tallchris wrote:

.

As Sterling's former band mate Lou once said, "If God showed up tomorrow and said, 'Do you want to be president?' 'No.' 'Do you want to be in politics?' 'No.' 'Do you want to be a lawyer?' 'No.' 'What do you want?' 'I want to be a rhythm guitar player.'"

Rhythm guitar is the coolness. No contest.

among bands such as sepultura, slayer, megadeth, and anthrax, i'd say the rhythm guitarists (cavalera, king, mustaine, and ian, respectively) are much more interesting than the lead guitarists they play with.

BClark wrote:among bands such as sepultura, slayer, megadeth, and anthrax, i'd say the rhythm guitarists (cavalera, king, mustaine, and ian, respectively) are much more interesting than the lead guitarists they play with.

I've never thought to myself, "that rhythm guitarist needs to shut the fuck up."

I think that about lead guitarists all the time.

When I first learned how to play guitar, I skipped over the speed drills and went right to the chord section in my Ernie Ball "Learn to Play Guitar" book.
Can I solo? Minimally. Do I solo? Rarely. Do I care? No.
Rhythm.

Nobody has mentioned John Lennon, David Byrne, Johnny Ramone or Richard Lloyd yet. This is an oversight.

Does Asa Osborne of Lungfish count? He has a highly rhythmic style.

Johnny Ramone played rhythm guitar as if it was lead guitar. That's all they ever needed.

Fuck that. Never crap.

Rhythm guitar is all you really need.

tommydski wrote: Richard Lloyd yet.

you have never seen RL play live have you??? we opened for Rocket from the Tombs, he is very much a lead guitarist, as a matter of fact, if I am a guitarist, he is playing some much more complex and evolved instrument than I have ever played in my life as I have never seen a guitarist make such a racket using only a amp, a strat, and a simple fuzz box...

PS: the biggest compliment I have ever gotten from another musicsion is when told me he liked my guitar playing... I was truely awestruck...

In Television he played rhythm guitar, non?

That is arguably his most renowned work.

tommydski wrote:In Television he played rhythm guitar, non?

That is arguably his most renowned work.

I always figured that Lloyd was playing rhythm to Verlaine's lead in Television until I saw them live. On stage, it becomes clear that they're both doing a lot of lead stuff, and bouncing different parts of the tunes back and forth. That made me realize why the guitar stuff on Verlaine's solo albums didn't excite me as much as his work with Television -- because a big chunk of what I thought I liked about Verlaine was actually Lloyd. They're both world-class guitarists, and if you've ever had the chance to hear Lloyd play with other folks, you realize why he's gotten the short end of the stick in terms of renown as a musician.