Ok, forget the flashy solos. Let’s do a thread for the unsung, underappreciated, yet monstrously important art of rhythm guitar. The thing that holds down the groove, and shapes the songs. I’ll start by naming my top 5 in no particular order.
[ul][li]Malcolm Young, AC/DC. No one who’s ever heard that band needs an explanation. The definition of groove.[/li]
[li]Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath. He’s a capable and tasty soloist, but his real contribution is that he virtually created the vocabulary for metal/hard rock riffing. Anyone who’s ever played a chugging E chord on the 7th fret owes a debt to this guy.[/li]
[li]Chuck Berry. Arguably invented rock and roll rhythm guitar playing. Immeasurably influential.[/li]
[li]Pete Townshend, The Who. Watch his accoustic performance in Monty Pytjon’s The Secret Policeman’s Other ball and you’ll see a freaking clinic on rhythm guitar playing.[/li]
[li]James Hetfield, Metallica. One of the greatest riff meisters of all time, certainly the author of some of the best metal riffs ever created. Incredibly influential.[/ul][/li]Let’s hear your own choices.
Totally unrecognized and obscure, but Denny Zager of Zager & Evans was (and still is) an unbelievable rhythm guitarist. And, please understand the fact that Zager & Evans did more than just the one hit song “In The Year 2525.” Their album Exordium and Terminus is a groundbreaking work of psychedelic and experimental rock - it’s as out-there as some of Animal Collective’s work! And preceded it by about 35 years! Hell, it came out a good three years before Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, A True Star.
The psychedelic tracks on E&T are great, but Zager’s rhythm guitar is most evident on their more upbeat, folk-pop numbers which punctuate the more out-there stuff. “Cary Lynn Javes”, “Bayonne” and “Reginald Ludwig” are just unbelievable gems, totally unknown to most people.
Cary Lynn Javes - starts at 3:01. And also incredible vocal harmonies.
I don’t know that Larry LaLonde (from Primus) would be considered a rhythm guitarist. There are a lot of songs where Les would play a bassline and some chords (double or triple stops really) while Larry would play lead parts. I do think he’s a great guitarist, though.
If you want groove you need Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones. Especially his playing on their first album, Adrenaline.
I don’t know if people would consider Marc Ribot to be a rhythm guitarist but he buttoned down the rhythm sections on so many Tom Waits songs in so many small ways that would have completely stymied other guitarists that I think he deserves a mention.
Argent: Honestly, I’m not following you around to have a dig at Zager & Evans, but I really can’t see what’s experimental or groundbreaking about these tracks. They comprise of an orchestra, drums and accoustic guitar (so no weird or unusual instumentation), all conventionally played. Agreed, the harmonies are good, but not significantly different or better than, say, the Association. I love psychedelic experimental music from the '60s, and I’m a big fan of A Wizard, A True Star, but Zager & Evans are just not in that league, IMO. I’d love you to explain what I’m missing, and how they are experimental…
Like the aforementioned Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen is an excellent rythm guitarist. Their best stufff had only him on guitar. He’s definitely committed to the song as a whole, as opposed to just the leads, especially in his solo work.
Really well stated - have to agree. Like Hendrix or SRV, EVH can string together errant, diversionary lead fills while keeping the rhythm groove going in a way that few can approach. Folks like Randy Rhoads could also do that (lead fills in Flying High Again and Crazy Train come to mind) but he was so over-practiced and precise that you don’t get the same spontenaity.
I have to run, but rhythm guitar is what I do when I play, so I love the OP - such a different beast than lead. I aspire to Malcolm Young, Keith Richards and Pete Townshend when I play - anchored on big, solid, chunky chords, but with unique voicings and/or techniques that make the sound uniquely theirs. Keef owns Open G riffing in rock, Malcolm owns low-down A and E-based riffs and Pete, well, Pete owns pretty much whatever aspect of rhythm guitar playing that he wants to.
Chuck Berry was the originator - for rock, lifting liberally from T-Bone Walker, who was the first electric bluesman, originator of jump blues and more of an SRV/EVH/Hendrix type of “lock in the groove while playing lead” kinda player. But man, his chords? Noone better…
Must run…
Oh- add Brian May to the list of amazing rhythm players, along with Setzer - but both have enough leadwork in their techniques that it is deceptive. Same with Knopfler…
Speaking of mixing in licks while staying locked in the groove, Billy Gibbons deserves a big call out. All those casual pick harmonics in just the right places while staying perfectly in the groove. So smooth, never a bit choppy, never overdone. He makes it look deceptively effortless too.
Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick comes to mind. As the only guitarist in the kind of rock/pop band that usually makes room for a gunslinging soloist, his distinctive chordal approach to lead playing makes me glad that he kept those duties to himself. Great tone, too. Very underrated.
Let’s see, who else needs a shout out? How about Chrissy Hind? IMO she’d school most of the players mentioned in this thread.
Actually, I wanted jump back in and says, yep, Dio, have to agree with Gibbons. He fits just right into the pocket that Beard and Hill create.
A quick mention of Eddie Cochran(youtube clip from The Girl Can’t Help It - the song Twenty Flight Rock). His groove in that song, like Summertime Blues, Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie and Something Else, is distinctive - not nearly as white-boy on-beat as Buddy Holly, but the behind-the-beat groove still feels more rockabilly - with a rock edge - than it does true Little Richard R&B-rock. Cochran could play - and established the Grestch 6120 Chet Atkins (modded with a Gibson P-90 Dogear pickup in the neck position) as a foundation of rockabilly guitar (along with Duane Eddie, of course). What a twangy tone…