1 or 2 guitarists

jcoote

if given th choice would it be 1 or 2 guitarists in your band??

feylya

Two. More versitile, better sounder (imo), harmonies are doable.

jcoote

true it take a **** load of pressure of the first guitarist and imo its a perfect opportunity to add atmosphere to a song... i think just 4 people looks coolon a stage though

krattapopov

2 please

feylya

IMO, 4 is the perfect number in a band. Plus you can split up a crate of beer equally

jcoote

yeah although if there were 2 girls in the band they could fight over the last can hmm... yeah 4 talented ****ers would suit grand eg audioslave

feylya

A girl in a band? Are you mad?

Most of the great bands had four members - The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer...

jcoote

true but i love girl singers in rockmusic its just more melodic ...would u agree???

bassey

3, but only if they all work together perfectly *cough* iron maiden *cough*, but with steve harris it can be like 4 guitarists at once

feylya

I don't know. It depends on what sort of music is being played. A girl singer in Slayer? No no no. If the music suits her ability, then it can work really well. Personally, I'd prefer a male singer in my band.

jcoote

yeah 3 is good to but you have to be really really **** hot for it to work eg rush ,the jam... well true feylya for my style of plaing a girl definatly does the trick

bassey

in my band we have no guitarist because

1: we find guitarists USUALLY are arrogant pricks
2: stupid lack of good young guitarists that can travel to where we practice

so we're just a drum and bass instrumental band, if it can work for "death from above 1979" it can work for us.....only they can sing....

jcoote

nice one thats cool 2 drum and bassers... the cocky guitarists are always the one who know less than their ego lets on... i myself know **** all

feylya

Likewise. Not an ounce of talent in these fingers. Thank god for distortion and delay

jcoote

and phaser and flanger and chorus and whammy its good too be honest once in a while

feylya

And a wah. Never ever forget the wah :P

Honesty??? Buh?

jcoote

whoops i got excited there i forgot the tremelo arm god iloove 6 note solos

feylya

Don't use the trem on a guitar that often tbh...

Bazz

jcoote wrote:

if given th choice would it be 1 or 2 guitarists in your band??

2, Unless one guitarist was fantastic. Petrucci.
But 2 guitarists add so much possibility to a bands music.

bassey

if i could afford them i'd probably use effects, but alas i'm too poor, anyone wanna give a 13 year old a job?

jcoote

i play a fir bit of dave gilmour kinda stuff so trem is essential to get the fading in and out of notes and its just good fun to

Karl Hungus

2 guitarists tbh.

Creamy Goodness

yup two guitarists are good, but i believe it depends on the band.

Biffy clyro (a scottish three piece) guitarist was asked in a recent interview would they ever consider hiring a second guitarist...his reply

"I don't think a second guitarist would be right for the band, I hate band where the second guitarist just mimicks the first guitarist, for a second guitarist to join us he'd have to be doing something very ****ing special"

have to say i can see his point when you listen to them play.

jcoote

tbh i think a lot of it is down to the bassist if he/she can cover a lot of ground then a second guitaristcould be considered overkill..take rush (again) geddy lee the bassist is **** hot and allows alex lifeson the guitarist to kind of take a back seat and relax playing his end of things...of course thats not rock n roll so lifeson just self indulges on every song more or less (but u get my point)

Karl Hungus

It can really depend... I've heard bands with 1 guitarist that could really use another, but at the same time I've heard bands with 2 guitarists and I think "Why"?

But personally, I'd rather 2 guitarists in my band.

jcoote

yeah true like look at tom morello he's a one man show no need for a second guitar there but imagine oasis without 2 guitarists it'd be pop music

Karl Hungus

You mean it's not already pop music?

jcoote

boarderline rock n roll... as are westlife

feylya

Yeah...

It depends on the other musicians in the band too. If you have a keyboardist, you can get away with one guitarist. Look at Dream Theater for instance. A keyboardist, a bassist with extended range and a fantastic guitarist. A second guitarist wouldn't work too well.

Doctor J

1.

With the best intentions in the world, I've yet to see a two guitar Irish band (apart from Think Lizzy cover minstrels) who really do more than just either double what each other or the bass player is doing.

I just prefer the sound of a one guitar band, there's more rom for each musician to express themself, which often is a good thing

bassey

jcoote wrote:

yeah true like look at tom morello he's a one man show no need for a second guitar there but imagine oasis without 2 guitarists it'd be pop music

yeah but with tim commorford behind you, you dont need to work to hard, but he does cause he's just class.

i'm sticking with 3

Nidge

What i can't believe is that none of you have mentioned radiohead when it comes to 3 guitarists. Don't start arguing that Yorke doesn't play the third guitar often...cos he does plenty of times.

They generally all do something different, otherwise they wouldn't bother handing him a guitar. They are an example of a band that use their resources incredibly well. I mean both Yorke and Jonny Greenwood play the piano for different songs, Greenwood does all the technical stuff for Kid A and Amnesiac, the bassist plays basic keyboard stuff sometimes, then the other guitarist does all the backing vocals.

Finally i saw greenwood and the 2nd guitarist play drums at eitherside of yorke for that song "there there" off hail to thief and do backing vocals at the same time. I imagine any band trying to do something good with three guitars in their footsteps would sound like mush.

Zapp Brannigan

there do be 3 guitarists in my band. and im the bassist. it think the more guitarists the more room for harmonies and interesting stuff.

feylya

Only problem with having three guitarists, besides trying to move an extra stack or two, is that if you have a singer that doesn't play, the stage starts getting very very cramped.

Zapp Brannigan

aye i know that. and thats exactly the case we have a singer that doesnt play

oh well if iron maiden can do it, so can we

feylya

I've never seen Iron Maiden play on a stage that's smaller than your average bathroom! And that's the size of most of the stages I've seen round these parts.

Zapp Brannigan

well we'll figure something out!

feylya

Stand on the amps! Metal!

:rolleyes:

bassey

well i saw them on the early days dvd play in a club that resembled the voodoo lounge, but that was with only 2 guitarists


it must be hard for maiden to put on a show with 5 people standing and nicko with is gigantic kit, but they do it and they do it well.

Zapp Brannigan

feylya wrote:

Stand on the amps! Metal!

:rolleyes:

ill stand on the drummers rack. oooh yeah!

curtains

I like one guitarist myself, but there you go

curtains

feylya wrote:

Yeah...

It depends on the other musicians in the band too. If you have a keyboardist, you can get away with one guitarist. Look at Dream Theater for instance. A keyboardist, a bassist with extended range and a fantastic guitarist. A second guitarist wouldn't work too well.

definitely, the mars volta as well, they have one guitarist and a keyboard/synthesiser perosn and they have sound (that said they have a drummer and a separate percussionist as well).

jcoote

thats somnething i wouldn't be into a drummer and percussionist ..the drummer should just get a percussion section in his kit and learn to use it

curtains

nah, i don't think he could in this case, this is one of the world's greatest drummers and he is usually playing so much and so fast (not to mention the 19 over 7 rhythms) that he has no time to deal with bongos and shakers and the such.

Mr. CooL ICE

Slurms wrote:

ill stand on the drummers rack. oooh yeah!

Screw that, just stand on the drummer!

My band has 2 guitarists and none of our original stuff can be played with 1 guitar without sounding weak, due to us using a lot of layered stuff like lead lines and harmonies. But i live with 1 of the guitarists and the drummer, and the 2nd lives about 20 miles away, so when the three of us have spontaneous jams, some of the stuff we come up with sound great with 1 guitar and a 2nd guitar would ruin it.

So, all i can say is 2 guitars. Id like to play with a 1 guitar band some time so i can turn down the treble and maybe dabble with effects so i can stand out a bit more.


But 2 1-guitar bands that spring to mind are pantera and zeppelin, both with legendary guitarists, and on their recordings, they do more than their fare sharing of doubling guitar parts.

It wasn't me!

Odd, I generally prefer one when I'm playing bass but two when I'm playing guitar. Go figure.

mayordenis

there were 3 guitarists in the last band i was in.
That worked at pretty ****in well.

Shanegggg

Theres been two guitars in all the bands that i've played in and i think thats the best way to have it. 3's a crowd.

Besides it usually takes time for us to start cos were always messin around for ages, having another guitarist would really slow our practises down.

Father Jack

hmmm... i've played in bands with both two and one guitarists,

i found that in the one with two guitarists we were always bangin heads, no matter what the other guy always had to try and make his mark, attemptin to *improvise*, it pissed everyone off cause he wasnt up for it, egos are an unfortunate trademark of alot of guitarists

i found that in the band with just myself i was way more relaxed and played a lot better, i could express myself more freely without sum gimp tryin to outdo it, granted on occassion for certain cover songs it was a stretch to stop it from sounding a little bare, the attitude was way more positive...

tyu

a solo sounds beter with some rythim