Just musing here. I always assumed that rhythm guitar just played the chords to the lead guitarās fingerstyle lead melodies. However, as I want to nail down the rhythm guitar role before trying any leads, I have been listening to the tunes a like concentrating on the non-lead guitar. Boy was I wrong in my assumption. It seems to me that the rhythm guitarist plays as much fingerstyle as chords.
Is this right or am I overthinking the idea of the rhythm guitarists role?
I wonder if Iām helping you with thisā¦but thatās all I can do for nowā¦
Good luck 
Greetings
@roger_holland I was just reading that article. A very interesting view. I am going to have to read it a couple of times to get my head around it properly 
I will confess that I am enjoying the rhythm side of the guitar playing and it has just become a lot more interesting and thought provoking.
Do you really mean āfingerstyleā, i.e. playing with the fingers and not with a pick? Depending on the musical genre, the vast majority of rhythm and lead guitarists play with a pick.
@jjw you are right, I used the term āfingerstyleā to mean playing individual notes rather than a chord. Yes, I do use a pick. I am going to have to back over the rift lessons as I tended to just have a quick go at them and then dropped them as a āthat was interesting, one day I will come back to thisā lesson
Food for thought:
I guess itās down to the division of labour in a particular group. Think about the various ways Keith Richards played with Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood in the Stones. Interplay with the other musicians doesnāt hurt, either. If rhythm guitar playing was about ājust chordsā, I think most rhythm guitar players would have died of boredom already.
Definitely.
I donāt think you can play good lead if you aināt got rhythm. So whatever they are, rhythm is fundamental. And perhaps one of my greatest challenges.
This is a fundamental truth. Rhythm underpins lead, just as bass and drums are the engine room.
If you canāt play rhythm in the pocket your lead will suck. Look at all the greats you think as good lead players, Iāll just give you three Jimi Jimmy and Eric, and watch them all the way through any song. Theyāll be playing a shed load of rhythm and itāll be tight as tight can be.
Clapton jamming with Cale is a prime example.
Clapton and Cale ā¦ 2 gods
Itās really just playing guitar and laying down a groove. If you work on developing a broad set of skills, your entry points into the music will become seamless. That means not having to really think about your part as being rhythm, lead, unaccompanied, etc. Play in service to the song.
Great video, I had never heard of JJ Cale before. I really like his style. Thank you.
I recently started to play as part of a 5 person band (itās very new so itās still weird for me to say that 
) and I am primarily rhythm guitar.
I would say that I view rhythm as the part of a song that can be played without any other instruments and still sound like the song. That may be chords, a riff or even a series of single notes repeated. While lead is great and I love a good lead line, lead by itself generally doesnāt sound the same without the rhythm.
While chords are definitely an important part of playing rhythm, there is a lot more to it. The best example I can think of is the song Iāve got a Feeling by the Beatles. John Lennon is rhythm guitar, but he is mostly playing the intro riff repeated throughout the majority of the song. That riff is tricky! Iāve been slowly trying to learn it over the course of a few months and Iāve only now really started to be able to play it consistently.
Cale influenced many guitar players with his style
knopfler , clapton etc etc
Everybody knows Cocaine , but not a lot remember that its a JJ Cale song , not Claptonās
He was a big influence on Eric and Lynyrd Skynyrd, They are just a few who have covered his music
you can hear the influence in the way they play / touch the strings
I like this idea, Clint. What I noticed in that brilliant video, was how Clapton moved from rhythm to lead and back to rhythm like the smoothest stream flowing. It was all the same to him.
I have also always been a Jj Cale fan. I like how his solo was just laid back and efficient in its awesomeness.
Hi Tony. One of the Grade 3 lessons gives you a start on playing individual notes while strumming. https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-link-guitar-chords-using-scales-bg-1504
Iām trying to add these embellishments after memorizing the basic chords and structure of songs Iām learning, like Sweet Virginia by the Stones. JG also has a lesson on that song, which has some not too difficult chord-note interplay. Iām sure the only way to really do all this well is to have all of your chords and the commonly used scales ingrained in memory, such that you donāt have to think much about where to find the notes you want to overlay on the rhythm. Some dayā¦ letās keep at it!
best definition of cale
its smooth and laid back , he caresses the strings