Rhythmic guitar playing is one of the most popular styles in music today. Artists such as Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and many more have their own style that includes rhythmatic guitar licks and patterns.

Not only are these songs catchy, but they can be difficult to learn for beginners! If you want to expand your repertoire and experiment with different rhythms, this article will go over some basics and how to play them.

But first, what is rhythm?

Rhythm is defined as the pattern or timing of something happening. In music, there are two main components that make up our rhythm – pitch and pulse.

Pitch is the quality of sound (loudness, tone, etc.) and consistency (how consistently you produce it). For example, when someone sings a song, people usually recognize the note value, tone, and volume because those things remain relatively consistent.

Become a 'Drummer 4/4 Life' with our exclusive JA t-shirt!

Show your dedication to rhythm with our unique 'Drummer 4/4 Life' t-shirt. Proudly display a music staff with the 4/4 time signature, the heart of most popular music beats. This piece of Jam Addict attire not only makes a bold statement about your passion for drumming, but it also lets you be a part of the JA community, a team dedicated to fostering musicians for years.

A pulse is when an event happens every X amount of time. This could be every 1/2 second, 1 whole second, or any other number really. An example would be having a steady beat with short breaks between each hit.

When using both pitch and pulse together, we have a compound element which creates the rhythm.

Learn to read music

The first thing you need to do as a guitarist is learn how to read music! This will open up a whole new world of possibilities for you. If you’re already familiar with reading, then you can move onto the next tip.

Reading music isn’t just for professional musicians — anyone can pick up the basics and start playing! You don’t even have to be very good at it to get some great benefits.

By learning the fundamentals of reading music, you’ll improve your rhythm guitar skills in many ways. These include:

Practicing using rhythmic patterns

Playing along with songs

Compressing notes into shorter intervals (like half steps and quarter tones)

Thinking in terms of meters (groupings of numbers and rhythms)

Making chord shapes more fluidly

Getting faster at reading music

Benefits of reading music

There are lots of different types of people who play the instrument, but most agree that being able to read music makes you unique as a player.

Practice playing along with music

Chord progressions are one of the most fundamental structures in all types of music, including songs you can learn how to play on guitar. By this, we mean figuring out which chords go into what other chord sequences or song sections!

By learning your chord structure inside and out, you’ll be able to write some basic melodies and riffs, and eventually create whole songs!

There are many ways to approach practicing rhythm guitar. Some people start by trying to figure out every note for every bar in a piece, then practice linking those notes together. Others focus more on creating their own unique licks and patterns, and developing that skill set as an accompanist.

Either way, don’t worry about doing it fast first! Just like anything new, take your time to understand the basics and then slowly add onto that.

Learn to read chord charts

Chord diagrams are one of the most important things to learn as a guitar player. They help you organize your music knowledge and give you some basic rules for making chords.

By learning how to interpret a chart, you can begin to make informed guesses about what chords other musicians use in songs. It also helps when figuring out song structures because sometimes parts will be described using a chord structure.

Reading a chord diagram takes time to get familiar with, but it is very helpful to have them at your fingertips. There are many free resources available online and through book stores.

Revamp your picking pattern

One thing that beginner players often struggle with is their rhythm guitar picking patterns. Many play every note equally fast, which isn’t good if you want to learn how to play grooves!

It’s easy to start playing random notes quickly, but you need to know where each note belongs before moving onto the next one. This article will teach you two ways to pick more efficiently.

Connect with a guitar tutor

Even if you have no experience playing the guitar, there are ways to learn how to play rhythm guitar! There are many resources available to you via online music lessons or by working with experienced musicians directly.

Music theory is an integral part of developing your skills as a guitarist. You will need to know what notes make up a chord, what chords go into a song, what barre shapes mean, and so on. Music theory can be difficult at times, but not knowing these things would be more frustrating than being able to read a book due to lack of knowledge of the written language.

There are several courses and tutorials that can help you develop your musical literacy. Many free resources exist where you can hone your skills by practicing exercises and songs. This is perfect for anyone who wants to get started learning the instrument!

If you want to take it further then buying a primer pack or course bundle is a great way to start investing in yourself as a musician. These typically include some sort of student manual, DVD or both that contain helpful information such as solutions to questions and practice routines.

Learn to sing along with music

A lot of people start playing guitar by simply listening to how someone else plays and then trying to imitate that style, which can be helpful in finding your groove, but singing is another powerful way to learn how to play good rhythm guitar!

Singing along is one of the most fundamental ways to learn how to play rhythm guitar. By learning how to sing simple patterns and chords, you’ll quickly pick up some basic skills.

You can even make it interactive! Find a song you like and work out the chord structure or the pattern for a riff – then try to match the lyrics with the notes as they sound.

There are many great resources online and apps where you can do this. Many musicians and teachers have lots of tips and tricks about how to improve your vocalization, too.

Learn to use tempo as a guide

A second way to learn how to play good rhythm guitar is to start by learning when to add notes and when to stop adding notes. When you feel that your hand is moving too quickly, take a break!

That’s what I do anyway when I feel like my fingers are rushing through the chords. I will take a short break before going back in and re-organizing the chord pattern or creating another one.

By doing this, you will be training your mind to slow down as well, which is important for any type of music you want to learn.

Music moves at a constant speed, but our perception of time can change depending on what we are reading, listening to, or watching. It can also vary from person to person.

What works for me may not work for you. So, try experimenting with different timing strategies until you find one that feels right.

Learn to use rhythm as a guide

The second key element in playing guitar is how you use rhythm. When learning how to play guitar, there’s often a focus on practicing every chord pattern or licks several times, but both of these things are boring for beginners.

The best way to start playing is by using music as a guideline.

Start listening to songs that contain strong rhythms and learn how to translate those into your own style. For example, if the song has a simple drum beat, then maybe try to add drums to your own music. If the song uses a catchy melody and a steady bass line, then emphasize the bass note in your own pieces.

By incorporating some basic concepts of music theory (like notes and intervals) into your practice, it will help you develop your sense of time and how to match up tones with each other.

Understand rhythms

Rhythms are one of the most fundamental parts of music. Once you understand how to play simple rhythmic patterns, you can start building onto more complicated structures!

Music is built upon a pattern that we refer to as a rhythm. A rhythm goes through a familiar structure or formula every time it is played. This makes it very easy to recognize when a rhythm is present in a piece or song!

The basics of playing a rhythm guitar come down to knowing what notes make up the rhythm and being able to hit those notes at the right speed.

You will want to be able to count out basic beats in any style of music, but for beginner musicians, there’s no need to worry about this until later. Simply learn some quick rhymes and begin experimenting!

There are three main types of rhythms that anyone should know: syncopation, triplets, and dotted quarters.