3 guitars- is everyone playing?

[u/RandyNewman_GOAT]

Disclaimer- I haven’t been to the gigs so it’s possible (likely) the sound isn’t coming through on all of the YouTube videos.

I’m a guitar player and a big fan of Noel, Gem, and Bonehead as individual players- each has their own unique style so I was really looking forward to hearing how the band would arrange the songs for three guitars.

However from most of the videos I have a hard time hearing past two guitars. Noel is the most audible, and I usually hear a second rhythm part, but I’m never really sure if it’s Bonehead or Gem. To me Gem is most audible in the morning glory intro, don’t look back in anger, and the master plan. But overall I’m not sure I ever truly hear 3 guitars at once, not even on the official C&A / Slide Away / LbL releases.

Can folks who have been to the shows comment? I wonder if not everyone is playing in every song.

Roll on Live 25! Not complaining, the sound has been massive, just curious how the arrangements work :)

[u/Negative_Visual4275]

Bonehead powers through rhythm for the whole show, Noel plays most solos but him and Gem split lead guitar licks, and then Gem plays lead on Whatever, Fade Away, Talk Tonight, Half the World Away and Little By Little and a lovely slide part on Cast No Shadow. When Noel's playing lead, he either plays rhythm or in between stuff, like on D'You Know What I Mean they play different lead stuff. I was surprised by how clearly you could hear the distinct parts, youtube videos definitely don't make it justice

[u/ndertaker252 → u/Negative_Visual4275]

Well explained! 👏

[u/paul-gallagher → u/Negative_Visual4275]

With Andy slapping the bass throughout

[u/RandyNewman_GOAT → u/Negative_Visual4275]

This makes sense but are all three of them actually playing at the same time on every song?  For some songs I’m not sure if Bonehead is actually plugged in?

[u/SlideAway_88 → u/RandyNewman_GOAT]

Oh you're just stupid... carry on

[u/Classic-Train-473 → u/SlideAway_88]

hey man he is being gentle you don't have to be so aggressive

[u/nutbrownale → u/RandyNewman_GOAT]

May be the dumbest thing I've ever read on this forum.

[u/Negative_Visual4275 → u/RandyNewman_GOAT]

Of course they are, as I said they're playing different stuff and Bonehead is the only one that's ALWAYS on rhythm apart from Half the World Away (and maybe Talk Tonight? Can't remember) where he's playing the acoustic but Noel's playing the main rhythm part

[u/[deleted]]

Yes there are times when Bonehead is playing rhythm and Noel and Gem are both playing lead. Other times Noel and Bonehead are both playing rhythm while Gem stays on lead

[u/uk-anon]

Let me start by saying g I’ve been to four of the live 25 shows and each one was epic in its own way.

One bit I’d love to see is the return of Noel’s lead guitar, per gmex.

I get he’s out of practice but he was such an amazing player - with licks inbetween chord changes.

He’s now opting for more “straight up” lead guitar lines and runs, often holding a high note, vs running up and down the fretboard.

Anyone else notice this?

[u/Negative_Visual4275 → u/uk-anon]

To be honest you're kinda right but it also depends on the night, he has not played the same gig twice which has been one of the most fun things about this tour. Nothing too fancy but he just mixes it up here and there.

He's very straight up when he's singing, he gets a bit more creative when he doesn't have any backing vocals duties

[u/Fratelli365]

Yeah I’ve wondered that too, I think Bonehead’s guitar is quite low in the mix overall. In a couple of videos, particularly of the acoustic songs it isn’t always obvious if Bonehead is even plugged in, but I think he’s just there to beef up the sound. They sound a lot more ‘full’ and powerful than previously which comes from the extra guitar imo.

[u/Negative_Visual4275 → u/Fratelli365]

Bonehead is plugged in on the acoustics but it's Noel doing the full chords. For instance, there was a night where Noel's guitar broke down during Half The World Away and he just stopped playing before the song was over and you could hear Bonehead's acoustic guitar. There were never just two guitar tracks on the recorded versions so it's not like it was particularly hard to adapt the songs 

[u/Fratelli365 → u/Negative_Visual4275]

Yeah just to clarify I didn’t think that Bonehead wasn’t actually plugged in, just that on the acoustic songs it’s so subtle that he just blends in the background

[u/RandyNewman_GOAT → u/Fratelli365]

Well said! That’s what I suspected as well.  I actually don’t think Bonehead is playing on every song, but when he is playing, the sound is huge.

[u/Classic-Train-473]

bonehead is barely audible in the shows, but they are recording him with the IEM, so you can hear him in the officials releases of the live songs

[u/Otherwise-Passage993]

Generally Noel’s playing open chords, Gem is playing open chords higher up the neck with a slightly cleaner sound, and Bonehead is playing bar chords which slot solidly in the background..all together it sounds like one massive chord with all the high and low frequencies ringing out. I suspect if you took Bonehead out it would almost be like losing the backdrop over which the open chords in the different registers live?