Three Piece Bands

[Jazzmaster62]

Zeppelin/Who/Sabbath - someone else just sings instead! 

[mikel]

32 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Yep. 

If you are only playing Whiskey then ok, otherwise it's a 4 piece.

[MoonBassAlpha]

Lemonheads?

 Placebo had a raft of hits too.

[mr zed]

Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother - we play this and it goes down well even though it's not that well known.

[steantval]

1 hour ago, Jazzmaster62 said:

Zeppelin/Who/Sabbath - someone else just sings instead! 

None of those were/are a three piece last time I checked.👁👁

[floFC]

5 hours ago, paul_5 said:

Early Cure songs work well as a 3 piece. 

They were a trio of course in the Three Imaginary Boys era. Songs like Boys Don't Cry and Killing An Arab. We play 10:15 Saturday Night.

[hairyhaw]

Timing of this thread is good for me. One of my bands parted ways with the lead guitarist recently and we are carrying on as a three, but the setup (bass/vox, drums, keys/vox) means we are scratching our heads a bit for covers that dont feature guitar at all! Ben Folds immediatly came to my mind (and somebody mentioned them further up) but I've been struggling to think of other more well known ones.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Weren't the Foo Fighters a trio for the longest time? At least, I'm sure it was a three-piece that recorded Colour and Shape and Nothing Left to Lose, and I kind of lost interest after those...

 

PS if you can busy-up the bassline during the (generally quite brief) guitar solos, then you can cover a LOT of Creedence Clearwater Revival's back catalogue without a rhythm guitarist. I say this from experience!

Edited April 4, 2019 by EliasMooseblaster

[Stylon Pilson]

7 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Weren't the Foo Fighters a trio for the longest time? At least, I'm sure it was a three-piece that recorded Colour and Shape and Nothing Left to Lose, and I kind of lost interest after those...

There Is Nothing Left To Lose was recorded as a three-piece, but they had Pat Smear on guitar for The Colour And The Shape. And they've always had at least 2 guitarists when performing live.

S.P.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Stylon Pilson

[itu]

When my father was young (maybe some 175 years ago) there was a saying here that a local trio was a man, an accordion, and a chair. Please continue...

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Bananarama

Fun Boy Three

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[casapete]

Stray Cats, although you'll need a great guitar player to cover some of their stuff.

Some Stevie Ray Vaughan / Hendrix stuff too maybe? Same problem with the guitar job though. 😄

 

[chris_b]

37 minutes ago, hairyhaw said:

Timing of this thread is good for me. One of my bands parted ways with the lead guitarist recently and we are carrying on as a three, but the setup (bass/vox, drums, keys/vox) means we are scratching our heads a bit for covers that dont feature guitar at all! Ben Folds immediatly came to my mind (and somebody mentioned them further up) but I've been struggling to think of other more well known ones.

Why does the guitarist leaving mean you can't play songs that were recorded with a guitarist? In my bands we play songs that had brass sections and orchestras on the original recording.!

You'll always have to ditch some songs when a key member leaves, but just adapt the set with the keys taking over the heavy lifting. He will play different lines and the dynamic will change but you can chose any songs that you can play. Do them your way and make them your own.

[casapete]

2 minutes ago, chris_b said:

You'll always have to ditch some songs when a key member leaves, but just adapt the set with the keys taking over the heavy lifting. He will play different lines and the dynamic will change but you can chose any songs that you can play. Do them your way and make them your own.

Whilst I agree in principle, I recently got asked to dep with a guitarless band (which I couldn't do as was already working) who told me their set list consisted of a fair few rock cover standards. Would have been intrigued to see how they coped with 'Alright Now' , 'Sweet child of mine' and 'Sultans of swing' in particular.

[mikel]

46 minutes ago, hairyhaw said:

Timing of this thread is good for me. One of my bands parted ways with the lead guitarist recently and we are carrying on as a three, but the setup (bass/vox, drums, keys/vox) means we are scratching our heads a bit for covers that dont feature guitar at all! Ben Folds immediatly came to my mind (and somebody mentioned them further up) but I've been struggling to think of other more well known ones.

Look for any keys heavy songs and go with them, no one will miss the guitar parts. Think Procol Harum, Spencer Davis/Traffic, Small Faces etc.

[chris_b]

25 minutes ago, casapete said:

Whilst I agree in principle, I recently got asked to dep with a guitarless band (which I couldn't do as was already working) who told me their set list consisted of a fair few rock cover standards. Would have been intrigued to see how they coped with 'Alright Now' , 'Sweet child of mine' and 'Sultans of swing' in particular.

As I say, play them "your" way. Alright Now with a Jimmy Smith Hammond vibe and a different arrangement might just work. At least it won't sound as tired as a million bands trying to emulate the original. I used to play Stevie Wonder tunes with an acoustic guitarist (in a duo). The songs were different but a good song is a good song no matter what instruments are playing it.

[jacko]

Don't Muse and Green day have to have extra musicians to play their music live?  Seems like cheating to me.  

[mep]

Stereotonics back in the days when Stuart Cable  (RIP) was drumming. Plenty of cracking songs from the first few albums.

[fretmeister]

8 minutes ago, jacko said:

Don't Muse and Green day have to have extra musicians to play their music live?  Seems like cheating to me.  

Muse have about 30 Macbooks.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

15 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Muse have about 30 Macbooks.

And sometimes a Fripp or was that Tool?  I seem to recall an alliance where Fripp did some live soundscaping with a 3 piece of that ilk.

Edited April 4, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[PaulWarning]

24 minutes ago, jacko said:

Don't Muse and Green day have to have extra musicians to play their music live?  Seems like cheating to me.  

Green Day do have now, but they didn't for a good number of years, may have even been up to American Idiot, Basket Case always goes down well

[itu]

Medeski, Martin & Wood - double bass, organ, drums

 

[tauzero]

13 hours ago, mikel said:

If you are only playing Whiskey then ok, otherwise it's a 4 piece.

The Rocker was also 3-piece, but (like Travelling in style by Free or Relayer by The Who), it's something cover bands never play and no-one ever remembers.

[casapete]

34 minutes ago, chris_b said:

a good song is a good song no matter what instruments are playing it.

Totally agree. I think it depends on the audience - if it's a 'listening' environment then anything goes with arrangements. I love to hear a new spin on a great song played by people who treat it with respect. However, if it's a pis*sed audience at a wedding or in a pub, they'll just want to hear the songs as they know them so they can 'dance' or whatever.

[Jazzmaster62]

11 hours ago, steantval said:

None of those were/are a three piece last time I checked.👁👁

That's my point - guitarist or bassist could cover singing duties.