Then move along. This is like Brent's thread on It Could Happen To You. If you don't have an interest in a thread just leave it be. Other people are trying to talk here.

Allen, I think you're still being grumpy. Well, that's your business. You apparently got as far as 'I'm bored' but didn't read the rest of it which explains it. Mr. B did the same as far as I can see.

So far I've done ATTYA which is non-stop 4-to-the-bar thumping with 2 chords per bar. That's Freddie Green rhythm guitar. Then, exactly like Bowden's chart, I did Rhythm Changes which has a moving bass line with chord punches.

Seems to me that's more than acceptable but apparently the RC is not rhythm guitar, that's comping. But no one's said a word to Bowden. I also got handed a 16-page thread from yesteryear which apparently told me the difference between rhythm guitar and comping, not that I read it. And I'm also getting snarky remarks from this Joe character who has contributed absolutely nothing of his own musically.

So I asked Jeff straight to clarify exactly what he wants here and he was ambiguous again. Great.

Now I'm being told if I don't like it I can eff off.

I think this is a funny thread...

[kris]

Adults Only:

[brent.h]

I like the rhythm guitar here. The chords are on the 2 and 4. I think it must be quite difficult to get the pulse so even at such a tempo.

[EllenGtrGrl]

You’re a youngster. Next time you pass through Toronto let me know and you can sit in with my big band, average age late 70s, most senior 93.

Lucky you! I moved from my hometown (which is north of Milwaukee) back in 2004 for my job (I am a Quality Engineer). It was bad enough that the live music scene and musician's network was pretty much dead in my hometown, but it's been downright frustrating trying to find anybody to play with, due to being unable to find any musician's networks or much of a musician's community in a metro area of 1.5 million people. Playing solo is nice, but I prefer an ensemble setting - playing with other musicians can be magical/very much a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the individual parts. I play at mass at a local Catholic church to get my band fix, but the music director (who plays piano) is very much piano and vocalcentric. Also it gets kind of old playing nothing but "chinga chinga chinga" on a flattop acoustic guitar (the music director prefers that - It keeps things straightforward "to avoid confusing the singers").

[ragman1]

I think it must be quite difficult to get the pulse so even at such a tempo.

Now you're talking. I'd say a very slow pace was much harder than a faster one. There are some YouTubes I've seen where the rhythm is almost indiscernible and defy tapping along with.

I can't remember which exactly but I seem to remember a Bill Evans one and possibly a Miles Davis one. Definitely one was in 3/4 and it was almost impossible to say where the beats were coming. If I find one on my travels I'll post it.

[ragman1]

it gets kind of old playing nothing but "chinga chinga chinga" on a flattop acoustic guitar (the music director prefers that - It keeps things straightforward "to avoid confusing the singers").

Well, that's churches for you. Sit up straight and don't pick your nose