A Comparative Study of Rhythm Guitar Styles

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A Comparative Study of Rhythm Guitar Styles

by Michael PettersenChord Diagrams by Mark AllenAugust 2002

Introduction

Freddie Green's rhythm guitar style is unique - - Freddie does not sound like other famousrhythm guitarists. This lesson attempts to illustrate his uniqueness by comparing five differentexamples of a twelve bar blues in G. These examples are not transcriptions. All five exampleswere composed by the author in the style of the player, or in the style of the music.

Note: Be certain to mute any string that is not fingered, but strum all the strings. SeeAppendix 1 for a primer on rhythm guitar technique.

Example #1 - Western Swing

This style was born in the late 1940's with the rise of Western Swing - a hybrid of western-themed songs w ith jazz rhythm and harmony. Note the four note rhythm chords and the useof dominant 9th and 13th voicings. Though this style of rhythm guitar could be played on aflattop instrument, an archtop guitar was typically used. Examples of this type of guitar can beheard on recordings from Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Riders In The Sky, and Dan Hicks& His Hot Licks.

Example 1A and 1B are compliments of Ranger Doug Green, the superb rhythm guitarist w ithRiders In The Sky.

Example #1A

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Example #1B

Example #2 - Allan Reuss (see Appendix 2)





This style of aggress ive, yet swinging rhythm playing came about as the guitar replaced thebanjo in big bands. Note the widely spaced three note voicings. These voicings have anuncluttered quality and are easy to finger, thus a llow ing very fast chord changes.

Example #3 - Teddy Wilson (see Appendix 3)





Pianist Teddy Wilson's style of playing influenced all rhythm guitar players in the 1930's and1940's. Wilson created a unique harmonic style where a new chord voicing would be playedon each beat. He had very large hands and developed two and three note left hand voicingsthat were impossible for most pianists. The interval between the lower left hand voice and thehigher voice was a major or minor tenth. Difficult on piano, a tenth is easy on guitar by usingthe 6th and 3rd strings as these two strings are tuned a minor tenth apart. Often Wilsonadded a middle note to the chord that would be a minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, or major

7th above the lowest note. On guitar, this middle voice would be played on the 4th string.These three note "Teddy Wilson" chords form the foundation of big band rhythm guitarvoicings.

Example #4 - Barry Galbraith (see Appendix 4)





This style is not as aggressive as Example #2. It is a cooler, more subtle style andharmonically more adventurous. Typical of big bands in the 1950's, the guitar would be mikedand therefore the guitarist would not have to strum as hard to be heard.

Example #5 - Freddie Green

Much like Basie simplified his piano playing as his band grew larger and played more complexarrangements, Freddie Green did as well. His guitar style is based on the three note voicings





shown in Examples 2, 3 and 4, but he would often choose to sound only one or two notes of the three note voicings. This technique allowed Green to create counter melodies and movinglines that did not conflict with the bass player or w ith Basie.

Appendix 1Fundamentals of Swing Rhythm Guitar

What types of music use this style of rhythm guitar?

Swing Big Band - Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman

Western Swing - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Gypsy Swing - Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France

What type of guitar is used?

Archtop (f-hole) acoustic guitar with heavy strings.

Use a pick with a thickness of 1.0 mm to 2.0 mm.

What are the basics of sw ing rhythm guitar?

Four strums to the bar: hold down a chord with the left hand, and strike the strings with theright hand on every beat of the tune.

Rhythm guitar is about time, not about complex chord voicings: concentrate on time.

"Choo-chit-choo-chit" describes the rhythm guitar sound. "Choo" on beats 1 and 3; "chit" onbeats 2 and 4. Beats 1 and 3 have a longer sound, while beats 2 and 4 have a much shortersound. Create the "chit" sound by releasing the left hand pressure a lmost immediately afterthe strings are s truck. The beats 2 and 4 "chits" should be slightly accented over the beats 1and 3 "choos".

The right hand stroke uses the shoulder, the elbow, and the wrist. The right hand motionmust create a quick, crisp a ttack.

The rhythm guitarist's job is to propel the rhythm forward by complementing the drummer, if there is one. The rhythm guitarist is playing pitched percussion. Think of the guitar as adding

pitches to the ride cymbal on beats 1 and 3, and to the high hat on beats 2 and 4.

The rhythm guitar part must be barely quieter than the drums. The guitar part should be morefelt than heard. The guitar part is often times more for the benefit of the other musicians (todrive the rhythm home) than for the listeners.

Primarily use three note chord voicings on strings 6, 4, and 3; and four note voicings onstrings 6 (or 5), 4, 3, and 2.

Avoid barre chords. They sound muddy when playing this type of rhythm guitar.

IMPORTANT: When playing the chord diagrams in the examples, mute any string that does nothave a finger dot. This muting is done by the left hand. The number of strings muted dependsupon the chord voicing; it can be as few as two strings muted and as many as five stringsmuted.

Thank you to guitarist Tim Berens for many of the ideas expressed above.

Appendix 2Allan Reuss - rhythm guitarist

Born New York City, 1915, Reuss studied w ith George Van Eps in 1933. Van Eps recommendedReuss as his own replacement with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1935.

From the book Benny Goodman and the Swing Era, by James Lincoln Collier: "George Van Epsalso left the Goodman band, but this was his own decision. He knew that the band wouldeventually go on the road, which he did not want to do, and he began grooming a student of

his named Allan Reuss , who was driving a laundry truck, to take the guitar chair. Reuss soonbegan playing whatever club dates the band picked up, and finally replaced Van Eps on theradio show (the "Let's Dance" show) near the very end. As a student of Van Eps, Reussdescended from a princely line of guitarists and was schooled in a tradition of hard swinging.He went on to be one of the finest of the big band guitarists and can be ranked w ith suchgreat rhythm players as Basie's Freddie Green, Fats Waller's Al Casey, and contemporariesDick McDonough and Carl Kress. Moreover, Reuss, who was getting formal training under Van





Eps, was harmonically more sophisticated than some of the self-taught guitarists in jazz.Goodman's drummer, Gene Krupa, tended to have a heavy beat, and was no believer inmetronomically exact time. Harry Goodman (Benny's brother), too, was never considered amaster bass player. It was Reuss that was crucial in giving the Goodman band its rompingswing. Author James T. Maher once sa id to Benny Goodman that he had not realized howimportant Reuss had been until he was gone. Goodman's response was, 'Neither did we.'

"Allan Reuss was as good as any band guitarist of the period. Reuss accented on two andfour, which not many rhythm guitarists of the time did. The Goodman rhythm section (Reuss,Krupa, Harry Goodman, Jess Stacy) stayed together right through the whole period o f the

band's early success, coming to know what to expect of each other and how to coordinatethemselves in a way that rhythm sections casually thrown together for a recording sess ion orclub date cannot do. Goodman told the horn players, 'The rhythm section is not there to dragyou through the piece. They're another section punctuating your notes.' "

Reuss' playing with Benny Goodman is hard driving and exciting; Goodman demanded a tight,almost tense, rhythmic feel from the band. Unlike the Basie band where the beat is laid back,giving a very relaxed feeling, the Goodman band tended to push the beat which gave theeffect of a rushing excitement. According to a Goodman sideman, "You were a lways on theedge of falling, like running down a hill." P ianist Mel Powell described the Goodman rhythmicfeel as, "Gritted tee th playing. No laying back. Hard driving. No lollygagging."

Reuss left Goodman in March 1938 to freelance in the recording studios, and he a lso taughtguitar in New York. It is possible that Reuss gave guitar lessons to Barry Galbraith and

Freddie Green as both mentioned Reuss as a major influence.

In 1939, Reuss worked with Jack Teagarden and Paul Whiteman. He toured nationally withTed Weems in 1941/42, and with Jimmy Dorsey in 1942. After Dorsey, Reuss worked in theNBC studio orchestra in 1942/43. Reuss rejoined Goodman in 1943/44, then went w ith HarryJames in 1944/45. During this time, he won reader's polls in "Metronome" and "Down Beat".

After Harry James, Reuss led his own trio in Los Angeles. After that, he concentrated on studiowork and teaching.

Although Reuss was primarily a rhythm guitarist, he occasionally soloed as well. His solo stylewas an intense rhythmic chordal type (ala George Van Eps) or an economical single note style.In 1935, Reuss played solos on "If I Could Be With You" and "Rosetta" with Benny Goodman,and he had some short solos on Lionel Hampton records from this period. In 1939, herecorded "P ickin' For Patsy" w ith Jack Teagarden. His solo work from the 1940's can be heardon recordings by Corky Corcoran, Benny Carter, and Arnold Ross w ith the Ross materialoffering some of the best examples of Reuss's solo style.

Hear Reuss on recordings with:

Benny Goodman - on RCA Victor and Co lumbia[Extraordinary rhythm guitar on "Ridin' High", recorded live November 2, 1937]Lionel Hampton - on BluebirdColeman Hawkins - on CapitolHarry James - on CapitolGene Krupa - on World RecordsJack Teagarden - on Swing Era

Paul Whiteman - on MCATeddy Wilson - on CBS

Appendix 3Teddy Wilson - pianist

Theodore Shaw Wilson (1912-1986) grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama, and briefly studied musicat Talladega College. After working in Chicago with Jimmie Noone, Louis Armstrong, andothers, he moved in 1933 to New York and joined Benny Carter's band. He played informallywith Benny Goodman in 1935 and officially joined Goodman's trio the following year, thusbecoming one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white artists.

Wilson remained with Goodman until 1939, performing on many of the latter's small group

recordings and also on recordings under his own name with other important sw ing musicians,such as Billie Holiday and Lester Young. After leaving Goodman he briefly led his own big bandin 1939/40, and thereafter worked primarily as a leader of small ensembles and as a soloist.

Around 1950 he was an instructor at the Juilliard School in New York. He often rejoinedGoodman for reunions, most notably for a tour of the USSR in 1962, an appearance at theNewport Festival in 1973, and a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1982.




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Wilson was the most important pianist of the sw ing period. His early recordings reveal apercussive style, with single-note lines and bold staccatos, ala Earl Hines. By the time of hisfirst performances w ith Goodman he had fashioned a distinctive legato style that served himfor the rest of his career.

Wilson's style was based on the use of 10ths in the left hand. By emphasizing the tenor voiceand frequently omitting the root of the chord until the end of the phrase he created greatharmonic and contrapuntal interest. For the right hand he adapted Hines' "trumpet" style,playing short melodic fragments in octaves, frequently separated by rests and varied w ithbroken-chord passage work.

Hear Teddy Wilson on recordings w ith:

Benny Goodman - ColumbiaBillie Holiday - ColumbiaTeddy Wilson Orchestra - Columbia and other labels

Appendix 4Barry Galbraith - rhythm guitarist

Barry Galbraith (1919 - 1983) is one of the most recorded jazz guitarists of all time. Galbraithgrew up in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. In 1941, he was staff guitarist at radio stationWJAS in Pittsburgh, and a lso worked with Red Norvo, Teddy Powell, and Babe Russin.Galbraith then joined Claude Thornhill's band in the latter part of 1941. In 1942, he joined HalMcIntyre.

Galbraith served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. He returned to the Thornhill band in1946. In 1947, Galbraith began worked for NBC and CBS in their studios. By 1950 he wasworking as a studio musician in New York City and was in high demand. He commonlyappeared as sideman. His recording "Guitar and the Wind" was his only recording as leader.In the 1950's, Galbraith recorded w ith many artists, including Les and Larry Elgart, HalMcKusick, Sam Most, Don Elliott, and George Russe ll.

During the 1960's he developed trouble with his left hand movement. It was diagnosed ascalcium deposits on his spinal column. In 1969, Galbraith had surgery that seriously affectedhis playing ability. After surgery, he played less and concentrated more on teaching. Heproduced a remarkable series of instructional jazz guitar books that are still in print.

Barry was an exceptional rhythm guitarist as well as a versatile e lectric player. He wasperhaps the best reading guitarist in New York City and consequently was hired for many of the jazz record dates that required sight reading. Barry was also a life-long student of music.He studied class ical guitar, Flamenco guitar, and attended the Manhattan School of Music as apiano student.

Hear Galbraith on recordings with:

Les and Larry Elgart - on ColumbiaGil Evans - on ImpulseTal Farlow - on VerveJohnny Guarnieri - on RCAColeman Hawkins - on MilestoneHal McKusik - on Bethelem and CoralGeorge Russe ll - on RCAClaude Thornhill - on Columbia

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A Comparative Study of Rhythm Guitar Styles

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