Eureka! This Rhythm Guitar edition of Laurence Juber’s new Guitaristics series delivers THE definitive rhythm guitar methodology for both acoustic and electric guitar players, across all popular genres.
“In 40+ years of being a studio musician, recording artist, concert performer, I’ve played with some of the world’s greatest rhythm sections. I’ve learned that rhythm guitar is really at the heart of so much music making because it involves the groove, the pulse, harmony, rhythm, articulation, dynamics — so many musical values that it really is core to the experience of music making on the guitar. I’m happy to have the opportunity to share that information with you here in this Rhythm edition of Guitaristics.”
We’re thrilled to welcome Laurence to the TrueFire’s family of world-class educators. Widely recognized for his jaw-dropping solo acoustic guitar work, Laurence’s electric guitar skills are equally commanding. LJ has released 23 highly acclaimed solo albums, won his second Grammy for The Pink Panther Theme, and is featured on the soundtracks of hundreds of TV shows and movies. And before all that … guess who Paul McCartney chose as the lead guitarist for his band Wings? That’s pretty heavy testimony in itself.
Laurence is not only a master two-time Grammy winning recording artist and performer, he is also a master educator with an uncanny prowess for communicating musical concepts in an extraordinarily accessible manner. He’s published many top-selling instructional books and DVDs but this is the very first time that Laurence presents his rhythm guitar methodology.
LJ organized the course into two sections. In the first section, he present the 16 key concepts and techniques that comprise his rhythm method. Laurence will guide you through a series of lessons and demonstrations that cover rhythm figures and patterns, harmony, chord selection, chord voicings, inversions, right and left hand techniques, muting, choking, various kinds of articulation and then most importantly, how to pull it all together so your groove sits in a solid pocket with the band.
In the second section, LJ presents 6 Rhythm Guitar Performance Studies that cover a variety of styles, and which apply all of the key concepts and techniques from the first section. Playing your way through these six studies puts everything that you’ve learned into a musical context. The rhythm tracks also have a lead guitar part mixed in to give you an authentic feel for how your rhythm guitar parts fit in the overall band mix.
STUDY 1: TO PUSH OR NOT TO PUSH This study combines straight 8ths, pushes, added notes in top line, chord inversions and bass-line motion.
STUDY 2: ROCK BALLAD 16ths A minor key rock ballad. The rhythm transitions progressively from whole notes to 16th notes as it builds drive into a slow tempo tune.
STUDY 3: ALL FUNKED UP Turning to an R&B groove, this tune features funky broken 16ths with left-hand muting and right-hand choking.
STUDY 4: A DAY IN THE COUNTRY This study in 3/4 time encourages you to lock-in with the hi-hat, Nashville-style and work on 'feathering' your strums.
STUDY 5: TRUCKER BILLY SHUFFLE A rocking 12-bar blues with a hard swing shuffle groove and various articulations of a classic rhythm pattern.
STUDY 6: STRAIGHT FLUSH Another rocking 12-bar blues but this one features a straight 8th groove with lots of accents, choking and rhythm riffing.
LJ demonstrates all for the Rhythm Performance Studies over a rhythm track, and then breaks it down for you technique-by-technique. All of the key examples in the first section, and all of the Rhythm Performance Studies are tabbed and notated, plus you’ll get Guitar Pro files as well (Windows & Mac compatible) so that you can loop or slow down the tab and notation. All of the rhythm tracks are also included to work with on your own.
Laurence truly unlocks the code to becoming a great rhythm guitar player here in this Rhythm edition of LJ’s Guitaristics. Whatever style you play, and whatever level player you are (intermediate to advanced) this is one of those courses that is a must-have for your instructional library.
Grab your electric or acoustic instrument and get Guitaristic with LJ now.
What you'll learn
Master various rhythm feels across multiple genres
Use thumb muting to avoid unwanted bass notes
Understand the 16 key rhythm guitar concepts (LJ's rhythm method)
Welcome to LJ's Guitaristics: Rhythm. This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of rhythm playing on acoustic and electric guitar. This segment describes essence the sixteen concepts plus a detailed description of the six studies that utilize the concepts that you will learn.
2SECTION 1: Essential Concepts
A brief explanation of the progression of the sixteen rhythm guitar concepts of this course.
3Intro To Rhythm Guitar
A overview showing basic strums and chord voicings.
4Quarter Notes
This concept covers the principals of playing evenly articulated quarter notes with up and down pick strokes. It stresses the importance of picking position, matching tone to style and allowing the acoustic guitar to 'speak' by not muting the body resonance.
5Eighth Notes
Here, I divide each beat in two, with quarter notes becoming eighths. On acoustic we deal with typical open strums. On electric, the characteristics of palm muting and how it applies to eighth notes.
6Broken 8ths
This concept presents broken eight notes with rests in between certain beats. It introduces pushes, where a strum anticipates a downbeat . It also reinforces the idea of shaping the sonority and texture. It serves as an introduction to right hand choking and left hand muting which will be more fully explored in concept 9.
716th Notes
A further division of the beat, moving from quarters to eighths and now sixteenths where each beat is divided in four. This segment also stresses the importance of keeping the strums even and adds the concept of pushing on the last 16th of a bar.
I'm a big fan of LJ, but also one of those guitar players that had meandered too far down the scales and soloing route and this was an ideal course both for the quality of instruction and the variety that LJ covers which keeps it from becoming boring. It's quite a thing to see him go from credible rock riffing to jazz comping to fingerstyle in the span of a few minutes. Which reminds me, Truefire let's get a fingerstyle instructional next!
C
CSBbody123
Verified buyer
05/24/23
Getting better at Rhythm
so far so good, was something i was needing to address, as rhythm is my weakness.
This is helping me understand, and get better at my rhythm playing.
T
tomac
Verified buyer
09/25/21
Good course for me
T
Tarporleyguitar
02/17/21
TarporleyGuitar
The best guitar help video I ever bought. Learned so much and quickly. This is the one I return to when I go off course and want to get back on track. Lawrence is an amazing guitarist.
W
wholmer
12/31/20
Essential rhythm the right way!
These lessons will get you on the right path for a solid foundation right from the start. I know, I’ve taken a LOT of self-taught courses over the years and kept realizing I had holes where I missed some techniques. The many different rhythms presented here are going to expand your horizons!
