Rhythm and lead guitar playing in bluegrass are certainly two different things. I believe good rhythm guitar can make or break the sound of a bluegrass band, so to me, rhythm is more important. Good tasteful lead guitar is a rarity in bluegrass these days, but even when it appears, it seems to add less to the complete picture of the band than rhythm.

As I mentioned, there is no shortage of good rhythm guitar role models in bluegrass, and this has helped define the sound and style of the music. Rhythm guitarists offer support, first of all, for all the great picking going on as well as the vocals. Thes are often different things. Listen to the way certain guitarsts back vocals, then listen to the way they back the other instrumental breaks. Then listen to the way they back different instruments. There are differences. For example, when the mandolin takes a break, listen to how it sounds when you play straight, steady off-beat downstrokes with no runs behind it--in essence, taking over the mandolin's rhythmic role for the duration of its break. Listen to what you can do behind a really hard-driving banjo player with syncopated brushes and chops, or with steady, even strums.

Rhythm guitarists also often help accent--or even power--the drive of a bluegrass band. Some--like Jimmy Martin and Red Smiley--can do this with deep, down stroked bass runs at critical places. Others--like Dudley Connell and Charlie Waller--provide an almost snare drum-like percussive off-beat, while still others--like Lester Flatt and Del McCoury-- sustain the beat with a single G-run. Many can play in almost living, breathing time and become nearly transparent within the band sound. Like a good bass player, you only notice them when they aren't there and it sounds like three-quarters of the band decided to take a break. Some, like Tony Rice, play so many rhythmical things so well that their playing automatically brands the sound of the group they're playing with, and their rhythm style can even be copied. Some guitarists have such a good rhythm touch that their sense of dynamics sets their band apart.

Assorted Tips for Rhythm Guitar:

Stay Out of the Mic

This is a controversial one, and one I must admit I have trouble adhering to myself from time to time. If the sound at a show is good and I can hear the guitar, I'll stay out of the mic to give a nice, balanced mix to the sound. This is actually the most effective way to play rhythm on stage because of the "proximity effect," which involves the booming sound of rosewood-bodied guitars bluegrass players often use, as well as the fact that such a guitar is often heard better eight inches or so away from the mic than right in it. And remember: Your role as a rhythm guitarist is to make everything else sound better. That can't happen if all the audience can hear is rhythm.

Listen

You constantly walk a tightrope as a rhythm player, keeping your own good innate sense of time (playing where you know the beat is), and listening to your bandmates to follow their groove and set it up at the same time. It's perfectly natural for a group to surge at certain points in the music--in fact, this phenomenon actually causes some groups to have a more "driving" sound; you can't be a part of this if you don't listen to the groove. It takes a good ear, but you can teach yourself to hear a groove develop. Tony Rice told me once that he follows the bass and the mandolin when he develops a groove. Others may listen to the banjo, or the band sound as a whole. They're listening to you, too, and it's this synergy that helps make a good band sound.

Enjoy it!

Too many flatpickers think of rhythm as something they do in between breaks. They don't really enjoy the sound of their own instruments when they play rhythm, and how they can literally change the sound of their band. There is something about grabbing a big E-chord, or a hanging D, or a fat three-fingered G position on a growling Dreadnought guitar that just makes you feel great. Play along with your favorite bluegrass records, the ones with great players and great timing. Play with any of The Bluegrass Album Band series, or J.D. Crowe and the New South, or... whatever. Feel the rhythm surge along. Isn't it great? If you've ever thought of rhythm guitar as something you do in between breaks, it's certainly a refreshing point of view.

Practice

Sounds hard to do without calling a band practice. But really, the best way to practice rhythm is with a drum track or a great recorded band groove. Do it over and over again. If you feel yourself start to get away from it, just stop and start over. Practice playing tight, staight boom-chick rhythm with, say, a Bluegrass Album Band record, and then playing a more complex style, with, say, a Johnson Mountain Boys record.

Downstroke Rhythm Runs

The best-sounding rhythm licks, like a Del McCoury G-run or a Jimmy Martin or Ed Mayfield run, are executed as downstrokes with a flatpick, emulating the older thumbpick rhythm style. In what's often called a "rest stroke," a string is down stroked forcefully, with the pick actually plowing straight through the string and then resting against the next string until it's time to downstroke again. It takes considerable practice to learn how to downstroke a series of notes (especially at fast tempos) and even more restraint to avoid doing it in every song. Learn how to use your thumb!

Don't Be Affraid to use Single-note Passages in Rhythm

That's as opposed to a rhythm brush. In certain parts of certain songs, a crosspicking pattern can sometimes be just what's needed. The song, of course, dictates everything. If the song dictates a crosspicking pattern at a certain point that's virtually in unison with another instrument--say, the banjo--then so be it. However, be warned that standard 1-2-3-1-2-3 crosspicking doesn't usually sound too good as rhythm.

Don't Overdo the Downbeat or the Offbeat

Of course, we're treading into personal taste here, but. . . It just sounds forced, to me, to hear a heavy crash on a downbeat regularly--say every few measures. This is an all-too-common thing one hears in today's bluegrass, but rhythm brushes tends to compete with the mandolin or Dobro off beat chop, sometimes setting up a weird, unbalanced sound.

Play to the Song

You shouldn't play the same kind of rhythm for every song. Some songs dictate different patterns. Others sound better sparer, with hardly any rhythm, or with guitar mixed further back. Some require a heavy, up-front, in-your-face rhythm to eat banjos by. Others need a single-note pattern throughout, with nary a brush stroke. Your goal is to make the song sound good. Don't worry about competing with the sound system or your bandmates or with audience members (I've seen this happen!).

Sometimes a chord doesn't sound right in a certain song, even if it's the standard way of making the chord or if it's the only way you know how to make it. At this point, you may have to experiment to find a different way to make the chord so it fits the song. I'm sure this is the way Clarence White came up with the "three-finger" G chord. I had to find a different way to make C#minor and B minor chords for certain songs.

Learn the "Nashville Number System

It's easy to learn, and it'll help you communicate better with other musicians. Simplified: Sing "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do." There are eight notes in a major scale. If you give each one a number, starting with the root, it would look like this (for example): C-1, D-2, E-3, F-4, G-5, A-6, B-7, C-8. The "number system" (I'm sure it didn't start in Nashville, but. . .) just refers to numbers for chord changes. For example, C-F-G-C would be a 1-4-5-1 progression. 1-4-5-1 would also be G-C-D-G or D-G-A-D or E-A-B-E. Flatted notes refer to chords in scales that are not in the major scale; in G, an F chord is a "flat seven." Minor chords are referred to as their respective number minors; in G, an A minor chord is a "2 minor," and E minor is a "6 minor." This is pretty much it, but you'll learn it better the more you use it.