Rhythm DVDs / books / general practice help needed

[Limbo]

After 634 off-topic posts, this is my first 'proper' post about playing the guitar ! ops:

I'm stuck in a rut - I'm the only guitarist in our 7 piece band (Me, Singer, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bass, Keyboards & Drums), and at the moment, our set consists entirely of covers. All I do is learn the solos verbatim and bash out my own basic rhythm parts inbetween - which are very 'plain vanilla' and uninspiring. I don't seem to be progressing at all and it's undermining my confidence a bit. I'm ok on the solos - they're easy enough to learn parrot-fashion - it's the bulk of the playing inbetween that's bugging me. :lol:

I'm trying to introduce some variation in my rhythm playing - trying different inversions and little 'fills' to spice it up beyond just bashing the relevant chord over all six strings - e.g. stuff like this:- Say, playing an A major chord on the 5th fret, interspersing it with something like:

|-------------------|
|--7--5------------|
|--7--5h6---------|
|------------7-----|
|------------7-----|
|------------------|

But - I'm a bit short on ideas in this area and was wondering if there are any DVDs / books / whatever that might cover this sort of thing ?

A lot of the tutorial stuff seems to focus on specific genres, and often doesn't fit in with what I need to be doing in the band.

In case it helps, our current set includes stuff like:-

'Better Days' - Southside Johnny
'Consequences' - Robert Cray
'Geno' - Dexy's Midnight Runners
'Pick up the pieces' - Average White Band
'Play that Funky Music' - Wild Cherry
'Sweet Talk' - Q-Tips
'Knock on Wood' - Eddie Floyd
'Queen of Clubs' - KC & the Sunshine band
'Seven Days too long' - Dexy's

Don't take the piss - I've had very little say in the set ! :lol:

I also don't really have any sort of practice routine beyond playing along with the originals in my regular 'uninspiring' style. I've got loads of stuff on scales & modes & blah blah blah, but I find it as enjoyable as root canal work trying to wade through all that and get bored very quickly.

Any ideas anyone ?

Thanks in advance !

[Nas]

There is a DVD out called rhythm tune-up, which is amazing.

I cannot remember who made it, I think it is on Mel Bay. It goes through loads of stuff using a metronome, how to manipulate the pulse, ie playing on subdivisons of the beat...

[Limbo]

There's a new dance that is goin' around - do the bump, do the bump...

bumpity bump :-)