Bands Made By The Guitarist

One band that I saw where the guitar player just "stole the show" was UFO.
Michael Schenker was some teenaged German kid in the 70's that left you speechless. Always looking at the ground with White Hair hanging in his face and ripping on a Gibson Flying V made the band.
Another was the "Motor City Madman". INSANE SHREADER!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much all Metal bands are madeby the guitarist. Really hard to play metal without having the guitar be the focal point.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801Pretty much all Metal bands are madeby the guitarist. Really hard to play metal without having the guitar be the focal point.

Thats not true, I would say most metal bands the lead singer is the focal point, when you think of Iron Maiden you think of Bruce, Sabbath Ozzy (i'm not counting the other lead singers for sabbath because the average metalhead just thinks of ozzy with them) Judas Priest Rob Halford, and so on.

Originally Posted by: dvenetian
Another was the "Motor City Madman". INSANE SHREADER!!!!!!!!!

I was never that impressed by Ted Nugent. As fast as he was, he could never really write songs - and even going purely on speed, other guitarists of his generation like John McLaughlin and Ritchie Blackmore could rip him to shreds.

Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesusI was never that impressed by Ted Nugent. As fast as he was, he could never really write songs - and even going purely on speed, other guitarists of his generation like John McLaughlin and Ritchie Blackmore could rip him to shreds.

I agree 100% with that. Its sad that guitar players that are sooo much better then him like McLaughlin will never get the recognition outside of people who know about guitar they deserve.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801Pretty much all Metal bands are madeby the guitarist. Really hard to play metal without having the guitar be the focal point.

The biggest metal band every Metallica wasnt made my their guitarist:
I think one of the reasons Kirk Hammet is such a big hit is because Metallica was such a kick ass band at the time. It really allowed Kirk to be exposed. Who buys metallica cd's for guitar solos?

uhhhhh... Van Halen

Originally Posted by: BLS33 I would say most metal bands the lead singer is the focal point, when you think of Iron Maiden you think of Bruce, .

when i think of iron maiden...i get wood....but seriously they were all equal in that band for me, no one stood out more than anyone else ...maybye that is why they kicked ass and van halen did not.

uhhh.... jimi hendrix experience....sure the bass and drums were great but it was all about jimi

Originally Posted by: z0s0_jpwhen i think of iron maiden...i get wood....but seriously they were all equal in that band for me, no one stood out more than anyone else ...maybye that is why they kicked ass and van halen did not.

Yea they were a pretty well rounded band. If any, I think the singer sticks out the most (Feel free to flame me for not knowing names :( )

Originally Posted by: elklandercc (Feel free to flame me for not knowing names :( )

you are flamed ;)

I'm not sure you'd say SRV was actually in Double Trouble or whether they were purely backup to him...almost a separate but congruent entity. I know those 2 guys played together backing other people before, and under the same name if I'm not mistaken. But I'd say that's just band name semantics, and those 3 were tight like brothers after starting out. So yeah, it was Stevie who fronted them and "made" it.

This is an interesting concept though...as some of the usual guitar heroes come to mind, it's worth wondering how much is due to the rest of the band. Alex Lifeson for instance: awesome guitarist, but his bandmates are equally virtuosos of their respective instruments. Or how much of Led Zeppelin was Page's riffs versus the thunderous Bonham and multi-talented John Paul Jones?
Unfortunately sometimes this question is answered for us. Axle Rose's touring version of G'n'R...yeah right. But as great as Gilmour is, Floyd's not quite the same without Waters.

So being that it's harder to name guitarists who made the band, illustrates the importance of chemistry with everyone in the band. Many a poor solo career testifies to this.

Originally Posted by: R. Shackleferd

So being that it's harder to name guitarists who made the band, illustrates the importance of chemistry with everyone in the band. Many a poor solo career testifies to this.

Pretty much sums it up.

If you're talking about guitarists that make the band... The only ones you can really name are guys like Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Johnson, Beck... so on. Guys that front their own bands. But even then you're still looking at bands with multitudes of talent behind them... Take Vai's band for instance....

When you look at truely great bands you see the same thing. Every great guitarist is accompanied by a great front man... Axl/Slash, Ozzy/Rhoads/Wylde, Plant/Page, Hammett/Hetfield, Gilmour/Waters.... It's a much longer list but those are the main ones... When I saw Maiden at OzzFest a few years back I couldn't believe how balanced they were... I think a truelly great band becomes great by having that balance... That's why it's impossible to name a great band that is carried souly by one facet of the music.... Whether it be guitars, drums, vocals, or bass....

deli creeps(BY BUCKETHEAD),trivium, dragonforce, megadeth AND children of bodom..these guys are awesome

i know that some of u will be like...whatever present day generation bands suck...but these guys are good..there not like hinder of fall out boy where you can make a soung out of one or 2 chord progressions

Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesusI was never that impressed by Ted Nugent. As fast as he was, he could never really write songs - and even going purely on speed, other guitarists of his generation like John McLaughlin and Ritchie Blackmore could rip him to shreds.

I never thought of Nugent as a fast player, just intense.
Impressed by him or not, Nugent is one of the best string bending guitarists to ever play the instrument. If you attempt to play some of his songs (like Stranglehold) you'll see what I'm talking about. Your fingers will be sore for days just trying to play it.

Originally Posted by: z0s0_jpuhhhhh... Van Halen

Of coarse Eddie did the unheard of, but I must say that Roth was one hell of a frontman on stage the first couple of years . You couldn't help but watch him by his energy in the beginning.
Another guitarist that made the band was Rick Emmitt from Triumph.

Billy Gibbons / ZZ Top

Originally Posted by: z0s0_jpwhen i think of iron maiden...i get wood....but seriously they were all equal in that band for me, no one stood out more than anyone else ...maybye that is why they kicked ass and van halen did not.

I totally agree with you there! I dont even play drums but one of the first things I remember about Iron Maiden was Nicko.

Originally Posted by: dvenetianNugent is one of the best string bending guitarists to ever play the instrument. If you attempt to play some of his songs (like Stranglehold) you'll see what I'm talking about. Your fingers will be sore for days just trying to play it.

First off... I love Nuge'.

Second, I would never say he's that "fast". His runs are pretty simple compared to other "fast" players.

Third, the difficulty of Stranglehold and its affect on your fingers is basically all about string guages... I'm most certain that Ted uses very very light guage strings in that song... Making his bends that much easier. I play heavy guage strings so anytime I play that song it's generally I substitute some of hte less audible string bends for slides or pull offs and hammer ons. Killer tune though...

I think I've said this before in this thread... but I'll repeat it:
Most bands make it big because they have great balance in their band. I don't think a band carried by a guitarist would ever make it big... You almost have to have a great frontman to really make it big...

The only bands that are really made by the guitarist are bands that the guitarist is the front man... Or Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Malmsteen, Buckethead.... the virtuoso's.

Originally Posted by: DAMAGED ONEBilly Gibbons / ZZ Top

But ZZ Top had one of the most instantly recognizable vocalists to go a long with Billy's instantly recognizable guitar tone... I love listening to "Waiting for the Bus" Such a simple song.