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

[ragman1]

I'm trying to think of some cliches that always come in useful doing rhythm. There's the usual one:

| G / Am Bbo | G/B |

And in C:

| C / Dm Ebo | C/E |

There's the minor ones:

| Gm GmM7 | Gm7 C9/G |

| Dm DmM7 | Dm7 G7 |

And starting from above:

| F/A Abo | Gm7 F#7(b5) | FM7 F6 |

Or the Rhythm Changes one which combines them:

| BbM7 Bo | Cm7 C#o | Bb/D C#o | Cm7 B7(b5) | BbM7 |

In fact, almost the whole of that kind of RC arrangement is a mess of those things.

And lastly but not least, the m - m/M7 - 7 - m6 run played with other chords with the descending line in the bass. This can be very useful:

| Dm C#+ | G/D Bm7b5 |

[mr. beaumont]

I daresay you might be enjoying this a little, rag.

[ragman1]

Of course I am, silly :-)

[Christian Miller]

I did these a while ago for some reason. They may help. Who knows! :-)

[mr. beaumont]

"When in doubt, put in a diminished"

Words to live by.

[ragman1]

We don't know how well off we are. OTOH, it's very likely their ears were much more acute than ours because most of this stuff is given to us.

[AllanAllen]

I did these a while ago for some reason.

1. You did them for a cool rhythm changes video. I bought the pdf.
2. what does “This sits around so we’ll put in a 6/4” mean? I see Bb/F F7. But 6/4 in Bb I would think G/Eb and in F it’s D/Bb.

[brent.h]

1. You did them for a cool rhythm changes video. I bought the pdf.
2. what does “This sits around so we’ll put in a 6/4” mean? I see Bb/F F7. But 6/4 in Bb I would think G/Eb and in F it’s D/Bb.

Play a bass note, then stack two notes above it: one a 4th higher, another a 6th higher. That's a '6-4' chord. It looks and sounds like a major/minor triad with its 5th in the bass (2nd inversion).

Madonna's Take A Bow uses this 6-4 chord. The bassline in the verse descends in steps:

I: Ab
I7: Ab/Gb
IV with 3rd in bass: Db/F
iv with 3rd in bass: Db-/E
I with 5th in bass: Ab/Eb
II with 3rd in bass: Bb/D
etc.

[Christian Miller]

Play a bass note, then stack two notes above it: one a 4th higher, another a 6th higher. That's a '6-4' chord. It looks and sounds like a major/minor triad with its 5th in the bass (2nd inversion)..

That's correct.

6/4 is figured bass originally, but is commonly used in modern theory. As in 'cadential 6/4.' You'll hear people like Jeff Schneider and Adam Manness refer to this chord as a 6/4, so it's good to know the term.

It's extremely common in music where you have a clear, composed bassline. So early jazz, gospel, Motown etc. The classic walk up:

C C7/E F F#o7 C/G G7 C
For example

It's not really a tonic/I function chord BTW. Without getting into the weeds too much, it actually functions as a suspension of the dominant/V chord, like a sort of Sus chord.

However - in modern Real Book type jazz charts - where it's understood that the bass player is improvising a bass line - it's usually written in root position:

C C7 F F#o7 C G7 C

Which is why that progression confused me so much haha.

A good bass player might well play G in the bass anyway.

[GuyBoden]

Jonathan Stout: 20 Most Used Basic Rhythm Guitar Voicings

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/atta...0-voicings-pdf




I'm sure most forum members have seen this Jonathan Stout pdf before.

[brent.h]

Here are some other voicings that I use quite frequently:

(key of Bb)

Minor Triad 2nd Inversion
G-
10-X-8-12-X-X

Minor Triad
C-
8-X-5-8-X-X

Major Triad
Bb
6-X-3-7-X-X

Augmented Triad
F+
5-X-3-6-X-X

Try playing that Major Triad followed by the Augmented Triad. Gorgeous old sound.

[djg]

dont forget that rhythm comes first try the m6 voicing 5x45xx and move it around in a minor blues. see how much mileage you get out of that one voicing. add a voicing for maj like 5x46xx and you can play *any* tune. in my opinion there are mainly two factors for good rhythm guitar in this style. a good bouncing left hand that controls the length of the chord, and a right hand that hits the strings with pick and *a bit of flesh*.

also not every stroke has the same length. the length of the chord is used to form variations in these tenor lines that freddie is playing. every quarter note in a bar can be played long but usually no more than one long chord per bar. so you get stuff like:

doo dap dap dap| dap doo dap dap| dap dap dap doo|doo dap dap dap etc. so to practice this i'd keep movement minimal. in fact i'd try to make a point of moving the tenor voice as little as possible and improvise sequences with one long note per bar. to me that is the freddie sound.

[ragman1]

Here are some other voicings that I use quite frequently:

(key of Bb)

Minor Triad 2nd Inversion
G-
10-X-8-12-X-X

Minor Triad
C-
8-X-5-8-X-X

Major Triad
Bb
6-X-3-7-X-X

Augmented Triad
F+
5-X-3-6-X-X

Try playing that Major Triad followed by the Augmented Triad. Gorgeous old sound.

Blimey, you must have one of those gymnastic wrists.

[AllanAllen]

Blimey, you must have one of those gymnastic wrists.

Proper left hand form, thumb on the middle of the neck, helps with these wide chords.

[brent.h]

Entry #3

Enjoy!

0:00 Intro, 0:09 Head, 0:58 'Fat' Freddie Green Chords, 1:20-1:30 Triads

A section:

C | // | A7, D7 | G7
F | D7, G | C | Dø, G7

B section:

C | // | B7 | E-
B7 | E-, A7 | D- G7 | C7

C section:

F | // | D7, F- | G7
D-7 | F-maj7, G+ | C | //

-----

AF105F-NT
ECG24
SSL2+
Logic Stock EQ
Blended with acoustic sounds (captured by laptop's mic)

-----

Entry #2 (movement with FG voicings)
Entry #1 (walking FG voicings)

[mr. beaumont]

Great stuff Brent!

[joe2758]

Brent, you're really getting that left hand touch that is commonly missing when the style is attempted

[Christian Miller]

Jonathan Stout: 20 Most Used Basic Rhythm Guitar Voicings

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/atta...0-voicings-pdf




I'm sure most forum members have seen this Jonathan Stout pdf before.

I think the shapes on this list generate around 75% of my playing income.

[mr. beaumont]

I think the shapes on this list generate around 75% of my playing income.

And the best part is, its not even 20-- plenty of multipurpose shapes.

[sgcim]

I'm talking about the type of strumming Barry G. is doing here. It sure ain't Freddie Green's technique,
and Bob Bain used the same type of strumming on that clip someone posted on the Tonight Show Band.
I'll try to find it.

[sgcim]

Here's Bain clearly demonstrating that strumming I described in my earlier post.

[mr. beaumont]

Today's fun...mostly 4th, a little 3rd, on Cherokee.

[brent.h]

Brent, you're really getting that left hand touch that is commonly missing when the style is attempted

Thanks. This comes after watching many Denis Chang videos.

A variant of the figure 8 strumming style. Very old school approach.

This movement is the later La Pompe strumming style. I think Denis Chang mentioned that this style emerged in the 40s.

Can't hear the guitar, though.

Bouncey and nice!

[sgcim]

Thanks. This comes after watching many Denis Chang videos.



A variant of the figure 8 strumming style. Very old school approach.



This movement is the later La Pompe strumming style. I think Denis Chang mentioned that this style emerged in the 40s.

Can't hear the guitar, though.



Bouncey and nice!

So you're saying that Barry G is starting on the downbeat and alternating all four strokes in the shape of a figure eight for each bar?
Whatever he's doing the guys in the Kenton band preferred him in the rhythm section to Sal Salvador, who was making it hard for Stan Levey to hold the rhythm section together and driving the band at the same time. Levey said "When I was with Stan's band, the rhythm section was not the greatest because the two of them were not very good team players and it put most of the work on my back". The bass player was Don Bagley..
Lee Konitz questioned Salvador's creativity, saying "I wish Sal had felt a little freer about his accompaniment. He made it difficult for me to find more attractive melodies to play". Billy Bauer was his fave guitar player.
Bain is clearly starting the strum with am up stroke. A friend of mine learned that type of strum from watching his teacher, Carmine D'Amico on gigs, and said CD used a kind of stirring (the soup) kind of motion.

[brent.h]

So you're saying that Barry G is starting on the downbeat and alternating all four strokes in the shape of a figure eight for each bar?
Whatever he's doing the guys in the Kenton band preferred him in the rhythm section to Sal Salvador, who was making it hard for Stan Levey to hold the rhythm section together and driving the band at the same time. Levey said "When I was with Stan's band, the rhythm section was not the greatest because the two of them were not very good team players and it put most of the work on my back". The bass player was Don Bagley..
Lee Konitz questioned Salvador's creativity, saying "I wish Sal had felt a little freer about his accompaniment. He made it difficult for me to find more attractive melodies to play". Billy Bauer was his fave guitar player.
Bain is clearly starting the strum with am up stroke. A friend of mine learned that type of strum from watching his teacher, Carmine D'Amico on gigs, and said CD used a kind of stirring (the soup) kind of motion.

I can't really tell from your video what exactly is going on, but it kinda looks like a miniature version of this:

see also PMB's comment about this strumming style: Eddie Lang Rhythm Style

--------

Here's more Dave Kelbie. Go to 0:15, and slow down the video to 25%.

It looks like as he does this forward up-swing motion, you'd expect that he'll use an upstroke to hit the string, but he actually flicks his wrist to make it a downstroke! Fascinating stuff. The next question is why make the forward up-swing motion at all if it's just going to be a downstroke in the end? I think the pendulum swinging motion helps him to keep time more consistently: large motions with elbows and forearms keep time better than smaller motion wrists and fingers, methinks.