Four into three

[fretmeister]

3 piece is the best.
Allows space rather than a wall of sound, gives great bass freedom. In a 3 piece a shift from root note stuff to something more melodic has a far greater impact to the feel of a tune.

More room on stage, and fewer people to split the money with.... but also fewer people to pay for expenses.

3 piece (or 3 musos and a singer ) is my favourite set up.

[spectoremg]

Grab this opportunity with both hands! And turn those backing vocals into lead vocals if you can too. Was briefly in a three piece where we shared vocals and I found the huge step up from bass/bv's to occasional main man totally liberating.
Also, now you've got the space, buy tons of pedals and get yourself some bass pedals, preferably the Roland 25 note version - you'll have all the space in the world!

[uk_lefty]

I started in a three piece with an amazing drummer and excellent guitarist, I grew loads as a player with those guys. You learn when to be busy and when to rest, dynamics, etc. I later played in a group with one guitar and no drummer, that changes your playing too. Always been sceptical about two guitar bands. My current band is two guitars and we really have to work on dynamics and get everyone comfortable with space... Not easy when there's one more good quality player being asked not to play for a bar or so. In a three piece organising gigs and rehearsals is easier, agreeing everything like set lists is easier and managing dynamics in a song is easier because there's one less opinion/ ego.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1491914152' post='3276403']
The OP doesn't say if this is covers or originals. I find the choice of songs that can be played well as a 3 piece covers band frustrating.
[/quote]

If a song is good it should work stripped right down ime.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1491914152' post='3276403']
I find the choice of songs that can be played well as a 3 piece covers band frustrating.
[/quote]

I think you're confusing cover bands with tribute bands, or you need to develop a better imagination.

Songs are usually written on one instrument. The rest is just window dressing.

[Dan Dare]

Seems I'm alone in not enjoying playing in trios. No matter how accomplished/inventive the players, the limited tonal palette limits the ability to create arrangements and harmonic texture too much for my taste.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1491996806' post='3277028']
Seems I'm alone in not enjoying playing in trios. No matter how accomplished/inventive the players, the limited tonal palette limits the ability to create arrangements and harmonic texture too much for my taste.
[/quote]
Most of my favourite bands are essentially trios or only have three players as such, RCHP, Nirvana, Queen, RATM and many more no doubt.

[Nicko]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1491990641' post='3276955']
If a song is good it should work stripped right down ime.
[/quote]
[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1491991592' post='3276966']
I think you're confusing cover bands with tribute bands, or you need to develop a better imagination.

Songs are usually written on one instrument. The rest is just window dressing.
[/quote]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I agree with the general point, but there's a lot of stuff that IMHO loses so much when the "extra bits" aren't there. Yes, you [/font][/color][i]CAN[/i][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] play Last Night by the Strokes as a 3 piece but the whole point is the interaction between the guitars and bass. You [/font][/color][i]CAN[/i][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] play Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand, but there's a little hook that the 2nd guitar plays that drives it from a OK song to a great one. Muse, yeah, a 3 piece band with a mainframe of MIDI controlled added bits. Green Day are now a 4 piece because they were using so many overdubs they decided they couldn't do it live properly, and lets be honest, their songs aren't the most complex. [/font][/color]

[stingrayPete1977]

If you get all the hook bits in there your average wedding or party audience will be up dancing, they can fill in the gaps with their air guitars!

[IainS]

I have been in a few three-piece bands and loved playing in all of them; much more space to play in the song and actual floor space on the stage. Can't go wrong.

[interpol52]

I've always preferred playing as a 3 piece or with only one guitarist. It sounds bigger when done right.

For me it made me listen more, I realised how much responsibility I had to hold it together as the link between the melody and the rhythm. As time goes on I play less fills.

[skankdelvar]

Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) layers the sh*t out of guitars on his recordings but manages to get a reasonably full sound in a live three-piece context, in part by slipping single line hooks in between basic rhythm chords. See below:

[media]http://youtu.be/R6dzOsM0gTw[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/O0mAfF-7FBU[/media]

[SpondonBassed]

It didn't hurt The Police being a three piece. I always wanted to have a lickle three piece of my own.

[mingsta]

I'm in a one guitar band and the guitard is one of the rare breed who adjusts his volume to match the rest of the band and music being played. It's great most of the time. Some songs are a challenge to arrange, particularly the ones where there's more than one signature riff/thing going on simultaneously, and the dreaded 'it sounds a bit empty' situation. Most of it can be sorted with a bit of thought. If we were to have a fourth instrument I'd much rather have a one handed keyboard player than another guitarist.

[Skybone]

Sounds like an exciting new challenge, cool! Enjoy the new found space.

[BrunoBass]

So it's our first practise as a three piece this coming week. I've been paying close attention to bass players in single-guitar rock bands (even more than usual) for some pointers on what works. I've previously eq'd so that the mids are strong enough to cut through the two humbucker equipped guitarists we've had until now. But with more space to fill it seems like cutting the mids a bit for a more scooped tone is worth experimenting with. Should be fun.

[chris_b]

Seems to me that you're teetering on the edge of falling into the trap. . . . that a 3 piece means you have to play more and/or change your sound.

I'd start with your usual tone until you know if it works or not.

[Nibody]

Im Currently part of a no guitarist band in forming.

Well the singer is a very good guitarist but we are using him sparingly as he wants to concentrate on singing, which means I have had to go all "Royal Blood"esque and for the first time own a pedal board that is more than just for tinkering. Scary for me (Im more of a Geezer ButlerBill Wyman than a Flea) so it puts more pressure on me as Im basically carrying the tunes (but then I wrote them so I know them better than anyone). We were originally going to go for the traditional two guitars/bass/drums but were struggling to find a suitable guitarist who wasn't a prima donna.

[leschirons]

Instrument-wise, I play in a trio. For me, the important thing is whether the guitarist realises that all those great solos they do sometimes depend on some chord work behind them. Of course, the bass can imply the same thing but your guitarist will have to seriously think about what they do also to avoid a song falling flat and sounding thin.

We still manage to keep numbers like Freak out and Blame it on the boogie in our set but that's been down to the guitarist being open to suggestions and change.

All said and done though, great fun. Hope you enjoy it.

[BrunoBass]

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1493298277' post='3287252']

All said and done though, great fun. Hope you enjoy it.
[/quote]

Thank you, it was our first practise as a three piece tonight and I certainly did:)

We played through the set list from our last gig, 30 songs or so, and there were only two that clearly aren't going to work in this format. The rest however all sounded great. There will be the inevitable tweaking required here and there but on the whole it sounded really good and it was great to have all that space. If anything it sounds bigger. Any vague thoughts we may have had about recruiting a replacement have been forgotten. Very happy.

[chris_b]

Good news.

[Monkey Steve]

yes, excellent.

My background is three pieces but my last band in theory had two guitarists, but one of them wasn't always available for gigs. Which me and the other guitarist much preferred - he got to play all the solos and I got to be a bit more expansive rather than just underpinning the rhythm melodies in the solos. But for probably 60% of the set I didn't need to do very much different, and I have to say i really enjoyed the challenge of solving the issue for the other 40%.