Status Quo was one of the biggest bands in Europe throughout the seventies, selling more than 118-million albums worldwide. Although they never made it big in the US, they had a huge influence on musicians like Brian May of Queen, Dave Edmunds, Jeff Lynn and modern bands like Muse and Metallica.
If ever there was a band that epitomized the hard driving, no holds barred rock band with a two-guitar frontline, it is the British Band Status Quo that featured Rick Parfitt. Ray Nijenhuis’ Rockin' Rhythm Guitar Guidebook examines this powerful style of rock rhythm guitar, with a special focus on Parfitt’s unique approach.
"I believe Rick Parfitt is a criminally underrated rhythm guitar player and I’m thrilled to be able to share many of his unique concepts, approaches, and techniques here in this Guidebook. We'll look at several critical concepts to play in this style: like slap-back echo simulation, irregular rhythmic division of a 4/4, his custom low B and open G tunings, various ways of string muting and playing drone riffs. We'll then put these techniques to good use in six original songs.”
Ray organized the course into two sections. In the first section he guides you through a series of essential techniques and concepts: Slap-back Echo Shuffle 1, Slap-back Echo Shuffle 2, Tuning: Open G, Tuning: Low B, Tuning: Dropped D, Rhythmic Variations 1, Rhythmic Variations 2, Rhythmic Variations 3, String Muting Staccato, and String Muting Alternating.
In the second section, you'll apply all of the key concepts and techniques from the first section, over six rhythm performance studies. Ray will first perform the study over a track, and then break it down for you emphasizing the key techniques and concepts in play
Ray will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the rhythm and Rhythm Performance Studies. Plus, Ray includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. Also, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the performances so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s get rockin’ with Ray Nijenhuis!
What you'll learn
Execute staccato chord attacks through muting on upstroke motions
Integrate melodic lines with muted chord grooves
Combine palm muting with string muting for rhythmic control
Add gallop rhythms to chord grooves
Maintain continuous right hand motion while controlling which notes sound
Hi, I'm Ray Nijenhuis and welcome to the Rockin' Rhythm Guitar Guidebook. This course is all about playing rhythm guitar in a rock band in general, but with the main focus on Rick Parfitt's style. We're exploring the concepts and techniques of Parfitt's autodidact brand of rhythm guitar style in order to be incorporated in your own playing.
Rick - who sadly passed away on December 24th, 2016 - was the hard-hitting rhythm machine of the British rock band Status Quo. They were one of the biggest bands in Europe throughout the seventies. Although they never made it big in the US, they had a huge influence on musicians like Brian May of Queen, Dave Edmunds, Jeff Lynne and modern bands like Muse and Metallica. Their classic 70's albums contained an enormous variety of rock styles based on the 12-bar blues shuffle, twin guitar leads, reels & jigs and even stoner-rock.
We'll look at several critical concepts to play in this style: slapback echo simulation, his irregular rhythmic division of a 4/4, his custom low B and open G tunings, various ways of string muting and playing drone riffs. We'll then put these techniques to good use in six original songs. I believe Rick Parfitt is a criminally underrated rhythm guitar player and would like to share some of his unique concepts, approaches and techniques with you. As always, this course comes with backing tracks and tabs for all the key examples. Let's rock!
A note from Ray: "I am very grateful to Rick Parfitt's friend Andrew 'AC' Cremona for the loan of two of Rick's personal guitars: a 1972 Fender and 1982 Schecter telecaster. What an incredible feeling and honor to be playing these iconic instruments which were used extensively on studio recordings and world wide tours from the 70's throughout the 00's. Thank you Andrew!" Rick Parfitt (12th October 1948 - 24th December 2016)
2Slapback Echo Shuffle 1
Rick Parfitt is famous for his very specific way of playing a shuffle. As I'm sure you all know, a shuffle is basically a three note pattern, called a triplet, of which you don't play the one in the middle. Rick though, plays all three beats of the triplet. Well, he doesn't really play all three of them. He hits the string on the first note of the triplet, then slaps the string on second and then plays the string on the third note of the triplet.
3Slapback Echo Shuffle 2
Rick Parfitt is famous for his very specific way of playing a shuffle. As I'm sure you all know, a shuffle is basically a three note pattern, called a triplet, of which you don't play the one in the middle. Rick though, plays all three beats of the triplet. Well, he doesn't really play all three of them. He hits the string on the first note of the triplet, then slaps the string on second and then plays the string on the third note of the triplet.
4Tuning: Open G
When you're in a rock band and looking for colorful sounds, this tuning is well worth examining. It's actually an open G tuning, but unlike Keith Richards, who skips the 6th string all together, or having the low D string that blues players use, this has two G's on the bottom.
5Tuning: Low B
Parfitt used a low B-tuning for songs like "4500 Times" and "Backwater". It's essentially standard tuning, but the 5th string is a whole tone up to B and the 6th string is tuned down a fourth to B.
6Tuning: Dropped D
Not much to say about this familiar tuning really. The low E string is tuned down a whole step, so it has that nice fat 'n' low D5 power chord on the bottom. The low D string is perfect for that slapback echo simulation.
7Rhythmic Variations 1
Now we'll look at various ways to make your rhythm playing less predictable and more rhythmically challenging. For example, we'll take the basic rock style 4/4 and divide it into 123-123-12.
Ray Nijenhuis has obviously spent a great deal of time examining the unique rhythm playing of Rick Parfitt, who was the rhythm guitarist with the very popular British rock band Status Quo, and in this series of lessons he demonstrates many of his signature moves in isolation and in the context of some of the band's original tunes.
Really worth spending time with if you are interested in discovering some fresh sounding ways to spice up your rhythm chops.
J
Jorge
10/28/21
Techniques for Classic Rock Rhythm
A highly recommended lesson. Ray is a great guitarist who has a wide knowledge. Within the lesson you can find a good amount of rhythms that can be very helpful not only to get an increase in skill but in a larger catalog. Besides the fact that it can generate a fresh perspective on rhythm guitar, it also has an easy and clear follow up making the learning process constant. Very good guitarist.
B
Brenda
10/15/21
An amazing rhythm on the guitar
Without a doubt Ray Nijenhuis is a fantastic rhythm guitarist, the ability and mastery of being able to play that way is to recognize, his lessons are fun and you can learn great rhythms that are incredible and fun to play. The lessons are very understandable, the material has a structure and composition that will help you to understand rhythm guitar, being able to watch these videos can help you a lot to improve your style and way of playing. Highly recommended.
A
AlfAg
Verified buyer
03/25/21
Great rockin´rhythm for me
I´ve been caught up with that other thing called ordinary day by day life, so I needed a kick to restart my guitar habits. This is a great rockin´rhythm for me.
S
sslugger
Verified buyer
03/09/21
Nice One !
Great tribute to Rick who was severely underrated. Interesting to see what it takes to reproduce the Quo sound in this easy to follow course. Had a lot of fun along the way and now have a new sound in my toolobox.
