We guitarists often wear an arranger's hat. Playing solo chord melody style requires some thought as to how to present a piece, as does comping for a singer or a horn player. The many options for voicing chords, reharmonizing a progression, or embellishing a melody give us plenty of decisions to make. So too does settling on a groove.

Most typically, the first and most basic decision to make about the groove is in answering the question, "Straight eighths or swing?" Think about your answer for a little while before defaulting to the way everyone always plays the tune. Maybe you'd like to turn that 3/4 show tune into a 4/4 Latin piece. Maybe the straight-ahead rock tune that's been catching your ear could be a gorgeous ballad with a swing feel. You can be as creative as you want at this point. Once the groove is established and you've committed to it, you can play anything with authority. You'll be a fun and dependable playing partner if your comping is right there when a soloist needs you, and audiences will appreciate what you're doing to make the tune feel good.

Another aspect of comping (which can also be very useful in building chord solos) is voice leading. Voice leading a chord progression makes for economy of movement and also a nice smooth sound, rather than a disjointed set of changes all over the neck. Try to be keenly aware of the highest note or voice of each chord. If you choose to tune into the highest voice, your listeners will hear it as a melody of sorts and make sense of the changes as a thoughtful accompaniment to the actual melody or improvisation that's going on above it. The other voices in the chords will follow suit and create a logical progression.

Here's an example of how you might take a folk-style chord progression and play it as a bossa with the right-hand pattern while using reharmonized chords to apply the voice leading. Aim for the note indicated as the highest note played, either on the first or second string, determining which position your right hand will be in with the first three fingers [ima] on strings 3-2-1 or on strings 4-3-2.