Improvising rhythm guitar: folk, funk, reggae and swing

A guitarist spends most of their life accompanying. Accompanying does not mean repeating a fixed pattern: it means improvising with rhythm, choosing when to strike, how long to let it ring, which strings to sound and which shape to use. Jazz musicians call it comping, from "complementing": you complement the singer or the soloist.

The pendulum principle

In almost every style the strumming hand moves continuously: down on the beats, up on the off-beats (in quavers) or on every semiquaver (in funk). You do not decide the motion, only the moments when the pick touches the strings. That is what lets you improvise without ever losing time. Notation: ⊓ = downstroke, V = upstroke.

1. Folk and pop: improvised strumming

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=92
K:G clef=treble-8
"G"!downbow![G,B,DGBg]2 !downbow![G,B,DGBg] !upbow![G,B,DGBg] z !upbow![G,B,DGBg] !downbow![G,B,DGBg] !upbow![G,B,DGBg] | "C"!downbow![CEGce]2 !downbow![CEGce] !upbow![CEGce] z !upbow![CEGce] !downbow![CEGce] !upbow![CEGce] |]

The rest on beat 3 is a "ghost" stroke: the hand goes down without touching the strings. Starting from this model, improvise: bass note alone on beat 1, accents on beats 2 and 4, palm-muted strokes, little sus4 embellishments inside the shape (see the previous lesson).

2. Funk: semiquavers and three-note chords

The hand swings in semiquavers, very loose, the wrist moving like a windscreen wiper. You play small chords on the top three strings, plus muted strokes (×: the fretting hand releases pressure without leaving the strings). Here, the Dorian vamp Em7 – A9: a single finger moves (fret 7 → 6 on string 3).

M:4/4
L:1/16
Q:1/4=92
K:Em clef=treble-8
"Em7"[dgb]2 !style=x![dgb] [dgb] z2 [dgb]2 !style=x![dgb]2 [dgb] z [dgb]2 z2 | "A9"[^cgb]2 !style=x![cgb] [cgb] z2 [cgb]2 !style=x![cgb]2 [cgb] z [cgb]2 z2 |]

e |-7---x--7------7---x---7----7------|-7---x--7------7---x---7----7------|
B |-8---x--8------8---x---8----8------|-8---x--8------8---x---8----8------|
G |-7---x--7------7---x---7----7------|-6---x--6------6---x---6----6------|
D |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
A |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
E |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|

In funk, less is more: a single well-placed hit on the "and" of beat 2 can carry the whole groove. Improvise by moving the accents, never the pendulum.

3. Reggae and ska: the off-beat

In reggae, the guitar plays a short chord (the skank) on beats 2 and 4, as an upstroke on the top strings; the fretting hand releases at once to cut the sound. In ska, which is faster, the chord falls on every off-beat ("and"). The Am – D vamp matches the modal backing in A minor.

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=76
K:Am clef=treble-8
"Am"z2 !upbow![cea] z z2 !upbow![cea] z | "Am"z2 !upbow![cea] z z2 !upbow![cea] z | "D"z2 !upbow![d^fa] z z2 !upbow![dfa] z | "D"z2 !upbow![d^fa] z z2 !upbow![dfa] z |]

e |-------5-----------5----|-------5-----------5----|-------5-----------5----|-------5-----------5----|
B |-------5-----------5----|-------5-----------5----|-------7-----------7----|-------7-----------7----|
G |-------5-----------5----|-------5-----------5----|-------7-----------7----|-------7-----------7----|
D |------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
A |------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
E |------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|

4. Swing: Freddie Green's "four to the bar"

Freddie Green, guitarist in Count Basie's orchestra for almost fifty years, hardly ever took a solo: he played four crotchets a bar, short and even, with three-note chords (root, third, seventh) on the low strings. These "shells" move from one to the next with as little motion as possible.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=120
K:C clef=treble-8
"Dm7"[DFc] [DFc] [DFc] [DFc] | "G7"[G,FB] [G,FB] [G,FB] [G,FB] | "Cmaj7"[CEB] [CEB] [CEB] [CEB] | "Am7"[A,Gc] [A,Gc] [A,Gc] [A,Gc] |]

Listen to the inner voices: F stays F from Dm7 to G7, then falls to E; C falls to B and stays there. Lightly damp each chord just after the attack: the sound should be like a double bass and a hi-hat rolled into one.

Step-by-step exercise

Folk: over the pop backing in G, keep the quaver pendulum going and change the pattern every four bars without stopping.
Funk: over the modal backing in E minor, first play only muted semiquaver strokes, then let a chord "pop out" in different places.
Reggae: over the modal backing in A minor, play the skank on 2 and 4, then switch to ska (every off-beat), then back.
Swing: over the jazz backing in C, four crotchets a bar with the shells. Then vary: two crotchets and a chord anticipated on the "and" of beat 4.

Listen to the bass and drums. A good accompanist plays with the rhythm section: they leave room for the singer, drop out during their phrases and fill the gaps. Playing less is often the best improvisation.

Common mistake: stopping the strumming hand during rests. That is what makes the tempo limp. The arm always keeps moving; only the strings are left untouched.