In this final installment of this series, I'd like to quickly share another set of "cheater" chords, and let you know what some other worship leaders say they look for in a rhythm guitarist.

For this set of chords, start with your basic E chord fingering.

Now we're going to keep that fingering and slide up five frets. You're now playing an A add9 chord. The chord chart below doesn't show it, but you can leave the sixth string (low E) open. Alternately, you could throw your index finger down on the low E string at the fifth fret, giving you a root of A.

As we did on the slide in the last post in the series, keep your basic E chord fingering and slide up two more frets. This gives you a B add4. As above, the chart doesn't show it but you can leave the low E string open. Also as with the A add9, you can put the index finger down on the seventh fret, giving you a root of B.

I'd encourage any of you reading this who feel you need help increasing your skills to find a reputable guitar teacher and begin taking lessons. No matter how good you are, you can still learn something from a teacher. Trust me, if I could afford it right now, I'd be taking lessons myself.

Another great thing to do is watch other players. Buy or borrow as many music DVDs as you can and watch their fingers. I've probably watched my Shane & Shane DVD a hundred times trying to pick out one chord voicing or another. Also take a look at many of the worship resources out there such as New Song Cafe, and Vertical Music's worship tools.

Ask your worship leader is they have any resources available you can borrow, and ask if they know of any other good online resources.

To wrap things up, here's what some of my tweeps on Twitter had to say about what they look for in a rhythm guitarist for their own bands:

@leadworship: "I love a confident player whose not afraid to worship"

@kimbontrager: "confident enough to start a song. able to learn rhythm patterns quickly. good instincts re:when to stand out & when to blend in."

@dwpoyner: "Able to carry a song alone, good steady rhythmic strumming, a good guitar playing face…"

@mandoron: "Predictable strum patterns. We've had guitarists who never play the same thing twice. Correct and steady tempos."

@stephenulangca: "consistency, comping, strum patterns, chord library. Haven't found one yet. Hope you will."

@janakid: "versatility in style, consistency, some knowledge about theory, show up on time"

@mikeymo1741: "Rhythm. (seriously… ) Humility. And of course, good tone."

I hope you've learned from and enjoyed this series. As always, if any of you out there have any other suggestions, tips, or tricks to share, please comment.

Thanks to Guitar.to for the chord fingerings.

Jeff M. Miller \\ Consuming Worship
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