Lead/rythm

Firstly Ive probably made a spelling mistake in the title... rythmn.. am no sure.
Anyway, am getting frustrated trying to find what id call a rythmn guitarist. While ive learned a lot about scales and how to play lead along to certain chords others havent. Infact outta maybe ten guitarists i know, none of them know a single scale.
So when i ask for pals to play rythmn they moan as if its a lesser part in a band. How do i tell them "winging it" wont work and that lead riffs/solos have to be well thought out. Am annoyed because i wana jam and people but they think am looking for glory as "lead" guitarist!

later

It's rhythm.

I am much happier playing rhythm than lead, simply because I spend much more time working out chord movements and substitutions than I do thinking aobut how to phrase melody lines. A good lead player is indispensible for a good sounding guitar band, but I must say I reckon that a good rhythm player is even more essential. One of the things I like so much about about Hendrix is his skill playing rhythm, rather than for his "lead" work. He demonstrated that even in rock music playing little fills of one or two note flurries can sound much better than simply strumming a six string chord for two bars. If no-one wants to play rhythm then it's because they're either really dedicated lead players who would be wasting their particular talents, or, more likely, they are not good enough guitarists, in my opinion.

I'm seriously thinking about working as a bassist.
Don't get me wrong, I play the guitar quite well, but I'm just pissed off when I see that what guitarists want to do is just wank and wail on the neck.
I'm picking up the bass more and more often in Jams, because lots of other guitarists CAN'T play a decent groove. And I'm having fun! I don't have the spotlight in my face, but I'm actually playing with the Drummer, with the soloist without him knowing it (now I understand what 'pushing' someone is).

Lots of guitarists can't play a good, strong rhythm. But as someone once said 'it's not your chops that'll get you the gig, it's how good you'll make the singer sound' Who cares about your sweeping prowess...

Yeah, I see it this way. If ya cant play rhythm or keep a steady beat for that matter, your screwed for every part of every song except the solo. Playing lead is fine, but a real good guitarist would know how to do both.

Yeah, I have to agree with lalimacefolle and pretty much everybody else. I am a bassist myself, and I think playing rhythm is the best part about being in a band for me. You just have alot more fun cause your not always having to stop and think about the lead your playing. And it should be the whole band that sounds good together rather than just one person. Now I do tend to pull out some crazy bass licks here and there, but I just enjoy them much more when I keep from overdoing it. Main reason is because I'm able to get into the music more.

Last night, I played with a bassist that could pull off all those Jaco's licks. Well, it was fun 5 minutes, but after a while, I noticed he just played alone, didn't care about the drummer nor me... Well, once again, great player, not great music.

Yeah. When I first got in a band, I was the exact same way when I played bass. I just wanted to show off what I could do, and I believe everyone is like this at first. Overtime, I started to notice if I played alittle more with the snare and kick drum, I sounded alot better. I'm in a rock band, and this is still a good theory, I believe.

It is a good practice to listen to bands with 2 guitar players..ie, Aerosmith, Guns, Skynryd, get a feel for how they interact

http://www.music123.com/?affil=chrisb
Martin guitars for sale

On the other hand, when Jaco played those licks, he was playing great music. He truly is a god among bass players. Such a shame how he died.

yep. But at the start of his carrer, he had some problems getting a gig because he overplayed so much.

yeah I can relate to that alot, cause I did the samething and although I got a great responce. I could sense some tension within my band itself. They thought I was trying to be the star, although that wasn't the case. I was just trying to play the best music I could. The tension between me and the other members of my band was tearing us apart. We just started to distance ourselves and we started to compete with each other for the spotlight. These were my brothers (not by blood, you know what i'm saying.)too, and we began to hate each other, and our music showed. It just turned into who looks the best in this particular song. I believe in this motto,"The more you try to impress the less you impress". The truth is nobody looked good, cause the music as a whole was sh#t. IF you have ever heard a band talk about, "the magic". This comes from bands that can work together, compromise, and understand each other. And not try to make one person look good, but the whole band. This I believe is what makes or breaks a band, so just have fun and work together, the better your band sounds as a whole the more you will achieve. That's the point isn't it?

I'm used to playing on my own - really fast widdly stuff. I'm not sure I'll find it easy to make the adjustment to playing in a group, I could really put people's backs up and I don't want to. I get bored easily, this is the problem, it occured to me that there must be plenty of awkward challenging things to do that aren't obtrusive to the music/musicians that still give you a good technical workout so I came up with the idea of picking out two-handed chords that otherwise won't be playable. Sometimes this is the only way that chords with several really close intervals can be played and I love close interval chords that pianists find so much easier than do us poor guitarists. They sound great clean with some chorus and maybe reverb.

http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=5090