Why Your Band Doesn't Need a Guitarist
 

This is the thread for all the guys who think their band has to have a guitarist, and for the rest of us to post examples why this is false.

Up first, Camaron de la Isla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0-ED...ture=endscreen

This might not be a great example because there is a guitarist on the track, but he add little to it. The performance contains three separate bass "solos" and at the end a cheesy guitar solo performed on keyboards.

A little background for those of you interested: Camaron was one of the great flamenco singers of all time and at this point in his career they tried to make him a pop star. I'm not claiming it's a good song, because it's not, but it's a good example of how you don't need guitarists to start a band.

Feel free to add your own examples to this thread.

Bela Fleck is a wicked banjo player. No need for a guitar in The Flecktones.

There is no why, haha. Bands without guitarists have been around for literally millennia. I don't see that suddenly changing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr5LA...lolz&t=1h3m17s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOesyha-Bpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtBu7vGsGv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt_OC94tH7A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aryc3gSkLuk

Wait, you start a thread about why your band doesn't need a guitarist, and as proof post a video of a band with....a guitarist? Who, by the way, is the driving instrument on the track....

Don't have a guitarist in my band. Bass, drums and analogue synth (for effects). I run such a full distorted tone that a guitarist is obsolete.

Big Business doesn't need a guitarist, or a third person. They pretty much shoot the "we'll sound too thin" argument down in flames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oms30OlFeL0

Saw a video of them at "Hellfest" and they had some dude rocking an Explorer up on stage with them. :hmm:

Perhaps Om, Man is the Bastard/Bastard Noise or Subrig Destroyer is a better example.

i have two words: WEATHER REPORT

back in the Jaco days...they did quite well without a guitarist

+1

If you say that you don't need a guitar player, you should show some good examples of bands without guitar players.

That was funny. I hadn't even bothered to look at the video. I was just answering the question.


Also, although it's does not immediately associate with this thread's topic... Not just guitar, but often pianists play their shows completely unaccompanied. Pianists play both the bass & treble sides simultaneously.

It all depends on what your music needs. My band might be able to make it without a guitarist (man, would it ever be easier lol), but our music would lose something without it there. YMMV, that's what's great about music...if you can make it work, more power to ya!!

I used to play in an awesome guitarless band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zw1Bli1jbc

Morphine.

i rest my case!

I've seen them perform both with and without a guitarist. I assume it's an aesthetic choice.

Living Daylights Trio

http://youtu.be/koYasEyOJsc

Fitz & The Tantrums

Yesterday I heard a great piece that was all strings and percussion. No horn section.

I chose that clip because it's what inspired the thread. Those three little bass solos reminded me of the conversations I've had here with people who constantly complain about guitarists, "guitards," and the guitar itself, yet claim that they have to have a guitarist if only for the solos.

Look up Jazz

Watch Elton John's early live performances. They are simply awesome as a three-piece: piano, bass, drums.