Still asked to this day if I play lead or rhythm guitar by non-musos...

CaseOfAce · March 2022

Yesterday got asked this very question. Must have happened numerous times over the years.

I never know what to respond with other than ...err.. both.?

Such a job description hasn't really been relevant since Malcolm Young went to that great gig in the sky...?
But for some reason joe public has latched on to the 60s / 70s idea that you can only be good at one type of playing?
Maybe some of the older hands on here can attest to where this notion arose from?

jasonbone75 · March 2022

I've always just said "all of them" to any question like that!

merlin · March 2022

I play a (insert colour of your guitar here) guitar.

Danny1969 · March 2022

Well I started out people did tend to classify themselves as rhythm or lead players, probably because older bands like The Shadows, Ventures and early R&R bands did have players with specific rhythm or lead jobs to do. One of the first bands to buck this trend was the 3rd incarnation of Thin Lizzy, and this continued on with bands like Iron Maiden and onwards into hair metal.
I do have muso friends who only play rhythm live .... I am lead guitarist in all the bands I play in. They can play lead and I can play rhythm but we tend to stick to our jobs.

merlin · March 2022

I prefer it when people refer to the actual instrument as a "lead" or a "rhythm" guitar.
That's WAY funnier.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

Neither?

Supportact · March 2022

They need to learn to ask us what the best low gain overdrive is.

merlin · March 2022

"Does your guitar play like butter?"

Jonathangus · March 2022

"How much does it weigh?"

LastMantra · March 2022

Butter?

guitarjack66 · March 2022

merlin said:

I prefer it when people refer to the actual instrument as a "lead" or a "rhythm" guitar.
That's WAY funnier.

I suppose thats because of how players in the past often used certain models to play certain roles within their band. It's not that daft based on that example. Although it would certainly give away that they were not a guitarist.

springhead · March 2022

As Keef said, you can't go into a shop and buy a lead guitar. "You're a guitar player and you play guitar".

maw4neu · March 2022

I must be the odd one out here . . I'm quite shit at lead guitar for the most part, so I tend to identify as "Rhythm at best" . . . I'd love to be better at lead but I just end up lost ! and at 59 I genuinely think that boat has long since sailed . . . I still love playing guitar though :-) so its not all bad . . .

Roland · March 2022

When I was starting out we didn’t have a record player in the house so I couldn’t play along with a song. Instead I learned to play a combination of bass notes, chord stabs, and melodic lines. So when asked that question my answer was “both, sometimes at the same time”.

Whistler · March 2022

I can picture it now, 50-odd years ago in the class music lesson somewhere in Australia, the teacher says, "You there, the boy at the back, Tommy Emmanuel, yes, you! Either play the melody or strum the rhythm; stop playing around as you will never learn to play guitar that way.

Dominic · March 2022

I always say ,
'Both ,but it depends which one I've got with me '
They just say 'oh ,right '

SRich · March 2022

Next time you’re asked, just enquire if they think you are Guitar George……

Blueingreen · March 2022

Doesn't bother me. At least not as a description of a role in a particular band.

Being the lead guitarist doesn't (necessarily) mean you don't play rhythm. George Harrison was always called the lead guitarist in The Beatles but also played rhythm. I'd call Mike Campbell's role with Tom Petty lead guitarist, but he still played rhythm. Lennon and Petty I'd call rhythm players, even though they played the odd solo.

There used to be a strand of thought that rock'n'roll started to go downhill with the demise of the specialist rhythm player. It's too much of an oversimplification for me to try to defend it as true, but there's maybe a nugget of truth in it.

munckee · March 2022

maw4neu said:

I must be the odd one out here . . I'm quite shit at lead guitar for the most part, so I tend to identify as "Rhythm at best" . . . I'd love to be better at lead but I just end up lost ! and at 59 I genuinely think that boat has long since sailed . . . I still love playing guitar though :-) so its not all bad . . .

If asked if I play rhythm or lead I answer “I wish!”

Kilgore · March 2022

I mainly play fingerpicked acoustic blues, so I'm the bass, rhythm, and lead player.

Sadly, Jack of all trades, master of none.

Danny1969 · March 2022

Whistler said:

I can picture it now, 50-odd years ago in the class music lesson somewhere in Australia, the teacher says, "You there, the boy at the back, Tommy Emmanuel, yes, you! Either play the melody or strum the rhythm; stop playing around as you will never learn to play guitar that way.

Tommy was the rhythm player, his brother was the lead guitarist. They used to do Shadows covers touring around Australia as a novelty child band with some other siblings.
Tommy didn't know about bass guitar so he assumed the rhythm guitar was playing that bit as well. I've seen him demonstrate how he used to play The Savage rhythm part and the bass line at the same time

welshboyo · March 2022

You assume that non-muso's know the difference to a Bass guitar and a 6 stringed one....

I've come to the conclusion over the years that they don't, they just see a "guitar" and just see 2 guitars in a band and think one is Rhythm (Bass) and the other is Lead.

That's how I see it anyway...

Kilgore · March 2022

Van Halen could have been a much better band with a half decent rhythm player.

prowla · March 2022

I play lead bass!

slacker · March 2022

springhead said:

As Keef said, you can't go into a shop and buy a lead guitar. "You're a guitar player and you play guitar".

Said one of the best rhythm guitarists ever.

It's a role. I've played both. I feel more comfortable playing rhythm. In my current band I sing (?) and so I tend to let the other guitarist take the solos as he's better at it. However I do like playing slde and written solos or lead parts. It's probably a 25/75 split. On one song I take the simple lead part for the intro and let him go for the proper one.

On accoustic I tend to play root position but throw in some melody or fills to give the illusion that I can play better than I can.

axisus · March 2022

A rhythm guitarist is someone who can't play solos. Simples!

Keefy · March 2022

As far as I’m concerned the correct answer is Yes, I play lead or rhythm guitar - as well as all points in between.

I think it was Danny Kortchmar who told Guitar Player mag that he could teach his grandmother to play ‘lead guitar’, but ‘rhythm guitar’ required special skill that not everyone had.

EricTheWeary · March 2022

welshboyo said:

You assume that non-muso's know the difference to a Bass guitar and a 6 stringed one....

I've come to the conclusion over the years that they don't, they just see a "guitar" and just see 2 guitars in a band and think one is Rhythm (Bass) and the other is Lead.

Hence the Mr Bassist t shirt that my brother bought me.

CaseOfAce · March 2022

EricTheWeary said:

welshboyo said:

You assume that non-muso's know the difference to a Bass guitar and a 6 stringed one....

I've come to the conclusion over the years that they don't, they just see a "guitar" and just see 2 guitars in a band and think one is Rhythm (Bass) and the other is Lead.

Hence the Mr Bassist t shirt that my brother bought me.

...and the (apocryphal?) story of Michael Stipe not knowing during the first 6 months of being in REM that the bass player's instrument only had 4 strings....

guitarjack66 · March 2022

If you play lead guitar do you only play metal? (Think about it!)

hollywoodrox · March 2022

Lead is just a decayed piece of Uranium so it’s definitely heavy metal

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Still asked to this day if I play lead or rhythm guitar by non-musos...

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