Guitarists always split bands up!!!

[bochetagrave]

Well according to our bass player guitarists split bands up more than any other member due to oversized ego's!!!... since I'm a guitarist myself (and disagree it's lead singers)...just wondered what your guys thoughts were on your own bands...do you argue more than play?...

6stringting

I think it depends on personality types, and how they (don't) work together.. The singer pushed me out of my last band by being a total ****. Kept the band, though, and all the songs written over a 2 year period.. In my more paranoid moments, I imagine he planned it all that way..

[TheGuitarWeasel]

I think it depends on personality types more so than instrumentalists, however certain personality types are attracted to 'lead guitar' and 'lead vocals' over other instruments.

People who call themselves 'lead guitarist' sometimes have ego problems, because that very term identifies themselves as superior through the use of the word 'lead'. The need to define some kind of superiority or the fact they call themselves 'lead' can in some cases be a warning sign of an ego problem. Same can go for 'lead singer'. It depends on the band. Never heard of a lead bassist or lead drummer

I just call myself a guitarist. I've just begun playing with a new band and so far I'm doing the 'lead' parts but I don't feel the need to define myself as 'lead guitarist'. It seems an unnecessary definition to make. The other guitarist is as important as I am in terms of delivering the whole piece of music.

Being able to play technically challenging pieces on the guitar isn't special or unique anymore, just check out youtube and you'll find thousands of guitarists better than yourself, and they're not famous either.

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I think it is all about maturity. A mature musician will realise they are just one part of the big picture, an immature or egotistical musician thinks mostly that they are the focus of the picture and that the other parts don't matter or contribute as much as they do.

Even if someone is more talented it still pays to be humble and recognise the contributions of others. I gig regularly in a samba band where gigs have 10+ drummers. Some of the percussionists are pro-drummers with either successful bands or teaching jobs, and the rest of us can only play to the level needed for the band. The better guys are fantastic in that they help teach technique to the 'non-drummer' percussionists, as at the end of the day everyone needs to play well for the whole band to sound good.

I think it would do many people good to play a short while in a samba band or other percussion group. The very nature of each instrument means that in isolation parts can sound naff or boring. However when all play together it sounds fantastic. Really hits home the 'only part of the bigger picture' thing. Have a go on this! http://carnaval.ig.com.br/rio/carniv...135402474.html

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Guitar is only one instrument in a typical rock band, and one single musician can't carry the entire band. In my experience most people are listening to the vocalist, and only listen to other instruments as a complimentary part of the package.

It tends to be only musicians or people with a special interest in an instrument who really pay attention to specific instrumentalists such as the 'lead' guitarist. Otherwise, to an extent we're all just backing musicians for the singer to the average listener. In this scenario an egotistical 'lead guitarist' is wasting their breath and the rest of the band's time with ego because not many people really care.

I'm not saying let the singer have an ego problem, but I'd argue guitarists having an ego problem is the worse of the two options.

The term 'lead' guitarist is actually a really old fashioned one, and was so, even in the seventies when I started gigging. As far as I am aware the term 'lead' and 'rhythm' guitarist grew up from surf and the 'beat' boom in the sixties when one guitar pretty strictly played the rhythm and the other played the melody or lead. I first heard it applied to bands like the Shadows ... and yes, then the Beatles. It's not a term I've actually heard many guitarists use about themselves. The term was borrowed from orchestral parlance where a 'lead violinist' is the 'concertmaster' of an orchestra, principal soloist, leader of the string and seated section, and only second to the conductor in the pecking order.
Having more than one instrument in a band with exactly the same sonic range means the level of communication and partnership in sorting out music from mess must be very developed for two guitars to work. Personally I hate working with another guitar ... as I find it too limiting ... and yes, that's probably an ego problem. Mind you ... in the band I was in about four years ago I wrote the music and lyrics, arranged the whole thing, owned the PA and transport ... then had a stroppy singer try to fire me screaming 'you're only the f***ing guitarist!'

[Skipped]

If you need to audition guitarists, here is a technique I used years ago to try to weed out prima donnas.

Start the audition normally - jam something the guy knows to put him at ease.
Then say: "Ok - we want to try some classic rock. All Right Now."
Pause for a moment to let him absorb this and then say "But not in A. We do this song in the key of *"

I would say that reactions to this fall into 3 categories:
1. Absolute disbelief followed by a lecture from the guy about the relationship between chord shapes and guitar tone and the structure of the solo on the original recording. Oh dear.......
2. An attempt at the song accompanied by long sighs, glances at the ceiling, general irritation.
3. Just gets on with it. If they reach into a bag for a capo. And then play the song - including a solo adapted on the fly - without missing a heartbeat, You have a winner. Don't be too shocked if this person is a she.

[mellowsun]

Echoing guitarfishbay's comments above. I also find the concept of 'lead guitarist' and 'lead singer' a load of old bollocks. That some people still refer to themselves as such reminds me why I can no longer be arsed to play in bands.

[musophilr]

I like what guitarfishbay said. I call myself a guitarist. I tend to get the flashy widdly bits to do because that's my assigned job, and I happen to like that sort of thing. However if I was assigned a different job I'd be happy to do it for the money. I've even been a bass player.

Joe Public doen't know what a "lead guitarist" is anyway. I've even had people tell me "he plays lead guitar" when talking about someone else and it turns out what they mean is one of those solid things that has a lead connecting it to an amplifier.

[TheGuitarWeasel]

If a band has three members who do harmony parts or sing backup ... then the vocalist who sings the main melody is the 'lead singer' by many years of music convention. The same can't be said of guitarists ... the term is pretty well meaningless, and I would argue that actually it's seldom used today ... especially by guitarists! I must say I do get irritated when I' played at a local jam for example, and the vocalists thanks the band ... and introduces me 'on lead guitar' ... when I've been the only bloody guitarist on stage! I think it's a definition used about guitarists by the public (and vocalists ... who are simply members of the public who face the wrong way) rather than by guitarists about themselves.
(tongue in cheek alert )

[ollybradshaw]

I agree that guitarists can cause a lot of problems in bands.

I have been in a couple of bands where there is me as "rhythm" and someone else as "lead", generally arguing with everyone about the song and getting into constant hissy fits with everybody...as the "rhythm" guitarist i would just sit back and sigh.

The best bands I have been in are built up of members mature enough to see themselves as just a part of the bigger picture of a band sound....it allows you the freedom to build friendships and write good music!

[Fez]

Well I certainly have had a guitarist split up a band but I have also had singers cause problems which resulted in the band folding.
Personally I like to play in two guitar bands because you can do some really cool stuff if you work together.
However my current sparring partner is effectively on probation because he never knows what key anythings in or when he is supposed to play a solo. His grasp of arrangements is tenuous. He has no idea of how to use different sounds in fact I've never met a guitarist who can manage to make a good valve amp sound so bad.

[Danny1969]

Best way I've found over the years to keep bands together is to earn some decent money. Your be surprised what people will put up with if there's a good earn in it .... bit like the real world I supose.

In terms of lead \ rhythm guitarist, I'm in 2 bands where I do every single solo, cos the other guitarist don't want to make it cry or sing :~) some people only play rhythm but I'm not sure it's strictly cos they want to or lack of abilty. It's different skill sets, I'm a rubbish rhythm player so perfer the lead stuff

[Squiddy]

Then say: "Ok - we want to try some classic rock. All Right Now."
Pause for a moment to let him absorb this and then say "But not in A. We do this song in the key of *

Provided the change of key is not any higher than the key of B, you'll be okay, otherwise the lead guitarist is going to run out of fretboard. Unless he is playing a guitar with 24 frets, in which case you could go as high as C sharp.

And if you don't like that, I'm quitting.