Muse: 'The guitar is no longer a lead instrument'

V8

www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43126988

“In recent years, pop and hip-hop have replaced rock as the dominant genre in the UK and US.”

Tuckstir

I hear what his saying, and yes in POP music or music that gets promoted with radio airtime, then yes the guitar is dead..

however if if you prefer a more alternative style of music, the guitar is very much a central roll player..
So apparently i'm living in the past according to him...

V8

In pop and hip-hop it's pretty much all about the vocal (musically - let's ignore brand/image/marketing for a moment). I can't recall any great beatles solo's - but their vocal hooks are (imho) timeless.

When you can blend a vocal with a guitar hook then you're doing realllly well (Aerosmith/Run DMC - Walk this way) but I hardly ever find myself humming a guitar solo/lead (a few notable exceptions, Surfing with the alien - Joe Satriani, Two Princes - Spin Doctor's, John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom Boom, Jimi Hendrix - Bold as love).

I think there's an art to playing lead guitar that was lost in the Richie Sambora/Zakk Wylde guitar hero age - Instead of "here's 16bars for the solo", I'd rather think "what is gonna hook your ear?".

I'd want to focus more about the listener's experience of the song and less about the prowess of the guitaring. Not that G3 pyrotechnics are wrong -someone has to push the boundaries - but there's more to music than "face melting solo's"?

daveo1977

Have any of you watched "It Might Get Loud"? Edge says that at times he's thought that the guitar was out for the count, only for some kid to pick it up and interpret the instrument in a new way. What Matt Bellamy says, Billy Corgan said around the time Ava Adore was released. Lenny Kravitz has a song called, "Rock & Roll is Dead" (1995). Yet, here we are in 2018 and we're still rocking & rolling...

V8

daveo1977 Have any of you watched "It Might Get Loud"? Edge says that at times he's thought that the guitar was out for the count, only for some kid to pick it up and interpret the instrument in a new way.

That was a great watch - thanks for the timely reminder, I should watch it again ?

Likely it IS cyclical - Maybe we're going through a 2000's dof-dof phase again when guitar was not in vogue? The 90's was fairly heavily weighted towards grunge, alternative, rock which was mostly guitar driven? I honestly dunno - just spit-balling idea's here!

Guitar is a fairly unique instrument - AFAIK, the only other instrument that can switch between Lead and Rhythm (or accompaniment) roles is the piano. And I aint carrying no piano around (Besides...I can barely carry an amp! ? ).

For that unique combo of portability and versatility, the guitar is irreplaceable.

RobbieZ

Lead guitar is NOT dead. Not while there are these kind of players around:

domhatch

V8 I agree. That's the 'key' (pun not intended). It's all in our chosen instrument's versatility. Being able to switch from the background to the foreground. I'd say not many other instruments in modern music genres perform the same function

You?
dh|

V8

domhatch . I'd say not many other instruments in modern music genres perform the same function

Piano (or keyboards) aside, I honestly can't think of another? Uke's, mandolins, etc are all 'guitar-like' in my mind. A harp might qualify, but it's hardly a modern instrument ?

I was chatting to a mate who plays fiddle in a gypsy jazz trio (2xguitars, 1xfiddle) and we talk of melody parts - instead of lead/solo parts. It's something I really like about that mindset - there's melody and rhythm parts that can interchange between instruments. While the listener may perceive solo's or lead instruments, the band is not necessarily thinking of it like that?

domhatch

V8 Interesting distinction; the perceived role of an instrument depending on your side of the performance - performer or audience. That’s a whole separate, but related discussion on its own.

dh|

V8

domhatch That’s a whole separate, but related discussion on its own.

It is!

It's a concept I find 'studied' musicians tend to have - whether it's a degree/diploma or high level of grading - there's less of "solo time" and more finding a melody that works. I think maybe the difference is that solo's tend to be licks patched together and melodies are vocal-esque lines that work through/with the underlying chord changes. But that's merely my opinion!