Se here is a deal I am playing a original song written by someone else and not me. The whole song has a very simple progression (key of A - 4/4).

A (8 bars), D (4 bars), C#m (2 bars) slide down to C (2 bars).

The whole song circles on this progression but dynamic changes from low to peak out at chorus.

The person who wrote the song plays acoustic and using open chord form for the most part. I am playing my strat as a comp. I tried bar chords on top and I am drowning his acoustic at any level even when I muffled it (slight palm mute). Open chords on a strat sound overwhelming in this case so that is out.

During the peak chorus section it is ok to go all out as I crank my guitar volume to 10 to utilize good overdriven sound. I tried an arpeggio (triad) with alternate picking and that is sounds good when used sparingly. Too much arpeggio does't jive with the theme of this song which is punk/rock and as I mentioned starts soft and goes progressively aggressive.

Any ideas are welcome as what(how) can I play over the mentioned progression during the "quiet" part of the song so the acoustic (amped) guitar is not lost and at the same time a nice fill/layer is added.

Thanks a bunch

Try playing some harmonics during the quiet parts, let them ring out and shake the whammy bar as they fade. Don't play too much though. Maybe the quiet parts are the times when the song needs to "breathe".

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

How about a very simple slide riff?

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Maybe you could try some quick chord stabs on the 1st and 3rd beats using only the top three strings.

But an acoustic guitar as the lead on a punk-ish song? That strikes me a little odd. In any case, good luck!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.