I play various styles of music; everything from pop, old-time, blues, jazz, Celtic and bluegrass. I also play in large jams, duets with my wife (guitar) and solo mandolin with vocals. While my lead playing has improved significantly over the last year, my rhythm/backup playing has remained pretty basic. I can do basic chop patterns pretty well. I can do a basic boom-chuck with a few embellishments. I do a bunch of strumming patterns that I'm not particularly in love with.
I'd really like to improve my rhythm/backup playing this next year. I can hear on recordings how much variety the great players have in their backup playing. I'm wondering if there are any learning materials out there that I could work through to improve my backup playing? Is that Sam Bush DVD worth it? I'm also signed up on artistworks with Mike Marshall but I can never find anything with their search "feature" so there might be something there?
It seems like each situation requires a different treatment and I'm at a bit of a loss for knowing what will work best. Any tips for figuring this all out would be greatly appreciated.
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