Thoughts? I can't think of any cases where there was a glaring lack of chordal foundation - Brian was always pretty tasteful and seamless in the way he'd transition between playing rhythm and lead parts. So I'd say no, I've never thought they would have benefited from a rhythm guitarist, but there may be some examples which aren't occurring to me.
Of course, the exception is Hammer to Fall, where Spike Edney played rhythm for the second half of the song.
Thoughts?
No I don't believe they did suffer, in the same way that The Who, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin never needed a second guitarist. One of BM's strong points as a live player is his ability to fill the gaps that you'd expect to hear. Also an important thing to remember is that he was playing over a very tight and full sounding rhythm section, and sometimes Freddie's piano too.
I think he lost some of the BM magic when a second guitarist was added for the Paul Rodgers tours.
Maybe a good place to hear the (power trio) effect of BM, RT and JD is in the instrumental section of Brighton Rock on Live Killers before the actual solo.
Agree with everyone above. Brian was able to move between rhythm and lead playing very seamlessly. John rarely missed a note and Roger's very generous cymbal work ensured that there was rarely an awkward moment in their live performances.
Vocal harmony wrote:
Also an important thing to remember is that he was playing over a very tight and full sounding rhythm section, and sometimes Freddie's piano too.
Bingo!! Cant agree with that any more..........Freddie's (and even Morgan's or Fred's or Spike's from 82-86!) piano playing basically filled the role of an occasional rhythm guitarist..............and you always had the 'sonic volcano' of Roger and John..........
Defiantly not, the 2005 & 2008 tours had Jamie Moses, but the 2012 & 2014 tours, just back to "Brian" again, who in my opinion played better without having Jamie to fall back on.
No.
In fact the question is already answered if you listen any Q+PR live album. You can hear that Jaimie Moses is basically just for the Paul songs, and that's very impressive, considering the amount of layers of guitars all over the place, which makes me think that Brian had in mind a live version while recording.
Can't add much more to the above - from audience bootlegs to polished live official releases, I've never heard any instance where the band sounds lacking in guitar. Brian is a superb rhythm player (often overlooked), with a superb sound, and so along with John's superb choice of baselines at the right time this covered everything whilst still giving breathing room.
Once you add in Freddie's thunderous and rhythmic piano playing, Roger's big drum sound, and the vocal harmonies, you ain't missing anything! :-)
tomchristie22 wrote:
Thoughts? I can't think of any cases where there was a glaring lack of chordal foundation - Brian was always pretty tasteful and seamless in the way he'd transition between playing rhythm and lead parts. So I'd say no, I've never thought they would have benefited from a rhythm guitarist, but there may be some examples which aren't occurring to me.
Of course, the exception is Hammer to Fall, where Spike Edney played rhythm for the second half of the song.
Thoughts?
Same as Pink Floyd....Great band with great guitarist.
Catch my drift?
I agree with most of what's been said. Brian stands out with no rhythm guitar. Is a genious and the rest of the band does some great backing track also. Of course, live some songs need a stronger rhythm and it's a shame they didn't have it (except for Edney's guitar playing on Hammer To Fall).