I'm always looking for new ways to play back-up parts in a band. Lately I've stumbled onto some new things and was wondering if some of you out there in Forum land were doing similar things. The E9 neck I've found harder than the C6 to kind of simulate what a rhythm guitar is doing because of the added strings for passing tones and such so that "strumming" or "raking" across the strings doesn't work. But lately I've incorporated a kind of strum on strings 7,8,9,10 where a 9th chord is appropriate. It works best in higher registers. I'll give these 4 strings a kind of semi muted chop to accent beats along with the band and sometimes strum across them and let them ring. They are after all part of the 9th chord and assuming the bass player is on the root or doing a walking line these 4 notes add in nicely.
The other new to me thing is playing a picking pattern on strings 8,9,10 almost the same as a standard rock and roll rhythm guitar by playing 8 and 10 open then 8 and 10 with B pedal then hitting the 9th string and then back. Kind of like the standard Chuck Berry rhythm with the 5th tone moving up to 6 and 7 and back.
I'm sorry I seldom ever use tab so this discription may be a bit inefficient, but I'm just wondering how many of you have tried some of these things and what are some other methods you have of chording behind another lead or vocalist. Most of the time over the years I've used 2 and 3 note parts of the chord in either a chop (staccato) or just some sustained fill with parts of the chord.
I don't really spend much time copying licks, but I'm always trying to find new stuff for the arsenol.
Rhythm and back-up parts on pedal steel
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