History of Twin Lead Guitar

I thought the Nashville Teens had dual lead before mid-60's (big hit: Toacco Road) - wasn't it one reason why  they won MM's Group Contest 1963 or '4? Of course Hank and Bruce in the Shadows had to lead guitars in 1959, although Jet Harris on an early electric bass did more lead work then Bruce Welsh, who was strictly rhythm*  (how many chords did Welch know?) - and then I think Hank played with Wally Whyton (folkie and children's TV presenter) in the Vipers in 1957 or 8......

* On the sleeve of Wishbone 4 one photograph includes a Shadow's LP cover as an acknowledgment to what went before.

Indeed Keith Richard and Brian Jones of the Stones weren't that bad on leads.


Edited by Dick Heath - June 03 2008 at 13:46

How about The Ventures?  Were tthey using dual lead guitars?  They came before any other band mentioned here.  I'm thinking of Walk Don't Run, etc., but I haven't heard those songs in a while so it may be more of a lead/rhythm guitar configuration.

Well the Yardbirds were around way ahead of Fleetwood Mac, but I thought they played in a rhythm plus lead style like the Stones.

I think the question was about two lead guitars harmonizing melodies together. I can't remember if the Yardbirds played in that style, if they did they would at least be ahead of the other mentioned bands.

P.S. I just got through playing my only Yardbirds record, Over Under etc. There were a lot of great songs with two guitars, but no harmonized leads. I know there is Beck's Bolero, but that may or may not be an isolated incident. Also, Bolero sounds like Beck double tracking himself, I'm sure he was aware of Les Paul's pioneering work in this area.

I guess the alleged Bubble Puppy comes in ahead of Fleetwood Mac. Seems like maybe the Beatles did a couple early guitar breaks with harmonized leads but that may not be true, also I was wondering if the Byrds did anything in that style.

Looks like everyone else has lost interest, I guess I'll just turn out the light and close the door behind me.


Edited by Easy Money - June 03 2008 at 09:16

it was the Yardbirds who invented double lead guitar

I believe one of the defining features of southern rock is the twin lead guitar. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, .38 Special, The Outlaws and The Marshall Tucker Band all had two lead guitarists, I think.

Edit: Triple guitar in Molly Hatchet apparently. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flirtin'_with_Disaster)



Edited by KeleCableII - June 03 2008 at 02:40

Bubble Puppy founded in 1966 seems to be credited with the first dual lead guitar.  

^Wishbone Ash definitely started doing it before Black Oak, back in '69 for sure. Easy Money could be right about the Allman bro's on this one, but I'm pretty sure even if they got to it well before Wishbone did, Wishbone were the guys that made it popular.  

Black Oak Arkansas were doing the twin lead thing in '70 - '71.  Not sure if it was first but it was early on.

HughesJB4 wrote: [QUOTE=Easy Money]The first person to release albums with double tracked guitars was Les Paul [QUOTE].  I think the original poster was actually talking about harmonized twin leads and dualing guitar solos and not double tracking per se.   Well anyway, the way I always saw it, was that Wishbone Ash were one of the bands that really made harmonized guitar parts popular, and not only used the bog standard major and minor 3rds, but also used parallel 4ths and from memory parallel 5ths, but I can't be sure about the 5ths. Iron Maiden made it even more popular and raised the bar of the complexity of the actual rifffs to be harmonized. Not only using just harmonized licks, but on some of their work utilising contrary motion as well (but not that frequently)

If you are talking about two guitars harmonizing a melody together in a rock context then I am sure the Allmans were ahead of Ash and Maiden.

The question is, was there someone ahead of the Allmans, that someone could be Fleetwood Mac.

Edited by Easy Money - June 03 2008 at 00:14

[QUOTE=Easy Money]The first person to release albums with double tracked guitars was Les Paul [QUOTE]. 

 I think the original poster was actually talking about harmonized twin leads and dualing guitar solos and not double tracking per se.

Edited by HughesJB4 - June 03 2008 at 00:00