Bands with 3 guitarists

[kung_fu]

My friend used to have a band with three guitarists. He tells me he could never keep the lineup together, not sure if this had to do with egos or not. The only other bands i've heard do this are Chuck Calibre (local band) and WhiteChapel, neither of which i feel make effective use of the third axe. Kind of overkill.

Edit: oh Maiden also

 

[sessionswan]

I could be wrong on this but...didn't The Acacia Strain have 3 guitarists at one point? I know it's just DL now but for some reason I seem to recall hearing that.

 

[Nitrox]

Hawthorne Heights had three guitarists before one of the guitarists died.

Hawthorne Heights suck though so nevermind...

 

[thebhef]

Lynyrd Skynyrd

 

[PeteyG]

Andrew WK

 

[Yen]

Isis, sometimes their keyboard guy switches to play 3rd guitar.

 

[polydeathsphere]

Esoteric. They are epic psychadelic funeral doom

...that genre is a handful.

I don't know how Periphery wasn't the first name dropped here, and of course Iron Maiden was more well known they've had generations to sink into society, although they did pretty much dominate shit early on.

 

[kung_fu]

Isis, sometimes their keyboard guy switches to play 3rd guitar.

Ah yes. Genesis did this quite frequently as well. They pulled it of beautifully too.

 

[ZXIIIT]

Fuzz-Huzzi
FUZZ-HUZZI on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

 

[distressed_romeo]

Blue Oyster Cult?

Leatherwolf?

 

[kung_fu]

I think Boston may have as well (Singer, Scholz, ?), and Def Leppard

 

[Variant]

Def Leppard

The Lep have employed three on occasion, and often used three completely different layered guitar tracks in studio. In many cases its a great effect.

 

[TomAwesome]

Although it's not a constant 3rd guitarist and although it's not metal, I went to see Oceansize on saturday night at the Hi Fi Bar in Melbourne. It was awesome stuff. Here's one of their songs which features their bassist as a 3rd guitarist. Apologies for the sound, my camera doesn't have the greatest mic.

Oceansize is very win.

 

[Joeywilson]

i think the OP should define "doing well"

there is doing well getting money n' hos

and there is doing well at making good music and applying the 3 guitars in an effective way

i suspect periphery will do both as im very surprised they arn't signed

 

[Konfyouzd]

JONAS BROTHERS! Nobody said it had to be good bands with 3 guitarists.

 

[halsinden]

this keeps coming up actually, especially over on the whitechapel 8 string thread.

there seems to be this massively popular knee-jerk reaction to metal bands with 3 guitarists. i'm aware that i'm putting my kneck on the line here, but i'm going to hazard a guess at saying that so many people who balk against the whole 3 guitarist thing have decided the band 'don't need' the extra guitarist before they've even investigated into whether that's the case.

it does make me think about whether the same would apply to bands like king crimson who have made extremely valid use of 2 drummers, 2 bassists etc...

H

 

[distressed_romeo]

If we're talking non-metal bands, then what about the California Guitar Trio, or McLaughlin/DeLucia/DiMeola?

 

[Konfyouzd]

I think someone has already said this, but I've seen some bands that only have 1 or 2 guitarists and some of the things they try to do live don't quite work out the same way as it did on the the CD because in parts where there are actually 3 guitar parts, the bass player just fills in. Sometimes it's nice to have some distorted chords behind a melodic harmonized lead.

Doesn't Steve vai's band have like 3 or 4 guitarists? (Sorry if that's already been mentioned) From what I've seen (I haven't seen much) one of them always seems kind of extraneous, but maybe I'm not listening well enough.

 

[distressed_romeo]

I think someone has already said this, but I've seen some bands that only have 1 or 2 guitarists and some of the things they try to do live don't quite work out the same way as it did on the the CD because in parts where there are actually 3 guitar parts, the bass player just fills in. Sometimes it's nice to have some distorted chords behind a melodic harmonized lead.

Doesn't Steve vai's band have like 3 or 4 guitarists? (Sorry if that's already been mentioned) From what I've seen (I haven't seen much) one of them always seems kind of extraneous, but maybe I'm not listening well enough.

With the Breed, Dave Weiner was the dedicated rhythm guitarist, and Tony MacAlpine switched between guitar and keys as needed.

 

[Konfyouzd]

^ Ahh well that explains it. Thanks.

That's a really good setup, actually.