The Rhythm Guitar......the best way to learn guitar.
Wikipedia says, "Rhythm guitar, is the use of a guitar to provide rhythmic chordal accompaniment for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble"
To many people, the common definition of a rhythm guitarist is a player who simply strums the chords while the genuine guitar player, (lead guitarist) performs all the real playing.
That opinion just couldn't be more wrong.
Every guitarist plays rhythm guitar for about 85% of the time anyway, whether they like it or not.
Rhythmic sense and knowledge of guitar chords is frequently lacking in a lot of guitar players foundation skills.
The notion that it doesn't really matter about theory as long as you know the chords, still persists.
Therefore if you are just beginning to learn how to play guitar, and your aim is to become agood all round player, then you have got to accept that most of the time you are going to be a rhythm player.
The skill of guitar accompaniment is very important, but very often overlooked. Don't look on rhythm guitar playing as a second rate form of musicianship.
The pulse of a tune is supplied by the rhythm guitarist, who also provides the harmony to strengthen the music from the other instruments. A lead guitarist furnishes the melody.
It can be seen therefore that a rhythm guitarist functions as a rhythmic or harmonic player, where as a lead guitar players role is melodic.
There is no point in time where a guitarist switches from a rhythm player to a lead player and vice versa. The two are intimately linked. To become a complete player, beginner guitarists should aim to master, or at least become competent in both chord and melody.
I would suggest the best way to approach learning to play the guitar, even if you have your mind set on becoming a good lead guitar player, is to first spend time on chords. Try to learn how they are constructed, play as many different progressions as you can, and also spend time on developing a good strumming technique.
Learning to finger new chords will help the strength of your fingers, (especially if you are learning on an acoustic).
Also your strumming hand and wrist will soon become stronger.
Knowing what notes are found in the underlying chords when you improvise over them will definitely help you melodically, and you will also become a better player by understanding more about the functions of the people who you are playing with.
So try not to worry about what kind of guitarist you are and which is better. Rhythm and lead players are one and the same, and there is a lot of hard work and dedication required to become good at either.