# Guitar/Lead Guitar and Rhythm Guitar

The terms **lead guitar** and **rhythm guitar** are mildly confusing,
especially to the beginner. Of course, a guitar should almost always
follow some sort of rhythm, whether loose or tight. Plus, many times,
guitars are very prominent in a song, where it drives the music, but
it\'s not quite lead. Plus, the lead guitarist doesn\'t even play a lead
part, and that happens almost all the time! How can we untangle this
mess?

The distinction is somewhat arbitrary. Many bands in contemporary music
have two guitarists, where usually one would specialize in \"lead\" and
the other in \"rhythm\". The Beatles, Dethklok, and Metallica are
examples of bands who use this combination. Lead guitar means melody
guitar, meaning that the lead guitarist must specialize in playing the
melody of the song, so any guitar playing a solo is not a lead. Sure, a
lead guitarist may get to solo, but someone cannot be called a lead
guitarist simply because he/she plays a solo in a song. A lead part
contributes entirely to melody (as lead guitar means melody guitar),
instead of to the foundation, which is carried by the rhythm guitar.
This means the rhythm guitarist is the driving source. Lead guitar uses
few or no chords, although sometimes it can be following a chord
structure, while rhythm guitar uses the chords to drive the music.

It is important to realize that lead guitar and rhythm guitar fit into
two different parts of a band, but it just happens that they are played
on the same instrument. Lead guitar provides a solo voice, and is
grouped with the lead vocals, lead piano, etc. Rhythm guitar is part of
the underlying rhythm section, along with instruments like bass, drums,
sometimes piano, background vocals, etc. Generally speaking, the rhythm
provides the groove of the song, while lead provides the melody.

However, these distinctions get fuzzy, especially when the so-called
lead guitarists play chords and double-stops in their riffs. In some
cases, a single guitar part provides both the melody and accompaniment
(especially power chord
riffs, commonly found
in rock and metal, and finger
picking, found in folk
guitar).

Some bands (often three piece bands) feature a single guitarist who can
act as either, by either assuming one role at a time or, in a recording
studio, recording a lead track over their own rhythm track. For example,
the band Dire Straits has been in both situations: in the early days,
David Knopfler played rhythm while Mark Knopfler played lead. When David
left, Mark usually played both parts on studio albums, and hired another
guitarist to play rhythm for live shows. Some guitarists reached such
technical proficiency that they were able to play both parts
\"simultaneously\". A famous example of this technique is Dimebag
Darrell, particularly on songs such like Walk or Breathing New Life
(using an harmonizing effect pedal). The bass plays a big part like in
songs such as Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes (even though there
is no bass guitar in the song, it\'s an electric acoustic) to set the
speed and tone for the song and that the lead guitarist (otherwise known
as melody guitarist) in the chorus follows the bass and drums not, the
bass follow the chorus player.

## Playing Lead Guitar

Very often, a lead guitar part is played on an electric guitar, using
moderate to heavy distortion (also known as drive or gain). For this
reason, many amplifier manufacturers refer to their distortion channel
as a lead channel. Distortion provides a more powerful sustain than a
clean channel, and this is often best represented in extreme techniques
like shredding and tapping, which some guitarists feel can only properly
be done with distortion. Of course, lead guitar can be played on an
acoustic guitar, but some techniques may not be as pronounced as on an
electric.

The most common techniques for creating lead parts are bending,
vibrato and
slides. These provide the basic means of
emphasizing notes, and allow for greater expression in the melody. Often
the lead guitarists may employ arpeggios or sweep
picking to add depth,
and the progression of the solo often mirrors the underlying rhythm
guitar part.

## Playing Rhythm Guitar

Rhythm guitar is characterized mostly by playing chords in patterns.
Some players criticize rhythm guitar as sounding \"chordy\", or not
being as interesting as the lead part. Although rhythm guitar does not
\"express\" as much as the lead guitar, there is so much to be learned
about chords, chord
progressions and rhythm
patterns, and a player is limited only by
their imagination.

Rhythm guitar is just as easily played on electric or acoustic, clean or
distorted. The technique is less about expressing individual notes, and
more about choosing chords or chord voicings that enrich the overall
sound, which may add its own expressive tone to the music.

