Multiple guitar players

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Contents 1 Types of guitar players 1.1 Lead and Rhythm Guitar 1.2 Rhythm and Lead Guitar 2 Ancient Form of Weaving 3 References

[edit] Types of guitar players

There are two basic categories of guitar player for the purposes of this article. They are:

• Lead guitar: Concentrate on a melody or harmony line, usually consisting of one or two notes at a time
• Rhythm guitar: Concentrates on playing chords with a rhythm that complements the rest of the music

As well as covering multiple guitar players, this article also covers guitar players who play multiple roles.

There are also combinations of these, as documented below. It is more common for a band to simply have a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist. Sometimes, the rhythm guitarist will perform vocals. One example of this is the tandem of Kirk Hammet and James Hetfield from Metallica. In other cases, the lead guitarist will handle both solos and lead vocals, such as Khalid Ilahi of Beyond Shadows and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.

[edit] Lead and Rhythm Guitar

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Lead & Rhythm Guitar described the position of a musician who performed the lead guitar parts in a rock band, namely guitar solos or sometimes just lead parts. In some cases, such as John Petrucci of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, one guitarist plays both roles in the band.

In the case of guitar tandems, each guitarist plays both lead and rhythm guitar parts. They will often trade off guitar solos, sometimes performing two at once. Usually, when one is performing a solo, the other will maintain the backing rhythm. Examples include:

• Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (and later Janick Gers) of heavy metal band Iron Maiden
• Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest
• Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr. of The Strokes
• Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King of Slayer
• Angus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC
• Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever of Coheed and Cambria, noted especially in "Welcome Home" and live performances of "The Willing Well IV; The Final Cut"
• Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television
• Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance of Avenged Sevenfold

These types of distinctions work most effectively in the context of a particular album, although sometimes they can be fully applicable to a band's entire career.

[edit] Rhythm and Lead Guitar

Rhythm & Lead Guitar is the position of a musician in a musical group who performs rhythm guitar a majority of the time, but also performs solos occasionally. This is usually in the context of two guitarists, one of which performs lead guitar more of the time, and the other of which performs rhythm guitar more of the time. Examples include:

• Trey Anastasio of Phish
• Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
• Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
• Eric Clapton's role in Cream.

[edit] Ancient Form of Weaving

The Ancient Form of Weaving is the style of guitar playing perfected by Rolling Stones guitarists Keith Richards and Brian Jones, and later Keith Richards and Ron Wood.

Richards and Jones initially developed a pattern of trading off, a "twin guitar" relationship, that thrived on the energy developed by their successive tossing of lead and rhythm between each other. By having one guitarist play lead while the other plays rhythm and then quickly switching, a "discussion" can develop and no one guitarist can be singled out as performing solo.

Richards has commented:

"You can't tell which guitars do which, the whole point is for these guitars to mesh, one can drop in and one drop out and there's no lead or rhythm per se. Ronnie and I call it the ancient form of weaving, like tapestry - who actually did the green thread and who did the red one? We love to do it to the point where we've actually confused ourselves."

When asked "How do you do it?" Ron Wood replied, "Magic."

Good examples of this kind of "weaving" can be found on the album Some Girls, especially the song "Beast of Burden". Albums since Some Girls also contain the trademark weaving sound. A Bigger Bang prominently features the sound throughout.

In an interview, Ron Wood said this concerning the "Beast of Burden":

"That's another one that just came very naturally in the studio. And I slipped into my part and Keith had his going. It may have appeared as though it was planned. We can pick it up today and it will just naturally slip into the groove again with the guitars weaving in a special way. It's quite amazing really. Ever since Keith and I first started to trade licks, it was a very natural thing that, for some unknown reason, if he's playing up high, I'm down low and the other way around. We cross over very naturally. We call it an ancient form of weaving-- which we still are impressed by it to this day. Unexplainable, wonderful things happen with the guitar weaving. There's no plan."

[edit] References