Why You Need to Learn Rhythm Guitar Before Lead Guitar

Updated 2022
Estimated time to read: 9 minutes

Lead guitar is and probably will be for a while, at least, the more enticing of the worship guitar roles. I mean why not? Similar to a product ad “as seen on TV” the lead guitarist has the spotlight and can captivate the audience with their rock-like solos and sweeping ethereal soundscapes. If lead guitar is calling your name, by all means go for it, but here’s why you need a solid foundation in rhythm guitar before moving to lead.

Sections

• Rhythm Guitar vs Lead Guitar in Modern Worship

• Everyone Wants to be Cool - the Draw of Lead Guitar

• Every Instrument is its Own Layer

• Skills You Need to be a Successful Rhythm Guitarist

• Skills You Need to be a Successful Lead Guitarist

• Learning Guitar is a Process and Skill to Develop, Not an Instant Level-Up

• Wrapping it up

Rhythm Guitar vs Lead Guitar in Modern Worship

Generally, there are three guitar roles in a full worship team: rhythm acoustic guitar, rhythm electric guitar and lead electric guitar. You may see a lead acoustic guitar role in a laid-back or acoustic-only set, but this is uncommon. Curious why it’s uncommon to see a lead acoustic guitarist, check out this post on modern worship guitar roles.

Role of the Rhythm Acoustic Guitarist

The rhythm acoustic guitarist leads songs through his or her strum patterns and chord changes. While not always prominent in the sound mix, they provide the stable foundation for the vocalists and other musicians to know where they are in the song. Basically they help everyone stay on track.

Role of the Rhythm Electric Guitarist

The rhythm electric guitarist can do the same things as the rhythm acoustic player except that depending on the style of worship and/or song set, having an electric guitar playing the whole set may be too much. Rhythm electric is also great for when you’re the only electric so you can do light leads on the verses and big chords on the chorus and bridge.

Role of the Lead Electric Guitarist

Lead electric guitar, on the other hand, isn’t usually a band-leading instrument. The lead player doesn’t carry the songs from start to finish and usually fills in on top of the other instruments. Obviously, some songs call for a rippin’ guitar intro and outro, and maybe even lines throughout the whole song, but that isn’t always every song (depending on the songs you play and the style of music). There’s a place for lead electric guitar and it needs to be tastefully added to a solid worship team.

Everyone Wants to be Cool - the Draw of Lead Guitar

When I play lead electric guitar on a worship team, I like to think of my playing as icing on the cake. I let the drums, bass, keys, rhythm acoustic and rhythm electric guitars take over the rhythm parts (strum patterns to carry the song, for example). I simply exist to fill in the spaces. If there is a pause in the melody line before the next line starts, I’ll play something there. If there’s a build going into the chorus, I’ll be sure to create tension and excitement in my lead line to add that extra touch and make the song really come alive.

The thing about lead guitar is that if you don’t have a solid foundation in the basics, including chords, chord changes, rhythms, and timing (the 4 principles of rhythm guitar, which you can read more about here), your lead playing will be noticeably bad. Yep! People who don’t know anything about guitar will notice that you sound terrible. This is because as a new(er) musician playing lead guitar, you’re trying to skip the foundations of music just because they seem “boring.” It’s possible you’re fine with struggling to sound decent by only focusing on lead guitar, but let’s continue and see how lead guitar fits in with the rest of the band.

At the end of the day, lead guitar is great to add layers on top (see below), but rhythm guitar helps carry the songs themselves for most bands.

Every Instrument is its Own Layer

Music is all about layers! Layers, layers, layers. Each instrument represents its own layer, playing different but complimenting parts, and each represents its own part of the available sound spectrum. If every instrument on the team did the same things and played the same chords in the same patterns, the song would sound a little boring. This is a perfect example of all the instruments trying to be the same layer.

Ideally, every instrument should strive to be its own layer. At the bottom, the foundation, there are the drums, bass, rhythm acoustic guitar, and maybe a piano. These make up the rhythm section that makes the song flow. In the middle there are any other rhythm guitars, led vocals and keys. And at the top there’s lead electric guitar and harmony/backup vocals.

The point of all the layers isn’t to rank the instruments. The point is that all the instruments are interconnected. If the vocalists are filling space with add-lib parts, the lead guitarist shouldn’t be trying to solo. If the piano or keys player is playing a nice melody on top of everything, the lead guitar shouldn’t be trying to also play a different lead line. Everyone needs to be listening to all the other instruments so that when they play, they are adding something to the song instead of overpowering someone else.

Skills You Need to be a Successful Rhythm Guitarist

The rhythm acoustic and rhythm electric guitarists are filling the role of playing and leading worship through strumming and chord changes, right? So what do you need to be able to do, and do well, in order to lead a band and/or a congregation through a set list?

First, you need to be a strong strummer. You need to have proficiency in strum patterns to match not only the song, but also the drums and the rest of the band. You are filling in the rhythms left by the drums, bass, and keys. If you don’t do that then there may be too much space as you would be matching the rhythms of the bass, for instance, by playing whole, half, and quarter notes.

Second, you need to be proficient at chord changes. You have to know the chords, know what chords are coming and match the changes with the strumming to be “in time,” meaning you play the chord changes when they’re supposed to be played and with the rest of the team. This usually comes over time and repetition through practice by working to combine the right and left hand movements into fluid rhythm guitar playing.

Skills You Need to be a Successful Lead Guitarist

Lead electric guitar is different. You need to be able to hear and recognize the strum patterns and chord changes I just mentioned. On top of that, your role is to fill in the space with either the prescribed lead lines or your own based on the chord changes. If you don’t have a solid understanding and ability to strum, your timing will be off. And if you don’t have a solid understanding and ability to change chords, then you’re going to have a rough time making your lead lines match with the chord changes.

If you don’t have good timing, it doesn’t matter what notes you play (because you won’t sound that good).

If you have good timing, it doesn’t matter what notes you play (because you can get make playing the “wrong” notes work for you).

In the first phrase, you won’t sound good. In the second, you can sound good because you can take us on a melodic adventure using the “wrong” notes. If the appropriate timing is there, then I’d believe you knew what you were doing when you played those uncommon notes (to a point). There are a few exceptions but these are good phrases to remember as you progress in your guitar skills.

Timing is very, very important, and is usually overlooked by beginners because they just want to be able to play all of those cool chords and notes! Remember to train both hands, the strumming hand and the fretting hand, to work at the same time.

Learning Guitar is a Process and Skill to Develop, Not an Instant Level-Up

I began to learn lead guitar after about 5 years of playing rhythm guitar. Even then, when I first tried to play lead parts, I sounded like I was just starting out. I had all of the rhythm guitar experience so it took about 6 months of dedicated self study and team practices before I started to sound good as a lead guitarist.

I recommend that every worship guitarist who is interested in playing on a team learn to play rhythm guitar first. This will give you a solid foundation in chords and a chance to really develop your strumming. You will also be more confident when you’re ready to move to lead guitar.

Generally, rhythm guitar for worship is fairly easy to learn and enjoy. I’d hate for you to set a goal of learning lead electric guitar right away only to find out that it’s way more difficult than you thought. It’s possible to play lead guitar first, but having a year or two of rhythm guitar under your belt will help you immensely.

Rhythm guitar is less involved when it comes to playing with a band. I’ve seen it over and over, the new guitarist off in his own world, head buried in the sheet music, trying to make sure he’s playing the right chords. I’ve also seen new guitarists trying to play lead guitar in a band and to be honest, the lead player always sounded worse. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but rather a lack of hands-on guitar experience and overall comfortableness with the guitar.

Wrapping it up

Usually, the guitarists who take to lead guitar the best are those that have at least 2 years of solid, constant playing under their belt. Not “I play on the worship team once a month” but rather “I go to every weekly worship team practice even though I don’t play on the team every Sunday, AND I try to learn as much as I can from other musicians, not just guitarists, AND I have a guitar coach or instructor to help me in my weekly practicing and playing.”

The former type of students end up playing lead lines that sound like claws running down a chalk board and no one has the heart to tell them they’re not quite ready to play on Sundays. The later type of students actually sound pretty good once they get going learning scales and patterns for lead guitar. The difference is the attitude, the willingness to be humble and learn from other musicians on the team. Most importantly, it’s the dedication to pay for and attend outside lessons.

While I can’t help you with your attitude and willingness to be humble, I can offer training materials and courses for you to continue to develop your skills and talents and grow into the type of guitarist you want to be.