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Rhythm guitar (also known as Second Guitar and Right Guitar) is the use of a guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
 to provide rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
ic chord
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
al accompaniment
Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a solo ist or Musical ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played....
 for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble
Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform....
. In ensembles or "bands" playing within the country
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
, blues, rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 or metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition supports the melodic lines and solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they string, brass, wind, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice.

In the most commercially available and consumed genres, electric guitar
Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
s tend to dominate their acoustic
Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
 cousins in both the recording studio
Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for Sound recording and reproduction. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustics to achieve the desired acoustic properties ....
 and the live venue.






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Rhythm guitar (also known as Second Guitar and Right Guitar) is the use of a guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
 to provide rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
ic chord
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
al accompaniment
Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a solo ist or Musical ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played....
 for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble
Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform....
. In ensembles or "bands" playing within the country
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
, blues, rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 or metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition supports the melodic lines and solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they string, brass, wind, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice.

In the most commercially available and consumed genres, electric guitar
Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
s tend to dominate their acoustic
Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
 cousins in both the recording studio
Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for Sound recording and reproduction. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustics to achieve the desired acoustic properties ....
 and the live venue. However the acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
 remains a popular choice in country
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
, western
Western music

Western music is the genres of music originating in the Western world including European classical music, American Jazz, Country and Western, pop music and rock and roll....
 and especially bluegrass music
Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and is a sub-genre of country music. It has its own roots in Folk music of Ireland, Music of Scotland, Music of Wales and Folk Music of England traditional music....
, and is used almost exclusively in folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
.

Role

In popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
, the role of rhythm guitar is most often to provide the chord
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
 sequence or "progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
" of a composition
Musical composition

Musical composition is:* an original piece of music* the musical form of a musical piece* the process of creating a new piece of music...
, frequently providing the rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
 or "beat
Beat (music)

A beat is the basic time unit within much Western music; for example, each tick sounded by a metronome would correspond to a beat. More technically, "the beat is the pulse of the mensural level", also known as the beat level, the meter level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit?"the denominator of the time signature,"...
" as well, usually as part of a rhythm section
Rhythm section

A rhythm section is the musicians in a popular music musical band or musical ensemble who establish the rhythmic pulse of a song or musical piece, and who lay down the chordal structure....
. In rock music
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 and many of its sub-genres, a typical rhythm section
Rhythm section

A rhythm section is the musicians in a popular music musical band or musical ensemble who establish the rhythmic pulse of a song or musical piece, and who lay down the chordal structure....
 minimally comprises rhythm and bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
 guitars, a drum kit
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
 and frequently a keyboard instrument
Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
, but may include a variety of other instruments, such as additional percussion
Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
, MIDI instruments, drum machines
Drum machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music....
, turntables
Turntablism

Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonographs and a DJ mixer. The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer to manipulate sound....
 (for playing "samples
Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an musical instrument or a different sound recording of a song....
" and "scratching
Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or Turntablism technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a phonograph while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer....
") and equipment for playback of pre-recorded rhythmic accompaniment.

A guitarist "playing rhythm" plays a sequence of chords
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
 or arpeggios
Arpeggio

In music, an arpeggio is a broken Chord where the notes are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously....
 which embody the chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
 or "changes" that support the melody lines performed by the other instruments or voices. In contrast, the role of the lead guitar
Lead guitar

Lead guitar refers to the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, fill , and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock music, heavy metal music, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop music contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompan...
 is to provide melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
, countermelody and solos.

In rock music, the most common way to construct chord progressions is to play "triads
Triad (music)

In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:...
", each comprising a root, third and fifth note of a given scale, or four-note chords, which include the sixth, seventh or ninth note of the scale. In some cases, the chord progression is implied with a simplified sequence of two or three notes, sometimes called a "riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
", that is repeated throughout the composition. In heavy metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 (or just "metal") music, this is typically expanded to more complex sequences comprising a combination of chords, single notes and palm muting. The rhythm guitar part in compositions performed by more technically oriented bands often include riffs employing complex lead guitar techniques. In some genres, especially metal, the audio signal from the rhythm guitar's output is often subsequently heavily distorted by overdriving the guitar's amplifier
Guitar amplifier

A guitar amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed to make the signal of an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar louder and modify the tone by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain frequencies and/or by adding electronic effects....
 to create a thicker, "crunchier" sound for the palm-muted rhythms.

In bands with two or more guitarists, the guitarists may exchange or even duplicate roles for different songs or different sections
Section (music)

In music, a section is "a complete, but not independent musical idea" . Types of sections include the Introduction or intro, exposition, recapitulation, Verse-chorus form, chorus or refrain, Conclusion , coda or outro, fadeout, bridge or interlude....
 within a song. In those with a single guitarist, the guitarist may play lead and rhythm at different times or simultaneously, by overlaying the rhythm sequence with a lead line. A recent innovation is the use of a "looping pedal
Tape loop

Tape loops are Music loop of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms....
" to record a chord sequence or riff over which the lead line can then be played, simulating the sound achieved by having two guitarists.

Equipment

Rhythm guitarists usually aim to generate a stronger rhythmic and chordal sound, in contrast to the lead guitarists' goal of producing a sustained, high-pitched melody line that can be heard over top of the band. As a result, rhythm and lead players may use different guitars and amplifiers. Rhythm guitarists may employ an electric acoustic
Semi-acoustic guitar

A semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar with both a sound box and one or more electric pickup . This is not the same as an electric acoustic guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with the addition of pickup or other means of amplification, either added by the manufacturer or the player....
 guitar or a humbucker
Humbucker

File:Guitare double micro.jpgA conventional humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup , first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal....
-equipped electric guitar for a richer and fatter output. Also, rhythm guitarists may use strings of a larger gauge than those used by lead guitarists. However, while these may be practices, they are not necessarily the rule and is subject to the style of the song and the preference of the individual guitarist.

While rhythm guitarists in metal bands use distortion effects, they tend to use less of the modulation effects such as flangers
Flanging

Flanging is an audio effect that occurs when two identical signals are mixed together, but with one signal time-delayed by a small and gradually changing amount, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds....
 used by lead guitar players. Whereas the lead guitarist in a metal band is trying to make their solo tone more prominent, and thus uses a range of colorful effects, the rhythm guitarist is typically trying to provide a thick, solid supporting sound that blends in with the overall sound of the group. In alternative rock and post punk bands, though, where the band is trying to create an ambient soundscape rather than an aggressive Motörhead
Motörhead

Mot?rhead are a British hard rock band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy, who has remained the sole constant member. Usually a power trio, Mot?rhead had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the UK Singles Chart....
-style "wall of sound", the rhythm guitarist may use flanging and delay effects to create a shimmering background.

See also

  • Rhythm
    Rhythm

    Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
  • Guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
  • List of rhythm guitarists
    List of rhythm guitarists

    The following is a list of WP:NOTE rhythm guitarists, arranged in ascending alphabetical order of last name. For a list of lead guitarists see List of lead guitarists....
  • Lead guitar
    Lead guitar

    Lead guitar refers to the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, fill , and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock music, heavy metal music, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop music contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompan...
  • Bass guitar
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
  • Flamenco guitar
    Flamenco guitar

    A flamenco guitar is a type of classical guitar, built for the purpose of playing Flamenco music.Flamenco guitar can also refer to toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of Flamenco....