I can only recommend a two-guitar band -- the Seventies punk/new wave band Television. Alarmingly evocative twin lead guitar breaks from guitar players Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.. Alternately intertwining and at war. The album Marquee Moon has plenty of them. Saw them at the Whiskey. Still one of my favorite concerts ever.
One guitar, or three?
Many fans of Rock music guitar playing consider the players who were the only guitarist in their band "the best": Jimi Hendrix (in The Experience), Eric Clapton (in Cream), Jeff Beck (post-Yardbirds), Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the clown in Black Sabbath, etc. etc.
I on the other hand have a love of not the classic 2-guitar line-up (The Beatles, Stones, Rockpile, etc.)---good as that can be---, but of 3-guitar bands: Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, Fleetwood Mac in their Peter Green/Danny Kirwin/Jeremy Spencer period, and The Flamin’ Groovies in the Shake Some Action album era.
Three guitars is even more musical than two, and far more so than one. All kinds of little song parts are possible with three musical instruments, and Springfield and The Grape really exploited the possibilities. One guitar is so, well, 1-dimensional. Sure, on recordings the single guitarist in a band can recorded multiple parts, but "lead" guitarists rarely think in "song part" terms, but instead in "guitar chops" terms. Know what I mean?
I bought the first two albums by both Cream and Hendrix when they were released, and saw both live twice in 1967 and ’68. But the music of both got old pretty quickly, I losing interest after those albums. You may disagree. ;-)
Now, one guitar is fine if you have other musical instruments (bass and drums can be played musically, but they aren’t "chordal" instruments), such as piano and/or organ. Two of Rock ’n’ Roll’s most musical ensembles had both piano and organ, and only one guitar: The Band and Procol Harum. Those bands also had great songs. Coincidence?
If anyone has other 3-guitar bands/groups to recommend, I’m all ears.
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@edcyn: LOVE the Marquee Moon album! I never managed to see Television live (damnit), but Verlaine's and Lloyd's 2-guitar interplay is a good as most trio of guitarists! It's funny they were lumped in with the other NYC bands who played at CBGB, whom they were nothing like. Just as Dire Straits were with the other late-70's UK bands. |
Eagles, of course. Lynyrd Skynyrd. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are other faves that come immediately to mind. Having said that, I have a little trouble with the notion that “three is more musical than two”, or “two is more musical than one”. Depends on what you do with what you got. One great guitarist is far better than three average guitarists. I can name solo guitarists (never mind one guitar bands) who are far more musical than some bands with two or three guitars; in my book, anyway. Knowing that you are a proponent of the “less is more” kind of playing (me too), I’m a little surprised at this notion. |
Check out Wilco, with Nels Cline, doing “Impossible Germany” from this clip: https://youtu.be/7I79m7_kAnA Very tasty, with Cline shredding at one end of the stage while Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone are harmonizing at the other end. |
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